The new economy of technological change (From Annual Meeting of TECNIO)

This morning, I’m participating in the 1st Annual Meeting of TECNIO (TECNIO ACC1Ó), the catalan network of innovation agents, in Barcelona, representing the Microsoft Innovation Center – Productivity Center(www.productivitycenter.org), one of the TECNIO member.

The first lecture of the working sessions was in charge of Mr. Phillip McCann, professor of Economic Geography University of Groningen with the title “The new economy of technological change”

I want to share with you some of his thougths and proposals, that I consider are very interesting to know and think about:

• Most of patents don’t have economic value.
  They don’t arrive to the market
• Technology is not science.
  It’s about knowledge and information and must be linked with innovation and competitiveness
• Deregulation and competition creates opportunities  for profits and that stimulates entepreneurship
• Innovation is all about different aspects of technology.
  It consits in “doing things better that implies competitiveness and derives in growth”
• How is knowledge generated, transfered or shared, and applied or embodied?
• Technology is embodied in people and systems
• Various concepts of capital
• Physical
• Human
• Social
• Organisational
• Institutional
• It’s not enough to have good technology.
  It has to be marketed.
• Types of innovation (OECD Oslo manual)
• Product innovation
• Process innovation
• Radical innovation (new products to market)
• Systems of innovation
• Sectorial innovation systems
• Technological innovation systems
• National systems of innovation
• Regional systems of innovation
• Wich specific innovation system is dominant depends on the previling industrial, organizational and geographical structure
• Elements/Aspects to consider in order to improve technology and economic development (author/guru)
• (Marshall): specialisation
• (Jacobs): Variety
• (Porter): mutual transparency and competition
• (Chinitz): nursery
• (Vernon): life cycle
• (Putnam): social capital and shared goals or values

I hope you will enjoy these ‘notes’.