Business Week had a big portion of their current issue devoted to a special report (Get Creative!), and the transition from the "Knowledge Economy" to the "Creativity Economy".  The various articles deal with issues ranging from outsourcing and the commoditization of knowledge to the need to create "consumer experiences" and to innovate in new areas such as "Imagination Breakthrough projects".  This is absolutely a MUST READ edition!

BW also has in this section a ranking of the top 20 innovative companies of the world  (hat tip: Dragos from @rgumente), based on a pool taken this year of 940 senior executives in 68 countries.  The leader is Apple, with about 25% of the vote (more than the sum of the #2 and #3 players - 3M and Microsoft & GE, respectively; note that Microsoft was tied with GE).  The "end user experience" factor definitely helped Apple, but I was really surprised by the relatively low ranking of Microsoft, and wonder if this is just due to the bashing that the company suffers.  I echo Dragos' sentiment (maybe it's an opportunity for people like Robert Scoble to publicize more the Microsoft success stories).

Also noteworthy to mention that, in keeping with the spirit of the story, Business Week is launching a launching a new online Innovation & Design portal.