Technology Generation, Technology Transfer, Technology Diffusion

Technology Generation

Technology refers to the use of tools, machines, materials, techniques and sources of power to make work easier and more productive. While science is concerned with understanding how and why things happen, technology deals with making things happen.

Development is closely related with technology. The stage of development the human being has arrived could have been possible without the advancement in technology. The radical change and advancement in the economy, as we observe today, is the result of the modern technology.

Technology has brought about efficiency and quality in the manufacturing sector. Technological advancement has reduced the risk involved in manufacturing enterprises. There has been tremendous improvement in the field of health the world over not only the average age of people has increased but the mortality rate has also declined considerably.

This could be possible only because of technological advancement in health sector. There is perhaps no field of human life which has not been affected by technology. Agriculture, industry, profession, health, education, art, political processes, recreation, religious activities and daily life activities all are under the influence of technology.

But, it is important to keep in mind that technological advancement has affected human life both positively as Well as negatively. Not only that life has become easy and comfortable, there are also indications of several threats to life and society in the future due to use/misuse of modern technology.

The nature and extent of development the human society has experienced by now is heading towards crises in future. The sustainability of development is in question today. This has happened only due to irrational use of technology.

It has been discussed here as to how development – economic as well as social – takes place with the advancement of technology but not without leaving a scar to threaten the human society. The development of technology, which itself is symptomatic of development, has brought about not only economic development but also radical changes in the social and cultural spheres of society.

Technology Transfer

For a long time economists considered investment as a means of growth. However, today, the rate of technological innovation and development is considered as a dominant factor leading to economic growth and long-term improvements in living standards.

It is now widely accepted that comparative advantage (leave aside a few exceptions) no longer depends on natural endowments, but is policy created.

Countries that fail to keep up with global technology often collapse, unable to maintain a given standard of living, much less to increase it. According to International Code 1981, technological transfer is defined as the transfer of systematic knowledge for the manufacture of a product, for the application of a process, or for the rendering of a service, and does not extend to the mere sale or lease of goods.

The contents include “knowledge, skills, and means to use and control the elements of production for the purpose of developing, delivering to users, and maintaining goods and services for which there is an economic and (or) social needs.” According to Alkhafaji, technology transfer can imply three different meanings:

1. It can be used to indicate the process whereby technical information originating in one institutional setting is adapted for use in another institutional setting.
2. It can refer to moving something from one person to another.
3. It can specifically indicate that technology has been transmitted, received, and applied.

The articulation of the concept of technology transfer is about four decades old. But now it is of importance to both the developed and developing countries as it has proved to be crucial to the processes of industrial growth and global integration.

Countries that fail to keep up with global technology often collapse, unable to maintain a given standard of living, much less to increase it. Technology transfer normally refers to transfer from advanced economies to developing or industrializing countries, but it may take place among the industrializing countries also.

The process of technology transfer is quite complex. Modes available are many and actors to participate may also be many. In terms of phases, they may be as under in a chronological sequence:

1. Material Transfer (transfer of new product or new material)
2. Design Transfer (to enable manufacture new product / material in host country)
3. Capacity transfer (transfer of capacity to adapt technology to local conditions)

In terms of players involved in transfer it may be:

1. Point-to-Point (single donor and single recipient)
2. Diffusion (many recipients)

Technology Diffusion

Technology diffusion can be defined as the process by which innovations are adopted by a population. Whether diffusion occurs and the rate at which it occurs is dependent on several factors including the nature and quality of the innovation, how information about the innovation is communicated, and the characteristics of the population into which it is introduced. Americans have come to demand state-of-the-art medical technology, despite its astronomical costs, and we place a huge emphasis on medical specialization. As we have seen, the coverage of health services by insurance companies actually creates a moral hazardtext annotation indicator to use high-cost services. And keep in mind “supply-side” competition—which can result in duplication of services and equipment.