I focus on technological innovation because it drives innovation throughout the global economy, changing what we make, what we use, and what we do. Centers of technological innovation become centers of innovation across a broad economic spectrum for two reasons: innovation in technology is inseparable from the innovations that flow from it, and the regearing of a society for innovation of any kind has effects on law, capital, and business culture that spill across boundaries.

To become a world-class center of technological innovation, a society must have three basic elements:

• drive—a culture that supports change and hungers for it

• human capital—the personal abilities that make world-class technology possible

• a capacity for mobilization—a society’s ability to pursue ambitious new goals

These basic elements are more fundamental than any current performance metric or economic trend, and they are durable.

Good article from Eric Drexler. Eric is the author of Engines of Creation and Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation, is an adviser and consultant on technology strategy and emerging nanotechnologies. His personal blog is at Metamodern.com

I too focus on technological innovation for the same reasons he stated. I couldn’t agree more with his analysis.