The start of 2011 marked the moment that “innovation” arrived as the buzzword on lips of everyone from the president of the Consumer Electronics Association to the president of the United States. Invoked in totemic tones in one speech after another, business leaders have stressed “innovation” (often in contrast to “regulation”) as the cure for the world’s economic and cultural ills.

But while innovation enthusiasm was rising among business and government leaders, it also became fashionable in certain quarters to fret that we’re in the midst of an enduring innovation drought. ...