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Beyond the technology race
TECHNOLOGICAL
FORECASTING
AND
SOCIAL
CHANGE
43, 381-382
(1993)
Book Review Annemieke J. M. Roobeek, 1990, 268 pages, $92.25.
Beyond the Technology Race, Elsevier,
Amsterdam,
This rather slim, unimposing book might be passed over because it doesn’t dazzle the casual reader at first sight, and it is a little pricey. But it offers a treasure trove of rare and valuable information on how governments are fostering innovation to manage the technological revolution now under way. Written by a Dutch economics professor, Beyond the Technology Race surveys the current policies, critical problems, and future prospects of almost all industrialized nations, including Europe, the United States, and Japan, to provide useful guides to government technology policy. The book takes a “contextual” perspective that goes beyond immediate matters, like the industrial policy vs. laissez-faire debate, to show how technological progress can only be understood meaningfully in its social context: business-government relationships, the vitality of a nation’s entrepreneurial ethic, economic infrastructure, the educational system, and all the other qualities that make up a country’s unique cultural character. As the author puts it: Technology policy is analyzed from a contextual point of view because [it] cannot be separated development of the postwar politico-economic order. . .
from the
The analysis that results from this perspective then leads to the main thesis of the book, which is presented in roughly the following logic running through individual chapters. The triad of microelectronics, bioengineering, and materials research comprises a technological revolution that now poses the greatest challenge facing modern nations because it is driving the transition to a new economic order. To succeed in making this historic change, governments are engaged in a “technology race” to develop and implement these technologies effectively. The existing social order is based on mass production technologies of the past, however, so it is in crisis because present corporate structures and other social organizations are too cumbersome for innovation. Various nations are experimenting with policies to move in this new direction, but they fail to appreciate that a “hidden dimension” of cultural characteristics is crucial to fostering technical innovation. Thus, governments must devote greater effort to understanding and shaping this more subtle social dimension, primarily by redefining business, government, education, and other central social institutions. I feel the greatest strength of this book is the wealth of substantiating data presented in tables running through the main chapters: detailed lists of government funding for various technology programs by individual nations, OECD data on R&D expenditures and patents, evaluations of nations in terms of their strength in various technological fields, comparisons of government policies and cultural characteristics, and much more. The weaknesses of the book are minor but noteworthy. There is the common academic tone of vague, rambling generalizations that we seem to have a hard time replacing with direct, lively language that is more readable and stimulating. My biggest disappointment is
0
1993 Elsevier Science Publishing
Co., Inc.
0040-1625/93/$6.00
382
BOOK REVIEW
that after laboring so mightily, the book produces a small mouse for its conclusion-a broader social perspective is needed to understand and foster technological innovation more effectively. Who could disagree, but what is the emerging model of government technology policy? It seems fairly clear to me that the most effective policies today are patterned along roughly the following principles: 1. Government controls are being replaced by deregulation, privatization, competition, and other market features. The collapse of the Communist bloc offers the most obvious example. 2. National infrastructures are being optimized by lowering tax rates, improving the educational system, creating powerful new information systems (like the data superhighways proposed for the United States), dropping trade barriers, and the like. 3. Developmental agencies like Japan’s MIT1 are using industrial policies to target strategic amounts of funding to crucial generic technologies, industries, organizations, and consortia. 4. Government officials are defining a new role as facilitators in which they bring key parties together to encourage collaborative new ventures, resolve disputes, or simply exchange views. The best way to grasp this model is to see it as a national equivalent of a research laboratory. If the central imperative of the new social order is to develop powerful new technologies, then it would follow that the role of government is roughly analogous to the role of an executive managing a high-tech corporation or research organization. The above four principles embody the same requirements in both cases- develop a flexible, dynamic system that allows creative freedom while ensuring accountability for results, and then provide the resources, information, and leadership support to encourage innovative excellence. In fairness, it may be inappropriate of me to expect all this since the book was written a few years ago before these trends looked so clear, and Professor Roobeek is certainly entitled to view the field differently. Despite our minor differences, 1 strongly recommend this carefully thought-out work to anyone interested in government technology policy. Our understanding of how to foster innovation could not be more crucial as a technological revolution rages around the globe, and the author offers an incisive, penetrating analysis that one is unlikely to find elsewhere, buttressed by a compendium of data that alone warrants to book’s price. Beyond the Technology Race should find its rightful place in every serious library as a reference on technology policy and a seminal analysis of the relationship between technological innovation and society. WILLIAM E. HALAL Washington, D. C. Received 18 January 1992
FORECASTING
AND
SOCIAL
CHANGE
43, 381-382
(1993)
Book Review Annemieke J. M. Roobeek, 1990, 268 pages, $92.25.
