The technological capabilities of nations: The state of the art of synthetic indicators

Composite synthetic indicators of the technological capabilities of nations have been used more frequently over the last years becoming a sort of Olympic medal table of the innovation race. The European Commission, specialised United Nations Agencies, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, and individual scholars have developed several of these measurement tools at macroeconomic level. All these indicators are based on a variety of statistical sources in order to capture the multidimensional nature of technological change. This paper reviews these various exercises and: i) it brings into light the explicit and implicit assumptions on the nature of technological change; ii) it discusses their pros and cons; and iii) it explores the consistency among the results achieved. Most of the final rankings at the country level are fairly consistent, but significant discrepancies for some nations emerge. The value of synthetic indicators of technological capabilities for public policy, company strategies and economic studies is finally discussed.     

The evolution and use of a policy and research tool: assessing the technological capabilities of firms

Firms differ widely in their technological capabilities. Innovation policies are likely to be more or less successful depending upon the level of such abilities of those firms to which a policy is aimed. Without data on the proficiencies, strengths and weaknesses of firms within the target group(s), the construction and application of innovation or industrial policies are likely to miss salient factors in the ability of firms to benefit from the support that is intended. An in-depth knowledge of firms’ capabilities can allow policy-makers to target support according to the specific needs of firms. This paper describes the Technology capability audit tool (or CAT) that was designed to assist policy-makers in differentiating between firms and in understanding their level of ‘innovation readiness’. Examples of the use of the CAT are presented from South Korea, Thailand, Ireland, Brazil and the UK.     

Mediating effect of technological innovation capabilities between dynamic capabilities and competitiveness of research and technology organisations

Technological innovation capabilities (TICs) are important for organisations to obtain core competencies and competitive advantages. This study assesses the relationship between dynamic capabilities (DCs) and TICs, and analyses the effect of TICs on competitiveness in research and technology organisations. The article presents an empirical evidence from a survey of Iranian large public research institute (LPRI). In order to explore the relationship among the constructs of the survey, the model was proposed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results of confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the measurement scale of the variables is valid. Moreover, SEM confirmed that both TICs and DCs enhance competitiveness. Finally, it was indicated that TICs play a mediating role in the relationship between DCs and competitiveness.     

On semi-industrialized countries and the acquisition of advanced technological capabilities

The last decades have witnessed a breaking down of the hitherto quasi-monopoly in industrial and technological development held by highly industrialized countries. Man-made changes in comparative advantage due to rapid accumulation of human capital, development of technical institutions and public policies in support of enterprise development and innovation, have led to the emergence of advanced technical capabilities in a number of semi-industrialized countries. Study of selected instances of their technological achievement shows that they cannot be adequately interpreted as necessarily requiring the working of a well-integrated national innovation system. They seem to be instead path, or process, dependent and determined by the circumstantial convergence of requisite skills, appropriate institutions and supportive public policies.     

From information technology to bioinformatics: Evolution of technological capabilities in India

This paper explores a trend in the development of innovation in emerging economies: exaptive technological capabilities. A growing proportion of innovation is originating in emerging economies that, being resource-constrained in a dynamic and uncertain environment, requires leveraging existing capabilities and recombining with new knowledge resources. An evolutionary biology model is applied to a process model whereby initial technological capabilities are renewed by the firm given an external selection event. Using a detailed case study across 6 years, this paper investigates the exaptation process of Information Technology (IT) capabilities into bioinformatics by an Indian IT firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Findings suggest that just leveraging existing technological capabilities alone is a model set for failure. Such a tactic ignores the environment of the new technology application area. By investing in the needed complementary resources, TCS corrected its initial path to open source their software and offer consulting services on how to utilize the software and, thus, create intellectual property. These insights are valuable not only for the innovation management of traditional IT services to life sciences, but more broadly for firms in emerging economies that hope to renew and build exaptive technological capabilities to enter unforeseen new application areas by leveraging existing technological capabilities.     

Scientific publications, patents and technological capabilities in late-industrializing countries

Investments in learning in late-industrializing countries have began to include outputs in the form of scientific publications and patents. We examine the patterns which these outputs take by correlating their growth rates with foreign investment, capital formation, R&D expenditures and other variables. We also analyze the scientfic fields of Publications. Where possible, we compare the patterns of latecomers with those af advanced countries, and try to assess whether there has been convergence or divergence in the number of patents and scientific publications over time.     

