Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Economics - Industrial Economics, grade: 70/100, Stellenbosch Universitiy (Economics), course: Economics of Technological Change, language: English, abstract: A country ́s economic performance and wealth is clearly linked to the degree of the country ́s industrialization process. This process is in turn connected with the diffusion of technology within and into the country (Clark et al. 1993). In the special case of developing countries the next step of industrialization must not even be an innovative one because the technology already exists in developed countries (Henry/Kneller/Milner 2009). Additionally the absorption of newer technologies should even become easier the bigger the lag to the technical frontier becomes. Hence, it has to be questioned why many developing countries are not able to efficiently overtake and use technologies from developed countries to reduce their lack of development although those technologies seem to be so easily available. The expansion of information and communication technology should make the access to them even easier. Another important point is that reaching a certain level of industrialization enables a country ́s industry to be innovative itself by adjusting existing technologies or by creating new connections between different “old” technologies. In this way further development could be reached like the economic success stories of East Asian countries, e.g. South Korea, show. It has to be questioned which lessons today ́s developing countries mainly in Africa can learn from these countries while keeping in mind that they do have other specific preconditions. This essay is structured as follows. It starts with outlining some necessary definitions. It is followed by an observation which requirements developing countries need to successfully absorb technologies. Afterwards it provides a look at the special case of South Korea and its development that shows how technology absorption could look like in a developing country. Then the essay continues with a guideline for a government ́s trade and technology policy before it ends with some final conclusions.

This book elaborates upon the dynamic changes to Korean firms and the economy from the perspective of catch-up theory. The central premise of the book is that a latecomer’s sustained catch-up is not possible by simply following the path of the forerunners but by creating a new path or ‘leapfrogging’. In this sense, the idea of catch-up distinguishes itself from traditional views that focus on the role of the market or the state in development.

While economic theory considers technological progress to be a key factor for sustained long-term economic growth and job creation, technology absorption is particularly an important driver for 'catch-up growth.' This study seeks to identify channels of technology transfer and absorption for Southern African enterprises, constraints to greater technology absorption, and discuss policy options open to governments and the private sector in light of relevant international experience. It has been done based on sector and enterprise case studies carried in four countries: South Africa, Mauritius, Lesotho and Namibia. This study uses a combination of econometric and in depth case study analyses to investigate the presence of specific channels of absorption and the various constraints that the firms face to effectively absorb this technology. There is evidence of learning by exporting, and spillovers from FDI underscoring the importance of trade and FDI as important channels of absorption. The study finds that four countries while open to trade and FDI face a number of constraints that inhibit them from maximizing the economic benefits from technology absorption. These constraints include a major skills mismatch, insufficient research and development and ineffective industry-research linkages. While outlining broad policy directions in four areas namely increasing skills supply, fostering learning through trade, increasing domestic spillovers from FDI and incentivizing greater firm level research and development, it lays out some priority areas for each of the four countries. We hope that the issues discussed and the dialogue initiated during the course of this study would lend itself to policy design to foster technology absorption with a view to higher growth and job creation in this highly globalized world.

This book tackles the issue of technological and economic catch-up by examining the role that public research institutions and local policy play in the promotion of this process by fostering local science-technology linkages with incoming foreign-owned multinationals.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Innovation is a pivotal driving force behind economic growth. Technological capability deepens and diversifies industrial activity, which fundamentally enhances growth potential. Consequently, failure to build effective technological capability can lead to slow long-term economic growth. This book synthesizes and interprets existing knowledge on technology upgrading failures in order to better understand the challenges of technology upgrading in emerging economies. The objective is to bring together diverse evidence on three major dimensions of technology upgrading: paths of technology upgrading, structural changes in the nature of technology upgrading, and the issues of technology transfer and technology upgrading. Knowledge on these three dimensions is synthesized at the firm, sector, and macro levels across different countries and world macroregions. Compared to the challenges and uncertainties facing emerging economies, our understanding of technology upgrading is sparse, unsystematic, and scattered. The recent growth slowdown in many emerging economies, often known as the middle-income trap, has reinforced the importance of understanding the technology upgrading challenges they experience. While our understanding of these issues from the 1980s and 1990s is relatively more systematised, the more recent changes that took place during the globalization and proliferation of global value chains, and the effects of the 2008 financial crisis, have not been explored and compared synthetically. The current effects of COVID-19, geopolitical struggles, and the growing concern around environmental sustainability add significant complexity to an already problematic situation. The time is ripe to take stock of our existing knowledge on processes of technology upgrading in emerging economies and make further inroads in research on this crucial issue.

This book lays out a rationale, provides supporting evidence, and suggests promising pathways for Sub-Saharan Africa to sustain current economic growth by aligning its tertiary education systems with national economic strategies and labor market needs.