In Brief

The UNU-MERIT PhD programme in Economics and Policy Studies of Technical Change is focused on the economics, policy and institutional foundations of technological change in five main areas described below.

Technology and Development
The current pace of change makes the development of informed public policies a daunting task world-wide, but nowhere more than in developing countries. Understanding and mapping innovation patterns, monitoring the emergence of new technologies and assessing their likely socio-economic impacts are key challenges for policymakers today. Three broad interrelated research areas address key issues for developing countries in the area of technology, innovation and development.

• How can we analyse the international economy, in terms of its rules, organization, governance, and how these affect direction, and impact of technological change?
  
• To support technological upgrading and innovation, what is the right design mix of science & technology and innovation policies?
  
• Can developing countries learn from the developed countries' experience with geographic clustering of production and innovation? How do organisations, institutions and inter-firm relationships create sector-based, regional or national 'systems' that shape patterns of innovation? and what is the role of small and medium enterprises in growth, development and technical change?

Macroeconomic and Political Economy Analysis
Technological change is a major determinant of long-term economic growth and international trade patterns in developed and developing countries. It is one focus of government efforts to promote specific industries or hasten the advance of technical change, and technological upgrading is closely connected with trade in goods and services. Various questions and issues arise in the contexts of both industrialised and developing countries.

• Have past policies aimed at advancing the speed of technical progress or hastening the adoption of advanced technologies from other parts of the world been successful? How can we design policies that better achieve these goals?
  
• How can theory help us understand the role of technology in economic growth and international trade?
  
• What are the interactions between the internationalisation of business activity and technological change?

Microeconomic and Organisational Analysis
Technology is an important determinant of businesses' production opportunities and households' consumption activities in all types of economies. Moreover, technology shapes patterns of social organisation in the workplace and in the community. The relationships between technology, firm success, social networks are all important micro-economic foundations of macro-economic performance.

• What strategic opportunities does technological change present for companies seeking to grow and develop new markets?
  
• How does technology affect the organisation of production and of market structure? How can we use network analysis to understand invention, innovation and diffusion?
  
• What is the role of intellectual property rights laws with regard to the diffusion and generation of new knowledge, and how does this differ between industrialised and industrialising countries? Does the open-source or open-innovation model present a new opportunity for innovation and growth; could this be especially relevant for developing countries?

The Historical and Empirical Foundations of Innovation, Growth and Development
Insight into the historical and empirical foundations of technical change is necessary for understanding its implications for analytical and policy analysis. The history of the industrialised countries can provide lessons, both positive and negative, for today's developing countries.

• What is the relationship between technological change and productivity growth, or economic growth in terms of developing new products and services?
  
• What are the conditions for successful technological development, and can such development be sustainable? How can a society make a transition to a sustainable development path?
  
• Are there distinctive national systems of innovation, or are national differences the result of uneven convergence to a common approach to the production and use of new technologies?

Technology and Industrial Policy
Technology is a central concern of government policy makers seeking to promote growth but avoid its negative by-products. Technology policies have taken various forms throughout the world, as governments have responded to different situations problems and challenges. Government policies may have unintended consequences and implementation problems that can be avoided through knowledge of policy experience and theory.

• What are the limits to government promotion of technological change and transfer? Can policy successfully intermediate in the transfer process?
  
• What are the relationships between economic and science & technology policies?
  
• How are past experiences useful in developing and implementing more effective policies for promoting economic growth and social change?
  
• What methods can be employed to eliminate or minimise negative consequences? Is there a tension between growth and sustainability, and if so, can it be successfully managed by policy?