by Carol TiceIt's fitting that I'm sitting down to write about innovation now, as August is National Inventors Month. It's a great time to be thinking innovation for other reasons, too.
Last fall, the president announced a major initiative to try to rocket the U.S. back to prominence in innovation. His Strategy for American Innovation initiative raised federal funds for research and development to a historic high, $18.3 billion.
The president also continues to work to make the Research and Experimentation Credit permanent. Lots of small businesses don't even know about this great tax-credit program, which has been limping along on annual renewals year to year since 1981. The credit basically rewards companies that grow their research budgets. From an established base level of innovation spending, this tax break allows you to claim 20 percent of qualified additional expenses for research.
It's a complicated credit, but worth it -- it refunded $5.6 billion to businesses last year.
Whether you do big research or not, innovation should be part of your company's culture, says Alexander Hiam, author of Business Innovation for Dummies.
"You need to innovate to succeed in your working life," he says. "The creative, forward-thinking people are the ones who make their mark and get ahead. It's often risky to try new things or propose new approaches, but it's even more risky to play it safe and close your mind to creative change."
With all the changes our economy has wrought in our culture the past couple of years, standing still is definitely not an option. Innovation is what's for dinner now.
What are you doing at your company that's innovative? Leave a comment and let BVR Times readers know about it.
Photo via Flickr user hughelectronic
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