Governments across the world are spending aggressively on innovation. Artificial intelligence strategies, semiconductor subsidies, industrial policy packages, startup incentives, and digital modernization programs have become standard tools of economic competition. Yet despite the scale of this investment, relatively few countries consistently convert innovation spending into durable technological advantage.
The explanation is often framed in terms of capital, talent, or access to technology. But in Likhota's view, the more decisive variable lies elsewhere: not in how much countries fund innovation, but in how effectively they organize it.
