ONCE upon a time, economists thought economic growth came from the holy trinity of capital, resources and labour. Then in the 1950s, the American economist Robert Solow proved that this accounted for only around 10 per cent. The remaining 90 per cent he put down to “technical change” – technological progress and growth in knowledge. Science and technology, in other words. In 1987, he won the .
Today we seem to have forgotten Solow’s insight. The key to scientific and technological productivity is to give creativity full rein. The academic research that spawned almost…
