**5. Government**

The role of government in innovation pervades all the sectors of the economy. As the sole regulator of the economy, government can either promote or hinder innovation. Government promotes innovation through the formulation of user-friendly legislation and policies that are supportive to both creative and innovative endeavours in the economy. At the national level, government is responsible for pulling all the sectors of the economy towards a common purpose to achieve economic development. But how does a government achieve this in the first place?

In other countries, Malaysia for example, the government is committed to a lower carbon footprint and reduction of air pollution in order to improve the health of its citizens and create a better environment [17]. To achieve this, the Malaysian government has established the Malaysia Green Technology Corporation (MGTC) to promote green technology under a national green technology policy [17]. This policy has encouraged Malaysian industries in the economy to explore innovative ways to improve development of new products, production processes, firm productivity and ecological improvements. This is a typical government promoting innovation through policy creation and implementation at a national level, which results in new start-ups/industries [18].

Innovation at a national level requires efforts from all the sectors of the economy to be spearheaded by a committed government and political will. Countries that have experienced rapid innovation have succeeded doing so because of the government taking the front lead in areas such as policy formulation, funding, openness to external ideas (open innovation) and jointventures in large undertakings of projects. For example, the Chinese government encourages firms to source external knowledge by acquiring foreign technology through the enactment of various legislations, policies and reforms [19]. Innovation policy at a national level that covers a broad spectrum of industrialisation and development needs of a country through financial, tax, industry, trade and Science and Technology (S&T) should serve as a link that connects all relevant players/actors at various levels of NIS [19].

The policy imperatives should define specific types of innovation at NIS such as inbound Open Innovation (OI), Outbound Open Innovation (OOI) and Closed Innovation (CI). This guides players/actors at different levels of the NIS as they engage in innovation endeavours at a national level. The innovation policy should also cater for how the resources of the NIS are shared among the actors, given that some innovation ventures require substantial resources that may not be within individual or organisational reach. Collaboration and engagement of government and citizens in NIS is paramount for an innovative nation [20].

To tap on the creativity of the entire population, outreach and other mechanisms need to be put in place that involves citizens. It is a bottom-up approach to problem solving. Governments should be ready to reward and incentivise innovators in the economy through appropriate legislations and policies as a way to promote innovation at a national level [21]. Such recognition of innovativeness strengthen and motivate innovators to come up with more creative approaches to solving real societal problems such as unemployment, poverty, infrastructure issues, health issues and other myriad problems facing a country.

It is unquestionable that the government plays a significant role in encouraging and stimulating innovation in the economy. This is achieved through various ways such as enactment of legislation that is pro-innovation as well as sustainable economic development. Government, too, can change the state of happiness, commitment and dedication in a society towards innovation [18].
