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Problems of measuring technological change
TECHNOLOGICAL
FORECASTING
AND SOCIAL CHANGE
32, 395400
(1987)
Book Reviews Grupp, Hariolf, TUV Rheinland,
ed., Problems of Measuring 1987, 324 pages.
Technological
Change,
Cologne,
Verlag
This book is a report on a seminar held November l l-13,1985. The seminar was sponsored jointly by: the Institute for Policy Science at the University of Saitama, Japan; the Research Policy Institute at the University of Lund, Sweden; and the Fraunhofer Institute in Karlsruhe. The purpose of the seminar was to assess progress inmeasuringtechnological change. The bulk of the book is taken up by the papers presented at the seminar: nine original papers and five reprints of papers published elsewhere (the paper by Saviotti, for instance, was published in this journal in Volume 27, Number 2/3, May 1985). The papers cover the spectrum of methods used for technology measurement: R&D expenditures, patent counts, bibliometric methods, and the use of standards (especially popular in Germany). The second chapter of the book presents a summary of the contributions and discussion. This summary, the work of the editor, presents some interesting contrasts in approaches to technology measurement in the different countries involved. The U.S. system of “science indicators” published by the National Science Foundation, despite its well-known shortcomings, was considered a good model by many of the participants, who regretted that their own nations did not yet have something like it. Conversely, however, there seemed to be more utilization of bibliometric methods and patent counts in Sweden, Germany, and Japan than in the U.S. The Office of Technology Assessment and Forecast at the U.S. Patent Office has, for instance, recently been downgraded, and U.S. activities in patent-counting were represented at the seminar only by Dr. Francis Narin of Computer Horizons Inc. This summary, short as it is, presents a good survey of the international state of the art in technology measurement. The papers themselves are a mixed bag. Some, such as those by Saviotti, by Narin, and by Grupp and Hohmeyer, are strongly methodological presentations. Many of the remainder deal with substantive matters with little or no basis in theory of technology measurement. The paper by Kodama, for instance, describes the structure of basic research in Japan, while the paper by Schraft is essentially a description of robotics technology. The conclusion one can draw from this book is pretty much the same conclusion reached at the seminar on technology measurement which I moderated in the fall of 1983 and whose papers were printed in the May 1985 issue of this journal: we still don’t have a good theoretical understanding of how to measure technology. There are many approaches, none of which can be shown to be significantly better than the others. However, a lot of people are working on the problem, in virtually all the industrialized nations. Progress is likely, but not much has been made yet. In view of the preliminary nature of the results presented, this book is likely to be of interest only to specialists in the field. Those, however, can be grateful that it is available so quickly after the seminar. The book is well made and nicely bound, despite being photooffset from typescripts and journal reprints. JOSEPH P. MARTIN0 Associate Editor Received 18 June 1987 0 1987 Elsevier,
Science Publishing
Co., Inc.
004&1625/87/$03.50
FORECASTING
AND SOCIAL CHANGE
32, 395400
(1987)
Book Reviews Grupp, Hariolf, TUV Rheinland,
ed., Problems of Measuring 1987, 324 pages.
Technological
Change,
Cologne,
Verlag
This book is a report on a seminar held November l l-13,1985. The seminar was sponsored jointly by: the Institute for Policy Science at the University of Saitama, Japan; the Research Policy Institute at the University of Lund, Sweden; and the Fraunhofer Institute in Karlsruhe. The purpose of the seminar was to assess progress inmeasuringtechnological change. The bulk of the book is taken up by the papers presented at the seminar: nine original papers and five reprints of papers published elsewhere (the paper by Saviotti, for instance, was published in this journal in Volume 27, Number 2/3, May 1985). The papers cover the spectrum of methods used for technology measurement: R&D expenditures, patent counts, bibliometric methods, and the use of standards (especially popular in Germany). The second chapter of the book presents a summary of the contributions and discussion. This summary, the work of the editor, presents some interesting contrasts in approaches to technology measurement in the different countries involved. The U.S. system of “science indicators” published by the National Science Foundation, despite its well-known shortcomings, was considered a good model by many of the participants, who regretted that their own nations did not yet have something like it. Conversely, however, there seemed to be more utilization of bibliometric methods and patent counts in Sweden, Germany, and Japan than in the U.S. The Office of Technology Assessment and Forecast at the U.S. Patent Office has, for instance, recently been downgraded, and U.S. activities in patent-counting were represented at the seminar only by Dr. Francis Narin of Computer Horizons Inc. This summary, short as it is, presents a good survey of the international state of the art in technology measurement. The papers themselves are a mixed bag. Some, such as those by Saviotti, by Narin, and by Grupp and Hohmeyer, are strongly methodological presentations. Many of the remainder deal with substantive matters with little or no basis in theory of technology measurement. The paper by Kodama, for instance, describes the structure of basic research in Japan, while the paper by Schraft is essentially a description of robotics technology. The conclusion one can draw from this book is pretty much the same conclusion reached at the seminar on technology measurement which I moderated in the fall of 1983 and whose papers were printed in the May 1985 issue of this journal: we still don’t have a good theoretical understanding of how to measure technology. There are many approaches, none of which can be shown to be significantly better than the others. However, a lot of people are working on the problem, in virtually all the industrialized nations. Progress is likely, but not much has been made yet. In view of the preliminary nature of the results presented, this book is likely to be of interest only to specialists in the field. Those, however, can be grateful that it is available so quickly after the seminar. The book is well made and nicely bound, despite being photooffset from typescripts and journal reprints. JOSEPH P. MARTIN0 Associate Editor Received 18 June 1987 0 1987 Elsevier,
Science Publishing
Co., Inc.
004&1625/87/$03.50