Realizing Technological Change: The New Techno-Economic Paradigm

The Processes of Technological Innovation, …, 1990

Erkenntnis, 1989

Economic analysis has given rise to several conflicting accounts of technology and of the rate and directions of technological change. In this paper we examine some of the contrasting images of technology that have arisen in economics and we discuss some of the conceptual and methodological questions connected with the study of technological change (TC for short). We argue for a microeconomic approach in which TC is considered against the background of industrial, institutional and market structures. But we suggest that attempts to introduce into this framework cognitive models of scientific progress are doomed to failure, because of the fundamental differences between scientific and technological knowledge and the basic disanalogies between TC and scientific progress. In particular, we argue that the efforts of and others to treat technology and TC in a Kuhnian framework, by applying notions like technological paradigm, normal technology, and technological revolution, are misleading. By contrast, we hold that, given the influence of economic markets, industrial and institutional structures on the development of technology, it is more plausible to regard TC as a continuous and incremental process, rather than as suffering Kuhnian crises and revolutions. The paper is organised as follows. Section 1 introduces some basic concepts needed for the analysis of technological change. Section 2 contains some general remarks on technology in economics and reviews some of the main macroeconomic growth theories. In Section 3, we turn towards the more 'applied' perspective of microeconomic analysis, within the theory of the firm and industrial organisation, with emphasis on the recent work of Nelson and Winter (e.g., 1982). In Section 4 we deal with the conceptual relations between science and technology and the general question of the applicability of Kuhn's model of scientific change to TC. This serves as a basis for examining in Section 5 Dosi's approach to TC which embeds elements of Erkenntnis 30 (1989) 101-127. O 1989 by Kluwer Academic Publishers. M. R. DI NUCC1 PEARCE AND D. PEARCE microeconomic analysis within a Kuhnian conceptual framework. Lastly, in Section 6, we discuss what seems to be a basic principle governing TC which we call the principle of industrial-technological continuity. 1. TECHNOLOGY: The study of technology and technological change is a hybrid discipline that provides a natural meeting ground for philosophers, economists, sociologists and historians of the engineering and applied sciences. This is all to the good. Interdisciplinary research and the pooling of methods and expertise from different fields should lead to a better understanding of technological progress and its impact on society. Yet because of its hybrid nature, the study of technology is characterised by distinct and often contrasting research traditions. They diverge not only in their methodologies, but in their basic terminologies too. Even within a single discipline like economics, conceptual differences are striking, beginning with the notion of technology itself for which there is no universally accepted definition. Sometimes even compatible accounts of TC look very different from one another because they employ the concept of technology in a wider or narrower sense. Starting from the original meaning of technology as a body of knowledge about techniques, we can regard technological change as consisting of new knowledge about such techniques, and think of technological progress as comprising a special case of technological change. Following Freeman (1979), we distinguish technological from merely technical change, since the latter need not involve essentially new knowledge, but may refer simply to the adoption or diffusion of existing or improved techniques. 1 Borrowing a now standard classification first used by Schumpeter, TC can be analysed through the sequence invention -innovationdiffusion. The invention phase can be seen as related to the sphere of R&D. Research is directed at the enlargement of present knowledge and can be subdivided into basic and applied research. The stage of development deals with the application of research results (e.g., for the construction of prototypes and models), and should lead to an extension of the technical horizon, or of the technology, considered as the state of technical knowledge of an economy. The phase of innovation

Henrik Bruun and Janne Hukkinen in their article 'Crossing Boundaries: An Integrative Framework for Studying Technological Change' are set to outline the contours of a comprehensive framework, composed of EE, SCOT, and ANT, to serve for the study of technological change. The authors analyse EE, SCOT, and ANT in terms of the connections between the three approaches and their potential to complement each other. According to them the value of such an integrative framework is that it helps students of technology to choose research approaches. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the validity of using such a integrative framework as a tool for history of design studies.

The Processes …, 1990

Technological innovation is a change of a technical or scientific nature that introduces a good or service offered by a company or organization into the processes that develop within it in order to achieve greater competitiveness. In other words, this type of innovation corresponds to any technological modification of the product offered by the organization within its processes. Technological innovation is a type of innovation that relates exclusively to technology.

In the beginning of this report the reader will find information on what is technological change and how it is implemented. There are three general categories of I.S. developments: infrastructure developments, software developments, and database developments.

IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 2000

Definition: Technology is the combination of knowledge (science) and skills (techniques) to create a solution (technological object) that satisfies human needs or solve human problems. So technology can meet human needs. However, when applying technology we do not act on impulse, but rather we proceed in a careful and organized manner In other words, a specific work method is followed. This work method is called the technological process. Definition: The technological process is the work method used by technology and consists of the ordered sequence of steps that must be followed in order to meet a need or solve a problem.

WORKING PAPERS SERIES IN THEORETICAL AND APPLIED ECONOMICS, 2008

Word Count: 5,616 Technology evolution refers to changes in production processes or institutional arrangements that make it possible with a fixed set of resources to produce either (1) a greater quantity of a given product or service or (2) to produce new or qualitatively superior products or services. Technology evolution is the primary cause of rising living standards in modern economies, and the divergence of technological capabilities across countries is the chief reason for international differences in living ...

The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2021

Technological innovation is when inventions of new things and/or new ways of doing things are transformed into usable devices and applications to enable organizations and/or adopters to take advantage of important opportunities, to cope with problems or environmental threats. Technological innovation is an element of the complex system of technology directed to satisfy needs, achieve goals, and solve problems of adopters. The origin and diffusion of technological innovation are main characteristics of the evolution of technology to support wealth creation and the development of human societies.