"Cargo Cult" innovation

Some time ago I participated in a strategic meeting about converging technologies in Lithuania. One of the speakers was prof. Rimas Vaisnys from Yale University. He explained the phenomenon of "Cargo Cult":

"Cargo cult activity in the Pacific region increased significantly during and immediately after World War II, when the residents of these regions observed the Japanese and American combatants bringing in large amounts of material. When the war ended, the military bases closed and the flow of goods and materials ceased. In an attempt to attract further deliveries of goods, followers of the cults engaged in ritualistic practices such as building crude imitation landing strips, aircraft and radio equipment, and mimicking the behaviour that they had observed of the military personnel operating them." (source: wikipedia)

He further concluded that this same ritual can be identified for policy makers in developing and transition countries when developing innovation policy. The policy makers are imitating the efforts of other countries, copying foreign policy documents without a true understanding of the topic itself.

I think that this practice is not limited to developing countries, but is wide spread among many developed countries. I have heard a Dutch minister of Education and Science justifying a multi-billion public investment in nano-technologies by claiming that: 'other countries also do that'.

Furthermore I suspect that the same "Cargo Cult" might be wide spread among companies trying to imitate, mimic or copy the success of innovative competitors. Put an i in front of your products name and hope you will become as successful as Apple...

[Edit 15 April 2011: More people have recognised that governmental policies for the support of innovation can be classified as cargo cult, see link]