Last Fall, World Policy Journal spotlighted the Global Canon, asking a critical question—has the Western Canon, which has set the creative agenda in the West since Shakespeare and Bacon, been superseded by a Global Canon? In the course of our discussions, we considered whether a Global Canon is indeed developing beyond the world of arts and letters—in technology, infrastructure, and especially Innovation. We elected to confine our issue a year ago to creativity in the arts. Now, one year later, we are exploring the issue of Innovation as an international phenomenon.

As the world’s economies sputter and companies struggle to dream up industry-saving innovations, many countries and businesses still only pay lip service to fostering a creative culture. Noted science fiction author Neal Stephenson sets the scene for us. He questions why in this century, despite big challenges, we have created no truly Big Ideas. Stephen Ezell suggests the problem...

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