Well first off Elon Musk was born a non-American. He moved to the US at age 19. So I highly doubt he believes people in other countries aren't innovative.
But he's not saying other places can't innovate. He's saying that running SpaceX in other places is not as likely to be succesful. Some percent of that might be political posturing (they are reliant on politicans supporting NASA buying from them, and on politicans not passing regulation to ban private space travel). But I bet the bulk of it is a true sentiment on his part.
In order to found a rocket company you need the freedom to launch rockets. Now, that's not something anyone can just do on a whim in the US, even advanced hobbyists need permits, but it's possible to get the permits. In some places it would be impossible for a private enterprise to get those.
You also need a pool of exceptionally good engineers to recruit from (both straight out of good colleges, and experienced). While some countries like China have some recent success, and others like Russia have a longer history, the US still has the most rocket engineers free to pickup and start at a new company. That's not something that is likely to change soon.
But he's not saying other places can't innovate. He's saying that running SpaceX in other places is not as likely to be succesful. Some percent of that might be political posturing (they are reliant on politicans supporting NASA buying from them, and on politicans not passing regulation to ban private space travel). But I bet the bulk of it is a true sentiment on his part.
In order to found a rocket company you need the freedom to launch rockets. Now, that's not something anyone can just do on a whim in the US, even advanced hobbyists need permits, but it's possible to get the permits. In some places it would be impossible for a private enterprise to get those.
You also need a pool of exceptionally good engineers to recruit from (both straight out of good colleges, and experienced). While some countries like China have some recent success, and others like Russia have a longer history, the US still has the most rocket engineers free to pickup and start at a new company. That's not something that is likely to change soon.