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Journal Articles
Inventing modern invention: The professionalization of technological progress in the US
Over the course of the mid-19th and early 20th century, the US transformed from an agricultural economy to the frontier in technology. To study this transition, we digitize half a […]
Over the course of the mid-19th and early 20th century, the US transformed from an agricultural economy to the frontier in technology. To study this transition, we digitize half a million pages of patent yearbooks that describe inventors, organizations and technologies on over 1.6M patents. We combine this with demographic information from US census records and information on corporate research from large-scale repeated surveys of industrial research labs. Our data reveal that in the early 1920s a new system of innovation — based on teamwork and engineers — started to rapidly replace the existing craftsmanship-based invention that had dominated innovation in the 19th century. We argue that this new system relied on an organizational innovation: industrial research labs. These labs supported high-skill teamwork, replacing the collaborations within families with professional ties in firms and industrial research labs. The systemic shift in innovation had far-reaching consequences: it changed the division of labor in invention, led to an explosion of novelty and teamwork, and reshaped the geography of innovation in the US.
For a deeper dive into the research and visuals, explore this analysis by the Complexity Science Hub.
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Working Papers
Global Trends in Innovation Patterns: A Complexity Approach
Technological know-how in a country shapes its growth potential and competitiveness. Scientific publications, patents, and international trade data offer complementary insights into how ideas from science, technology, and production evolve, […]
Technological know-how in a country shapes its growth potential and competitiveness. Scientific publications, patents, and international trade data offer complementary insights into how ideas from science, technology, and production evolve, combine, and are transformed into capabilities. Analyzing their trajectories enables a more comprehensive and multifaceted understanding of the whole innovation process, from generating ideas to internationally commercializing products. We analyze the production patterns in these three domains, documenting the differences between advanced and emerging market economies. We find that future income, patenting, and publishing growth correlate with the economic complexity indices calculated from these domains. Capabilities embedded in the country also shape future diversification opportunities and make the innovation process path dependent. Lastly, we also show that diversification opportunities can be inferred across innovation domains.
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Working Papers
Innovation Policies Under Economic Complexity
Recent geopolitical challenges have revived the implementation of industrial and innovation policies. Ongoing discussions focus on supporting cutting-edge industries and strategic technologies but ignore the impact on economic growth. In this paper, researchers explain why effective innovation policies should be place-based and multidimensional, leveraging countries’ existing capabilities and addressing countries’ current problems.
Recent geopolitical challenges have revived the implementation of industrial and innovation policies. Ongoing discussions focus on supporting cutting-edge industries and strategic technologies but hardly pay attention to their impact on economic growth. In light of this, we discuss the design of innovation policies to address current development challenges while considering the complex nature of productive activities. Our approach conceives economic development and technological progress as a process of accumulation and diversification of knowledge. This process is limited by the tacit nature of knowledge and by countries’ binding constraints to growth. Consequently, effective innovation policies should be place-based and multidimensional, leveraging countries’ existing capabilities and addressing countries’ current problems. This contrasts policies that lead to economic efficiencies, such as copying other countries’ solutions to problems that countries do not currently have.
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Working Papers
Inventing Modern Invention: The Professionalization of Technological Progress in the US
Between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries, the US transformed from an agricultural economy to the frontier in science, technology, and industry. We study how the US transitioned from traditional craftsmanship-based […]Between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries, the US transformed from an agricultural economy to the frontier in science, technology, and industry. We study how the US transitioned from traditional craftsmanship-based to today’s science-based innovation. To do so, we digitize half a million pages of patent yearbooks that describe inventors, organizations, and technologies on over 1.6M patents and add demographic information from US census records and information on corporate research activities from large-scale repeated surveys on industrial research labs. Starting in 1920, the 19th-century craftsmanship-based invention was, within just 20 years, overtaken by a rapidly emerging new system based on teamwork and a new specialist class of inventors, engineers. This new system relied on a social innovation: industrial research labs. These labs supported high-skill teamwork, replacing the collaborations within families with professional ties in firms and industrial research labs. This shift had wide-ranging consequences. It not only altered the division of labor in invention, but also reshaped the geography of innovation, reestablishing large cities as epicenters of technological progress and introduced new barriers to patenting for women and foreign-born inventors that have persisted into the 21st century.
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Working Papers
Scientific and Technical Innovation in the UAE: A Capability-based Approach
The success or failure of the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) mid- and long-term growth strategy will, in large part, be determined by innovation. The country aims to continue transitioning from […]The success or failure of the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) mid- and long-term growth strategy will, in large part, be determined by innovation. The country aims to continue transitioning from its past focus on oil and gas, energy-intensive products, and re-exporting services to a future economic model increasingly relying on high-value, knowledge-intensive goods and services. A successful transition will necessitate importing and adapting frontier foreign innovation, but also creating a world-class innovation ecosystem at home.
Part of this effort will entail developing further the country’s Research and Development (R&D) capabilities. While significant catch-up is already visible, much remains to be done to bring the UAE’s R&D output in line with the ambitions assigned by its leadership. The production of scientific publications and patents has been rapidly increasing over the past few years. However, the current level of scientific publications and international patenting activity remains below that of aspirational peers, such as Singapore and Norway, but also fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
One of the reasons may be simple: there are not enough researchers in the UAE. The proportion of researchers in the UAE’s workforce is below what is expected for such an advanced economy. While the UAE has been successful at attracting foreign students and skilled workers, including in STEM fields which underpin R&D activities, this has not translated into a higher density of researchers in the labor force. Determining whether that results from low current demand for R&D skills due to the country’s current economic structure or from difficulties in producing or attracting R&D talent is difficult, although both likely contribute to the issue.