Innovation is a chief driver of the economy, but it doesn’t come easy. Jlabs CEO Judy Estrin, in this 2008 Entrepreneur Thought Leader Lecture at Stanford University, notes that real innovation often takes decades – and both society and the business world have become extremely short-sighted. As a result, they settle on incremental advances, rather than significant ones. In addition, as companies become more risk averse, support for real innovation has dwindled, which ultimately is hurting American companies.