Otto’s ozoniser and the value of nurturing inventors

Entrepreneurs are often portrayed in the media as the heroes of our time, geniuses whose creativity and doggedness creates ‘value’ from nothing. Yet, as the economist Marianna Mazzuccato showed in The Entrepreneurial State, tech innovation is only the final stage after decades-long blue skies government funding. Those who later mash up fundamentals into new products are wont to forget this intellectual cradle, especially when the delicate subject of taxation is raised.