Business planning based on technological capabilities: Patent analysis for technology-driven roadmapping

This research responds to the needs of technology-driven business by focusing on how firms can find new business opportunities based on their technological capabilities. It proposes a technology-driven roadmapping processes that starts from capability analysis for technology planning and ends with business opportunity analysis for market planning. We suggest the use of patent data as a proxy measure of technological capability for this purpose and develop four analysis modules — Monitoring, Collaboration, Diversification, and Benchmarking — to support decision-making during the process. Various analysis techniques such as text-mining, network analysis, citation analysis and index analysis are applied to discover meaningful implications from the patent data, which are summarized in four maps — Actor-similarity map, Actor-relations map, Technology-industry map, and Technology-affinity map. For the purpose of illustration, RFID-related patents are collected and the 18 firms with the most patents used, focusing especially on the third biggest. We believe using roadmapping and patent analysis together can play complementary roles for each other. Putting roadmapping techniques together with patent analysis can increase the objectivity and reliability of technology roadmap, while using patent analysis restricted to technological information together with roadmapping techniques can ensure that a more valuable breadth of strategic information is extracted from patents.     

The nature of 'failure' in a technological initiative: the case of the europrocessor

This paper looks at the recat histoty of a short-lived inter-organizational European initiative in the field on microprocessors.The initiative is treated as an emerging socio-technical constituency and the concepts of alignment and “diamond of alignment” are used to explain the reasons behind its failure. It shows that the merging Europrocessor constituency advanced the alignment process in certazn directions but failed to do so in the critical dimension of “'competitive technologies”. The negotiating parties locked themselves into an antagonistic competitive situation and, subsequently, failed to extricate thenuelves in time to save the emerging constituency.A brief overview of microprocessor technology, the main factors detemzining market adoption and the position of the European industty is included.     

Indigenous technological capabilities,emerging market firms and the aerospace industry

While emerging market economies have developed significant technological capabilities and increased their share of global value-added in aerospace, they have done so largely through utilising foreign direct investment (FDI) and offset arrangements to enter supply chains that remain dominated by European and American firms. The paper examines whether emerging markets are developing indigenous technological capability in aerospace technologies. Drawing on patent data from the Thomson Innovation database, the study seeks to understand whether anchor tenant capability is indeed forming in emerging markets. A tech-mining method is applied. The study suggests that China, in particular, has dramatically increased its innovative capacity in the area. However, the data also demonstrate the significant advantages enjoyed by incumbent firms from Europe and the USA, suggesting that the complexity of aircraft R&D remains a formidable barrier that can only be surmounted by determined government policies and anchor firms equipped with substantial innovation capabilities.     

On the nature,function and composition of technological systems

This paper suggests that the economic growth of countries reflects their developmental potential which, in turn, is a function of the technological systems in which various economic agents participate. The boundaries of technological systems may or may not coincide with national borders and may vary from one techno-industrial area to another. The central features of technological systems are economic competence (the ability to develop and exploit new business opportunities), clustering of resources, and institutional infrastructure. A technological system is defined as a dynamic network of agents interacting in a specific economic/industrial area under a particular institutional infrastructure and involved in the generation, diffusion, and utilization of technology. Technological systems are defined in terms of knowledge/competence flows rather than flows of ordinary goods and services. In the presence of an entrepreneur and sufficient critical mass, such networks can be transformed into development blocks, i.e. synergistic clusters of firms and technologies which give rise to new business opportunities.     

Drivers of technological capabilities in developing countries: An econometric analysis of Argentina,Brazil and Chile

This paper contributes to the literature that analyses the determinants and measurement of Technological Capabilities (TCs) with empirical evidence on Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Based on the World Bank's Investment Climate database, the study covers firms from the manufacturing sector. We first construct a Capability Score to provide a preliminary measure of Technological Capabilities at the firm level. We then test it econometrically to explore the determinants of TCs and exports and evaluate their reciprocal relationship through a Two Stage Probit. Our results show that exports and TCs significantly and positively influence each other in some of these countries.     

Environmental issues as threats and opportunities for technological innovation

In this article we deal with how large chemical corporations perceive and handle threats and opportunities deriving from environmental problems. We suggest that coalitions or networks are a useful way to analyse the dynamics of the links between separate aspects of the business. A differentation is made between production, innovation and strategy networks. Networks transcend firm boundaries and an analytical distinction is made between networks that remain inside and those external to the corporation. We concentrate on strategy formulation and implementation and on the role of intra-organizational structures. In a pilot study, we interviewed key persons in five chemical companies in the USA and in The Netherland. Conclusions are that firms increasingly adjust their strategies, that this leads to organizational changes; and that environmental, safety and health (ESH) units play some role in this strategy reformulation by becoming part of networks inside the corporation. Some suggestions for further research are given.     

