This book is based on a study of 84 technological innovations that won Queen's Awards in 1966 and 1967. Nearly 40 of these are presented as well-documented but readable case histories. The topics range from new antibiotics to fast patrol boats, from an improved way of making bread to aircraft equipment, from new building materials and techniques to scientific instruments, from automatic gearboxes to guided missiles. Many points of interest are covered in the discussion. Is innovation more often 'pushed' by scientific or technological discoveries or more often 'pulled' by the needs of the market or of management? Is is true that outstanding individuals are necessary for success? Is it true that the time-lag between discovery and exploitations is shortening? Can one specify optimum sizes for research teams? What is the role of basic reseach? These are some of the issues raised in the course of a wide-ranging discussion of factors affecting technological innovation.

This book illustrates that, although innovation has always mattered in economic development, simply increasing expenditure in creating knowledge may not be the answer: we need to look at the whole system through which such knowledge translates to value creation. The contributors explore the implications of the changing twenty-first century context of networked, global and increasingly open innovation a world in which knowledge flows become as important as knowledge creation. In so doing, they address four key questions: what is the context within which innovation occurs in the UK? How do new firms form on the basis of knowledge and its deployment? How do established firms access and use knowledge to improve their current activities and generate new directions? What technical and organizational infrastructures enable these activities? Drawing out lessons for future research, this book will be of great interest to academics concerned with science and innovation policy and its implementation. Managers and policy makers involved in innovation and technology strategy, and with developing responses to new challenges such as open innovation , will also find much to interest them within this book.

Technology is constantly changing our world, leading to more efficient production. In the past, technological advancements dramatically increased wages, but during the last three decades, the median wage has remained stagnant. Many of today's machines have taken over the work of humans, destroying old jobs while increasing profits for business owners and raising the possibility of ever-widening economic inequality. Author James Bessen argues that avoiding this fate will require unique policies to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to implement the rapidly evolving technologies. At present this technical knowledge is mostly unstandardized and difficult to acquire, learned through job experience rather than in classrooms. Nor do current labor markets generally provide strong incentives for learning on the job. Basing his analysis on intensive research into economic history as well as today's labor markets, the author explores why the benefits of technology take years, sometimes decades, to emerge. Although the right policies can hasten this process, policy has moved in the wrong direction in recent decades, protecting politically influential interests to the detriment of emerging technologies and broadly shared prosperity.