Each country has it's up's and downs.
Look at Egypt - a great culture when we were running around in mud huts chucking spears at each other.
When Marco Polo reached China what he found there must have been mind blowing - silk, gunpowder porcelain we were forever trying to catch up and work out how they'd done this.
As far as the industrial revolution goes I'd say there were a number of factors that came together all at the same time -
Enlightenment thinking and the development of scientic principles, availability of coal, iron ore, water power the political stability , growth of democratic government and decline in power of the traditional landed gentry freeing up entrepreneurs.
I certainly don't think it was anything endemic in the British character or biology, circumstances favoured us for a short period of time much as they'd favoured a lot of coutries before and after.