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This book concerns the description of the dynamics of technological activities with knowledge that may be useful for the generation of innovations and policies for economic development and prosperity. Nevertheless, this book shall not be considered a text on management of technology innovations; in fact, it principally describes the dynamics of the formation of new technologies and not the effects of new technologies in the socio-economic system. Actually, technology innovation does not have any fundamental theory based on a general model of technology that makes possible the explanation of technological processes occurring in organizational structures such as R&D and startup-venture capital (SVC) systems, as well as in the nascent industrial platform system. The knowledge of dynamics of processes and structures of innovation may contribute to those theories useful for the management and promotion of innovation. Furthermore, knowledge of the dynamics of technology might be complementary to other disciplines, such as the economy of innovation, Of course, technology innovation is an extremely complex field and we are aware that our description of technology dynamics cannot be an exhaustive vision of this subject, but it may contribute to better understanding. The arguments about innovation are treated from a technological point of view, and not through a scientific or economic vision. This means that technology dynamics does not enter discussions about the complex relations and models existing between technology innovation and business or economic activities. Rather, it considers the existence of an important interface between technology and both scientific research and economic reality, but limits the study to technological factors that directly influence scientific, economic, and business activities. Description of technology dynamics is therefore not based on scientific or economic considerations, but on taking inspiration from analogies between biological evolution and technological evolution despite the existence of some important differences between them. This analogy was observed for the first time by George Basalla, professor of history of technology at the University of Delaware, and was reported in his book on the evolution of technology [1]. Technology dynamics mainly conceives innovation through processes that are apt for its realization, and not through the relations that innovation has with scientific or economic environments; it therefore sees organizational structures for innovations in terms of existing relations and behaviors internal to a technology. On the other hand, if there is vast literature on the study of technology innovation activities in relation to scientific research, and even more on R&D effects on economic growth, while sources of funding, performances, incentives, and motivations for technology innovation activities are reasonably well considered by academics and policymakers, the complex process by which scientific results are exploited and transformed in new technologies through an innovation process is poorly documented and studied little [2]. For these reasons, in writing this book, only a minor part of the literature on technological innovation related to economic and business activities has been taken into consideration in the study of technology dynamics; only what appeared coherent with the reality of a long experience in technology innovation was selected. A particular aspect considered in writing this book is the contribution to the study of certain territorial innovation systems that present a dynamics of technology innovation that is largely different from that of typical industrial R&D activities. These systems occur in the case of the Italian industrial districts and in the case of the Silicon Valley. Many fundamental aspects of technology dynamics have been identified by comparing these two systems with the traditional industrial system for the development of new technologies. The aim of this book is to describe the complex activity of technology innovation starting from generation of innovative ideas and their transformation into new technologies, and it is based on the idea that technology evolves continuously with time, and is changed by innovations characterized by a dynamics constituted by technological processes occurring in organizational structures such as R&D, the SVC system, and the nascent system of industrial platforms. Furthermore, it has been considered that an important source of new technologies is also constituted by the use of technologies particularly through learning by doing (LbyD), defined as an activity, increasing manufacturing, designing and use experience, leading to a positive macroeconomic production externality independently of bringing additional capital or work, and even R&D investments [3]. In the study of technology dynamics, various concepts and models are used that are the result of an innovative approach useful in developing descriptions of the reality of innovation. The validity of the described processes and structures is represented by their potential to explain innovative phenomena coherently with the many real examples of histories of technology innovations reported in the literature or experienced directly by the author. The study of technology dynamics is fundamentally based on a suitable definition of technology and a general model of technology that is able to explain: the various technological processes [4], the various organizational structures cited previously, such as that of R&D projects activity [5], the SVC system [6], and the industrial platforms system [7]. These structures are the result of an evolution that started in Germany around 1870 with the R&D activities in the field of dyes [1], and further evolved in the second half of the twentieth century with the entry of numerous types of actors, making R&D other than in industrial laboratories into what has been called by Georges Haour the system of distributed innovation [8], enriched with new models of business in what it has been called by Henry Chesbrough an open innovation regime [9]. Such evolution at the beginning of the twenty-first century has also given birth to a new form of relations between industrial demand and offers of technologies in the context of what has been called industrial platform, finding its diffusion in the applications of ICT in the manufacturing industry [7]. However, all these organizational structures shall not be considered alternative, but rather, evolutionary. Actually, R&D is present in SVC activity and startups may be included in the structure of an industrial platform. In fact, all these organizational structures have been formed in response to needs for the development of various types of technologies and the existence of different strategies of innovation financing. In the description of processes and structures of technology innovation, we have made reference to ideas, models and real cases reported in the literature that confirm the reality of our descriptions; however, we have not tried to search and to report all existing literature that is coherent with our ideas, limiting us to a few references that we have considered as valid examples for explaining processes and structures of technology dynamics. The models described in this book concerning technology and the simulation of R&D and SVC activities may have a mathematical description useful for the study of the models. However, in the text of the book we have tried to give an exhaustive but qualitative description without use of mathematical expressions, which are reported instead in the appendices of the book for readers who may be interested in these aspects of the models. Finally, it should be noted that in the study of technology dynamics, despite the strong relation that exists between science and technology, we have made a distinction between scientific activity and technology innovation activity, considering that, in our opinion, corresponding processes and organizational structures influencing technology dynamics are different, resulting in differences in various aspects of management of these two activities, taking into consideration at the same time the relation of technology to science following the views of Bruno Latour with his definition of technoscience [10].