Beyond the Technology Race, Elsevier,
Amsterdam,
This rather slim, unimposing book might be passed over because it doesn’t dazzle the casual reader at first sight, and it is a little pricey. But it offers a treasure trove of rare and valuable information on how governments are fostering innovation to manage the technological revolution now under way. Written by a Dutch economics professor, Beyond the Technology Race surveys the current policies, critical problems, and future prospects of almost all industrialized nations, including Europe, the United States, and Japan, to provide useful guides to government technology policy. The book takes a “contextual” perspective that goes beyond immediate matters, like the industrial policy vs. laissez-faire debate, to show how technological progress can only be understood meaningfully in its social context: business-government relationships, the vitality of a nation’s entrepreneurial ethic, economic infrastructure, the educational system, and all the other qualities that make up a country’s unique cultural character. As the author puts it: Technology policy is analyzed from a contextual point of view because [it] cannot be separated development of the postwar politico-economic order. . .
from the
The analysis that results from this perspective then leads to the main thesis of the book, which is presented in roughly the following logic running through individual chapters. The triad of microelectronics, bioengineering, and materials research comprises a technological revolution that now poses the greatest challenge facing modern nations because it is driving the transition to a new economic order. To succeed in making this historic change, governments are engaged in a “technology race” to develop and implement these technologies effectively. The existing social order is based on mass production technologies of the past, however, so it is in crisis because present corporate structures and other social organizations are too cumbersome for innovation. Various nations are experimenting with policies to move in this new direction, but they fail to appreciate that a “hidden dimension” of cultural characteristics is crucial to fostering technical innovation. Thus, governments must devote greater effort to understanding and shaping this more subtle social dimension, primarily by redefining business, government, education, and other central social institutions. I feel the greatest strength of this book is the wealth of substantiating data presented in tables running through the main chapters: detailed lists of government funding for various technology programs by individual nations, OECD data on R&D expenditures and patents, evaluations of nations in terms of their strength in various technological fields, comparisons of government policies and cultural characteristics, and much more. The weaknesses of the book are minor but noteworthy. There is the common academic tone of vague, rambling generalizations that we seem to have a hard time replacing with direct, lively language that is more readable and stimulating. My biggest disappointment is
0
1993 Elsevier Science Publishing
Co., Inc.
0040-1625/93/$6.00
382
BOOK REVIEW
that after laboring so mightily, the book produces a small mouse for its conclusion-a broader social perspective is needed to understand and foster technological innovation more effectively. Who could disagree, but what is the emerging model of government technology policy? It seems fairly clear to me that the most effective policies today are patterned along roughly the following principles: 1. Government controls are being replaced by deregulation, privatization, competition, and other market features. The collapse of the Communist bloc offers the most obvious example. 2. National infrastructures are being optimized by lowering tax rates, improving the educational system, creating powerful new information systems (like the data superhighways proposed for the United States), dropping trade barriers, and the like. 3. Developmental agencies like Japan’s MIT1 are using industrial policies to target strategic amounts of funding to crucial generic technologies, industries, organizations, and consortia. 4. Government officials are defining a new role as facilitators in which they bring key parties together to encourage collaborative new ventures, resolve disputes, or simply exchange views. The best way to grasp this model is to see it as a national equivalent of a research laboratory. If the central imperative of the new social order is to develop powerful new technologies, then it would follow that the role of government is roughly analogous to the role of an executive managing a high-tech corporation or research organization. The above four principles embody the same requirements in both cases- develop a flexible, dynamic system that allows creative freedom while ensuring accountability for results, and then provide the resources, information, and leadership support to encourage innovative excellence. In fairness, it may be inappropriate of me to expect all this since the book was written a few years ago before these trends looked so clear, and Professor Roobeek is certainly entitled to view the field differently. Despite our minor differences, 1 strongly recommend this carefully thought-out work to anyone interested in government technology policy. Our understanding of how to foster innovation could not be more crucial as a technological revolution rages around the globe, and the author offers an incisive, penetrating analysis that one is unlikely to find elsewhere, buttressed by a compendium of data that alone warrants to book’s price. Beyond the Technology Race should find its rightful place in every serious library as a reference on technology policy and a seminal analysis of the relationship between technological innovation and society. WILLIAM E. HALAL Washington, D. C. Received 18 January 1992