ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the conditions for innovation conducive to the conception, growth and childhood of electronics enterprises and note how the evolution of start-ups is affected by the reactions to innovation of other companies and governments. The role of the state in promoting Research and Development (R&D) is vital to the well-being of technology-intensive industries and it warrants special attention from the defence angle. The features of innovation are every bit as germane to the activities of corporate and government R&D laboratories as they are to the exertions of the lone inventor-cum-entrepreneur. And it is the figure of the heroic individual instigator of change which has drawn most approbation. Perspicacious governments recognise that their country's set of enterprises must remain conversant with technical change and this holds true for defence as well as trade. Technical expertise rests on innovation and that, calls for adequate government support of basic research in universities, through public laboratories and within the private sector.