After this introductory chapter, this book includes four other main chapters. The second chapter discusses a general definition of technology and the origin of new technologies based on combinatory processes exploiting or not scientific results. The adopted model of technology is then explained, along with its use in the description of processes and steps composing the technology innovation activity from the generation of the innovative idea to the use of the new technology. We then further discuss the processes of transfer of technologies associated with a definition of know-how, and the relation of the model of technology with patents. The third chapter describes the three organizational structures: Research and Development (R&D) systems, Start-up Venture Capital (SVC) systems with their respective simulation models and industrial platform systems, followed by the comparative study of these three organizational structures. The fourth chapter discusses some applications of technology dynamics concerning the description of the various aspects of the innovation process, applications in statistical studies, particularly on research and innovation studies, on the relation between R&D investments and growth, and on studies based on patents. Finally, suggestions are presented, derived by the study technology dynamics, about the promotion of technology innovations. The book concludes with a fifth chapter, which describes the main results that have been found in technology dynamics studies.
References
[1]Ā Ā Ā Ā Basalla G. 1988, The Evolution of Technology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
[2]Ā Ā Ā Ā Auerswald P.E., Branscomb L.M. 2003, Valley of Death and Darwinian Seas: financing the invention to innovation transition in the United States, Journal of Technology Transfer, 28, 227ā239.
[3]Ā Ā Ā Ā Arrow K.J. 1962, The economic implications of learning by doing, Review of Economic Studies, 29, 155ā173.
[4]Ā Ā Ā Ā Bonomi A., Marchisio M. 2016, Technology modelling and technology innovation: how a technology model may be useful in studying the innovation process, IRCrES Working Paper, 3/2016.
[5]Ā Ā Ā Ā Bonomi A. 2017, A technological model of R&D process, and its implications with scientific research and socio-economic activities, IRCrES Working Paper, 2/2017.
[6]Ā Ā Ā Ā Bonomi A. 2019, The start-up venture capital innovation system: comparison with industrially financed R&D projects system, IRCrES Working Paper, 2/2019.
[7]Ā Ā Ā Ā Bonomi A. 2018, I Canali Innovativi di Industria 4.0 e le PMI, IRCrES Working Paper, 7/2018.
[8]Ā Ā Ā Ā Haour G. 2004, Resolving the innovation paradox: enhancing growth in technology company, Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
[9]Ā Ā Ā Ā Chesbrough H.W. 2003, Open innovation: the new imperative for creating and profiting from technology, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
[10]Ā Ā Ā Ā Latour B. 1987, Science in action, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
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2.1 Definition of Technology
The activity that has existed since the dawn of humanity and has developed through the production of artefacts, products, and services, is built around a concept that is not clearly defined and carries out a whole range of meanings from the Greek original word techne, translated as technique in English and French, Technik in German, and tecnica in Italian, and typically used in philosophical discussions [1]. English word technology, technologie in French, Technologie in German and tecnologia in Italian, are formed by a combination of Greek words, techne and logos, meaning originally discussion about the technique and now largely used by people involved in this activity, either in a general context or in reference to a specific technology. When speaking about technology dynamics, we intend the word technology to be defined more accurately: an ecosystem that includes all the specific technologies with their interactions and evolution.
There are many operational definitions given to technology, such as the production of artefacts and services, or a collection of devices and practices available to a culture, and often, an application of science for the production of goods and services. Actually, the more useful definition of technology, for the purpose of the study of technology dynamics, is the general definition proposed by Brian Arthur in his book on the nature of technology [2], simply, a means to fulfil a human purpose. There is another aspect of technology that is of interest, considering the human purposes in using a technology. In fact, a technological activity may be seen as a set of physical, chemical, and biological phenomena in action that produce some expected effects that may be considered independently of the human purposes for their exploitation. A corollary of this view is the neutral nature of technology; the benefitting or dangerous aspects of its effects depend on the means and purpose of its use by humans, and not by the nature of the technology. For example, bows and arrows may be used to kill prey to ensure survival, or to kill a man during a fight. Also, if it is true that very often a technology is developed for a specific purpose, that does not limit the fact that it may be used for another completely different purpose. On the other hand, considering technology as an exploitable effect of a set of physical, chemical, and biological phenomena, it is easy to understand the importance of science in the generation of new technologies.
There is also a diffused use of the word technology to indicate a certain type of technologies that do not have technological, but socio-economic, objectives. These technologies, often also called new technologies, are normally based on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) that are able to typically develop new services in the social and economic fields, using capabilities such as: big data storage, cloud computing, tools such as computers or smartphones, and infrastructures such as Wi-Fi and internet. These technologies are generated typically by a combination of informatic and communication expertise with new ideas for possible social, commercial, or economic applications. Applications include financial and banking activities, social networks, e-commerce, marketing, and social behaviour. There are similarities, but also many differences with innovations with technological purposes, and different criteria, not of technical nature, such as the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) i.e., the minimum development that shall be reached to start customers market testing, and the possibility of pivoting the start-up objective if the market target is not reached. Furthermore, these types of technologies are not normally related to scientific research. Although these types of technologies have reached a great importance from social and economic perspectives, they are not taken into consideration in the description of processes and structures of technology dynamics in this book, because of the great differences in their development process and in their objectives that are socio-economic, rather than technological in nature. On the other hand, it should be noted that these new technolog...
