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The empowerment of small and medium economic enterprises will drive economic growth. The purpose of this study is to analyze (1) how economic growth works as a determinant of increasing the productivity of small and medium enterprises; (2) the influence of government policies, business capital support, and the strengthening of human resource capacity on the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs); and (3) strategies to increase business productivity and the sustainability of SMEs. We used a sequential explanatory design, which is a combination of quantitative and qualitative research, and data were obtained through observation, in-depth interviews, surveys, and documentation. The results of the study indicate that economic growth coupled with technological innovation will boost the productivity of economic enterprises and increase people's welfare. Government policies, business capital support, and human resource capacity strengthening simultaneously have a positive effect on the development of SMEs, with a determination coefficient of 97.6%. Based on the results of this study, an economic growth strategy based on technological innovation is recommended for government decision making as an effort to increase the productivity of community economic enterprises in Makassar City, Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western economies nowadays are confronted with a predicted productivity slowdown resulting in diminishing rates of economic growth. While some scholars see these developments as an indication of the approaching end of growth due to fully exploited technological opportunities, this article contends that the possibilities for radical, paradigm changing innovations are far from being exploited. Building on contributions from Schumpeter and Georgescu-Roegen, we argue that the human capacity to expand technological and intellectual frontiers must not be underestimated. In a selective retrospect, our narrative identifies and describes four historical incidents reflecting different perceptions of the power of the human mind. It synthesizes the mentioned economists' viewpoints with the effects of these incidents to reproduce the intellectual roots of the recently developed concept of Dedicated Innovation Systems (DIS).We conclude that traditional macro-level indicators are not suitable to capture transformation processes, which is why we propose to interpret growth indicators and the alleged productivity slowdown quite differently. We argue that human ingenuity and transformation processes dedicated to sustainability will open up new opportunity spaces, thereby combining an increase in economic welfare and social justice with a reduction of negative environmental impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]