INNOVATION AS A PREREQUISITE OF GROWTH
Growth is the ultimate consequence of innovation. If we just take one field of growth , economy , we see innovations in the field of technology, way of production, means of exchange and arrangement for distribution determine the level of growth. If we stop innovating we reach stagnation for a while , then decline.
Innovation requires some prerequisites like freedom for thinking, freedom for doing experiments and access to material and intellectual resources. Those societies which facilitate such freedom and access provide fertile ground for germinating innovations. If our thinking and experimentation are constrained by extraneous conditions and if our conscience is forced to accept certain type of ideologies only we can't innovate. Similarly if our access to material and intellectual resources are constrained by certain ideologies, prejudices, identities and material conditions and status we can't have enough means to act. This simply means a society which puts limitations can't provide opportunities for innovation and thereby denies growth, including economic growth a chance to happen . Then no amount of good policy can help the society to flourish.
History is the best teacher and if we approach to this we will find how free thinking has been leading us to innovation throughout the history across the world.