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Why do some countries innovate faster than others? The speaker linked success to a mix of urgency, freedom of expression, and collaboration between government, businesses, and universities. His examples also yield concrete lessons for Slovakia.

When urgency and trust accelerate innovation

After a devastating storm in the last century, when part of the Netherlands was flooded and thousands of people died, the state acted immediately: an engineer became a minister and the Delta Works project was launched. Investments on the order of billions of euros enabled the country to live with water safely and efficiently. Decisive was the public’s trust that the government, scientists, and engineers were acting together and for the common good.

The outcome was not only safety but also know-how with enormous economic returns – according to the speaker, up to hundreds of billions of euros. This created an ecosystem in which professors, engineers, and the public sector come together. It shows that an innovative "engine" doesn't have to come from war; clear urgency and a shared goal are enough.

Four models: USA, China, EU, and Israel

The USA benefit from access to venture capital and bold global ambitions from the outset. According to the speaker, they produce roughly two "unicorns" per million inhabitants and foster a high-risk, high-reward culture. China, on the other hand, develops hybrid, state-targeted financing, has a large domestic market and strong R&D budgets, with the cited unicorn index at roughly 0,12 per capita.

The EU has an abundance of talent but faces weaker access to capital (roughly five times less than in the USA), fragmented markets, and bureaucracy, which make it harder to bridge research into practice. Israel, by contrast, relies on proactive policy, the highest concentration of venture capital in the world, diverse teams, and very strong collaboration on a common goal. Thanks to this, it achieves roughly ten unicorns per million inhabitants.

Building ecosystems: from green chemistry to Slovakia

A practical example came from the Netherlands, where after gas fields were shut down due to earthquakes, the question was how to "feed" the chemical plants. A coalition of government, companies, and universities emerged with a common objective: renewable electricity from offshore wind farms, green hydrogen, and circular feedstocks for a new chemistry. The partners operated on an equal footing, without "alpha males," with clear governance and shared responsibility.

According to the speaker, they managed to align an agenda of roughly 2,5 billion euros, kick off investments of around 3,1 billion, attract hundreds of millions in direct investments, create 3 000 jobs, and cut permitting from years to months. For Slovakia, the takeaway is this: it is not enough to rely on FDI and assembly; we need to strengthen domestic entrepreneurs, access to capital, and choose one bold common goal. What’s crucial is a culture of collaboration, the freedom to voice opinions "from production to the director," and less hierarchy so that talent doesn’t drain away but returns. A good sign is that an innovative spirit is already visible even among small winemakers – now it just needs to be scaled up.

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