Governments have recognized for decades the dynamic role played by microelectronics, computers, and telecommunications in the modern economy. Although Europe's deficiencies in these crucial sectors had long been acknowledged, it was not until the 1980s that European nations began collaborating to develop and promote high-tech industries. Their collaboration gives rise to many questions. Why, for example, did the joint efforts come at such a late date rather than in the 1960s or '70s? And how is it possible to work together in economically sensitive areas? These questions point to fundamental issues in the areas of international cooperation, international institutions, and technology policy. Before the institution of the collaborative programs ESPRIT (European Strategic Programme for Research and Development in Information Technology), RACE (R & D in Advanced Communications-technologies in Europe), and EUREKA (European Research Coordination Agency) in the 1980s, each European country sought its own technological renaissance through protection of national firms behind walls of technical standards, procurement preferences, and research subsidies. This thorough, carefully researched work examines the breakdown of these walls. It will appeal to political scientists, economists, and scholars of technology and Western Europe interested in the political contours of the high-tech landscape. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1992.

Governments have recognized for decades the dynamic role played by microelectronics, computers, and telecommunications in the modern economy. Although Europe's deficiencies in these crucial sectors had long been acknowledged, it was not until the 1980s that European nations began collaborating to develop and promote high-tech industries. Their collaboration gives rise to many questions. Why, for example, did the joint efforts come at such a late date rather than in the 1960s or '70s? And how is it possible to work together in economically sensitive areas? These questions point to fundamental issues in the areas of international cooperation, international institutions, and technology policy. Before the institution of the collaborative programs ESPRIT (European Strategic Programme for Research and Development in Information Technology), RACE (R & D in Advanced Communications-technologies in Europe), and EUREKA (European Research Coordination Agency) in the 1980s, each European country sought its own technological renaissance through protection of national firms behind walls of technical standards, procurement preferences, and research subsidies. This thorough, carefully researched work examines the breakdown of these walls. It will appeal to political scientists, economists, and scholars of technology and Western Europe interested in the political contours of the high-tech landscape. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1992.

The Digital Age was expected to usher in an era of clean production, an alternative to smokestack industries and their pollutants. But as environmental journalist Elizabeth Grossman reveals in this penetrating analysis of high tech manufacture and disposal, digital may be sleek, but it's anything but clean. Deep within every electronic device lie toxic materials that make up the bits and bytes, a complex thicket of lead, mercury, cadmium, plastics, and a host of other often harmful ingredients. High Tech Trash is a wake-up call to the importance of the e-waste issue and the health hazards involved. Americans alone own more than two billion pieces of high tech electronics and discard five to seven million tons each year. As a result, electronic waste already makes up more than two-thirds of the heavy metals and 40 percent of the lead found in our landfills. But the problem goes far beyond American shores, most tragically to the cities in China and India where shiploads of discarded electronics arrive daily. There, they are "recycled"-picked apart by hand, exposing thousands of workers and community residents to toxics. As Grossman notes, "This is a story in which we all play a part, whether we know it or not. If you sit at a desk in an office, talk to friends on your cell phone, watch television, listen to music on headphones, are a child in Guangdong, or a native of the Arctic, you are part of this story." The answers lie in changing how we design, manufacture, and dispose of high tech electronics. Europe has led the way in regulating materials used in electronic devices and in e-waste recycling. But in the United States many have yet to recognize the persistent human health and environmental effects of the toxics in high tech devices. If Silent Spring brought national attention to the dangers of DDT and other pesticides, High Tech Trash could do the same for a new generation of technology's products.

High Tech Society is the most definitive account available of the technology revolution that is transforming society and dramatically changing the way we live and work and maybe even think. It provides a balanced and sane overview of the opportunities as well as the dangers we face from new advances in information technology. In plain English, Forester demystifies "computerese," defining and explaining a host of acronyms or computer terms now in use.Tom Forester is Lecturer and Director of the Foundation Programme in the School of Computing and Information Technology, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. He is the editor/author of five books on technology and society.

At the close of the twentieth century, Denmark, Finland, and Ireland emerged as unlikely centers for high-tech competition. In When Small States Make Big Leaps, Darius Ornston reveals how these historically low-tech countries managed to assume leading positions in new industries such as biotechnology, software, and telecommunications equipment. In each case, countries used institutions that are commonly perceived to delay restructuring to accelerate the redistribution of resources to emerging enterprises and industries. Ornston draws on interviews with hundreds of politicians, policymakers, and industry representatives to identify two different patterns of institutional innovation and economic restructuring. Irish policymakers worked with industry and labor representatives to contain costs and expand market competition. Denmark and Finland adopted a different strategy, converting an established tradition of private-public and industry-labor cooperation to invest in high-quality inputs such as human capital and research. Both strategies facilitated movement into new high-tech industries but with distinctive political and economic consequences. In explaining how previously slow-moving states entered dynamic new industries, Ornston identifies a broader range of strategies by which countries can respond to disruptive challenges such as economic internationalization, rapid technological innovation, and the shift to services.

This book explores the multiple challenges that the global technology shift is posing to the EU. It raises the question of how European societies will mobilize the positive effects of the rapid technological advancement in digitalization, robotization, and artificial intelligence, while mitigating the negative consequences in terms of job losses, cybercrime, and social and political polarization. From the vantage point of experts from economics, law, and political science, this book provides insights into the role that the EU is and ought to be playing in regulating global platform companies, addressing taxation in the digital economy, mitigating job displacements on the labour market, and tackling ethical concerns of artificial intelligence and the prospect of digital democracy. All chapters are based on up-to-date research findings, succinct assessment of the current state of affairs and ongoing debates. They conclude with policy recommendations for policy makers on European and national levels. ‘This volume has a solid foundation in the highly topical question of technological change. More importantly, the individual chapters are written by qualified scholars whose analytically advanced contributions are likely to interest a wide audience. I can strongly recommend this book for scholars and students in political science, law, and economics.’ —Carl Fredrik Bergström, Professor of European Law, Uppsala University, Sweden ‘When the Commission took office in 2019, it put forward its vision as to how Europe’s digital future could be ‘shaped’ in a way that makes the digital transition enrich people’s lives and make sure that European businesses fully benefit from the opportunities offered by digital technologies. Then COVID drastically accelerated the take up of digital solutions. As the digital transformation affects every single one of us it is important that we have the widest possible debate on its inherent risks and opportunities. This is why I warmly recommend this book. It brings together an inter-disciplinary set of scholars able to analyse the multifaceted implications of the technological shift. And I could not agree more with the book’s main takeaway, i.e. that we need to create an adaptive regulatory framework capable of harnessing the positive effects of technological changes while buttressing the negative impact on European society and citizens.’ —Ambassador Kim Jørgensen, Head of Cabinet to Commissioner and Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, European Commission

High-tech businesses form a crucial part of entrepreneurial activity – in some ways presenting very typical examples of entrepreneurship, yet in some ways representing quite different challenges. The uncertainty in innovation and advanced technology makes it difficult to use conventional economic planning models, and also means that the management skills used in this area must be more responsive to issues of risk, uncertainty and evaluation than in conventional business opportunities. Specifically focusing on the mix of theory and practice needed to accurately inform students, the key topics covered include: uncertainty and innovation entrepreneurial finance marketing technological innovations high-tech incubation management. Including case studies to give practical insights into genuine business examples, this comprehensive book has a distinctly ‘real-world’ focus throughout. Edited by a multi-national team, it draws together leading writers and researchers from across Europe, making it a must-read for all those involved in advanced entrepreneurship with specific interests in high-tech start-ups.