Measurement of level and gap of technological development

In the present world of exponential technological growth, technological cooperation is a major imperative. In selecting optimal partners for technological cooperation, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the levels and gaps of a technology with respect to the cooperating countries/industries/firms. This is because both large and small gaps in technology make cooperation difficult. However, technological cooperation is a viable proposition for partners with moderate gaps, since the benefits would be mutual. Gaps and levels can be measured in an absolute or relative sense, and also in qualitative or quantitative terms. This paper presents procedures for the analysis of levels and gaps with respect to specific technologies. Illustrative examples from selected fields are included. It is hoped that a disaggregated analysis of levels and gaps in terms of the four basic components of technology can give better insights for technology planning.     

Identifying technological capabilities with different degrees of coherence: The challenge to achieve high technological sophistication in latecomer software companies (based on the Bulgarian case)

The paper introduces the notion of coherence of technological capabilities. It argues that in analysing technological capabilities (TC) the analysis needs to go beyond investigation of constituent capabilities and should take into account the level of coherence among the constituent capabilities. The phenomenon of different degree of coherence of TC is detected while exploring the TC in Bulgarian software companies. Significant differences emerge between the TC of domestic-oriented vs. export-driven companies in the accumulation of constituent capabilities. But it is the analysis of the coherence of TC, which proved capable to capture the real differences in capability accumulation: strong coherence occurs only in ‘export’ TC. This analysis revives the debate about possibilities for leapfrogging by latecomers by developing software industries. Based on the results the study revises the ‘walking on two legs’ hypothesis and also points that the optimistic forecasts about the possibilities for leapfrogging by the latecomer countries by developing indigenous software industries might have been overestimated.     

技术创新的催化剂:差异化战略——动态网络能力与数字化转型桥梁与变革机制

在中国式现代化的背景下,如何发挥科技创新作为现代化的核心动力成为关键议题。本文以2011—2021年我国上市公司为研究对象,深入探讨并分析差异化战略在技术创新中的作用机制。结果发现,企业差异化战略的强度与技术创新成果之间存在显著正向关联,这种影响主要通过动态网络能力的构建与数字化转型机制的引入而实现。此外,环境的不确定性对差异化战略影响企业技术创新产生负向调节作用。拓展研究发现,差异化战略在提升企业创新质量方面的效果较为有限,尤其是在优质专利指数等创新质量评价标准上的提升表现相对减弱。研究结论为优化动态网络能力、深化数字化转型、克服技术障碍,以实现符合中国式现代化要求的目标提供了实质性的理论支撑和指导。     

A fuzzy-based roadmapping model for enhancing high-tech small firms’ technological entrepreneurship capabilities: cases of Iran

ABSTRACT

Technology-based firms need to survive via technological changes. Technological entrepreneurship is concentrated on identifying and exploiting the tech-opportunities for creating product innovation. This paper introduces a fuzzy-based tool to promote innovation throughout firms in order to enhance technological entrepreneurship capabilities (TEC). The effort involves identifying components of TEC to develop the inference system, specifying the fuzzy relationship among these components, assessing the TEC in firms, and designing a TEC roadmap after a fuzzy-based gap analysis. Designed roadmaps introduce technological change priorities as a growth path to firms to move up along the ladder of competitiveness. Based on the results, a method for categorizing firms into four distinct levels that involve passive, reactive, proactive and innovative is introduced. Hence, firms have an action plan to enhance TEC from passive to innovative level in a time-based transition pathway.     

Modelling insurgent-incumbent dynamics: Vector autoregressions,multivariate Markov chains,and the nature of technological competition

The struggle between sail and steam is a long-standing theme in economic history. But this technological competition story has only partly tackled, since most studies have appreciated the rivalry between the two alternative modes of commercial sea carriage in the late 19th century while the early period has remained relatively under-analysed. This paper models the early dynamics between the two capital goods using a vector autoregression approach (VAR) and a Multivariate Markov Chain approach (MMC). We find evidence that the relationship was non-linear, with a strong indication of complementarities and cross-technology learning effects.     

The robustness of robust implementation

We show that a mechanism that robustly implements optimal outcomes in a one-dimensional supermodular environment continues to robustly implement ε-optimal outcomes in all close-by environments. Robust implementation of ε-optimal outcomes is thus robust to small perturbations of the environment. This is in contrast to ex-post implementation which is not robust in this sense as only trivial social choice functions are ex-post implementable in generic environments.     

The state of technological and social change: Impressions

As the long-wave theory has predicted, we are seeing a period of consolidation in which the pace of radical technological innovation seems exceeded by the pace of social change. Peter Drucker's dictum, that technology changes faster than society, appears now to have been reversed. The article offers research and anecdotal support for these assertions, linking them to specific trends and trend interactions, including patents and intellectual property litigation, new product development, and politics and revolution.     

The robustness of multidimensional signalling equilibria

This paper demonstrates upper hemi-continuity of a multidimensional signalling equilibrium correspondence.