The innovation economy of the 20th century was admirable. It triggered a spectacular improvement in daily life conditions and sustained an incredible growth of the standards of living. But this economics of innovation was also disappointing. It has produced four big problems that we have to face nowadays. A new innovation economy is needed to respond to these problems by inventing mechanisms to redirect innovation. However, previous successes were partly based on a set of institutions and values, including the freedom to experiment and the autonomy of innovators visà-vis governments. How to solve this tension between freedom and direction? How to create a new innovation economy which will keep some of the ingredients which are so important to sustain this extraordinary dynamism, while developing the new instruments allowing overcoming the four aforementioned problems.