Yes, there's recognition by the council—and, I think, by many of us who touch this field—that the word is so widely used now that it's in danger of losing its meaning. This would really be unfortunate given how critical it is, not only to driving productivity but also in a time of accelerating technological change, globalization, and these huge demographic shifts. Innovation is the one tool we have in our tool box to stay ahead on the economic growth front.
I always think about innovation in its simplest form. It is not something that happens only in labs, where people wear white coats and do work related to technology. In fact, innovation is a mindset and an approach to improve the way we do things. It touches every sector. It touches all aspects of our lives. Out of that quest for progress, which is really at the heart of the innovation process, new industries are born and new partnerships are forged. Particularly as we think about the complexity of the challenges we deal with today, whether it's providing health care to an aging population or climate change, we also need to form new public-private sector coalitions of problem-solvers to work together.
Those are a complex set of threads. I think what we have tried to do in our recommendations is to deal with a couple of the fundamental pillars. Risk-taking capital is essential to fund the process where new ideas and new technologies become validated; those ideas convert into products and services that can then enter the marketplace and make a difference in society. You need skills that can deal with that fast-changing environment.
Moreover, we also suggested the creation and a galvanizing of public and private sector actors in the form of these innovation marketplaces. Some of that reflects the challenge of our large geography and lack of density, but it's also a recognition that we haven't had the connectivity you see in societies like Germany, and in some parts of the United States, like California, between established businesses, young emerging businesses, top-notch researchers, and students coming into the funnel.
The idea of these marketplaces is to really bring together all the actors in that innovation system around real business problems, and to provide the connective tissue and then some of the capital and talent inflows to help us tackle those problems. As a result, our established businesses can become more innovative themselves, but will also become better receptors for the ideas coming out of younger companies. On the flip side, our younger companies can find customers closer to home and use those connections and validations as a springboard into international markets.