If innovation is of interest to you, you might consider reading up on Nathan Myrhvold. My mention of Josh Lerner’s new book in the previous post prompted me to think of Mr. Myrhvold, whose latest scheme is to acquire thousands and thousands of patents. What that will do to US innovation and competitiveness is anyone’s guess. (Of course, your guess is probably more meaningful if you actually know something about the economics and policy dimensions of innovative activities).
Here’s a short profile in the New York Times and a longer piece written by Malcolm Gladwell for The New Yorker.
Gladwell has written a couple of pieces on innovation and entrepreneurship over the past year or two. He even rediscovered some Schumpeterian ideas in a piece from a few weeks back.
No shortage of ideas, that’s for sure.