Technology upgrading of middle income economies: A new approach and results

We explore issues of measurement for technology upgrading of the economies moving from middle to high-income status. In exploring this issue, we apply theoretically relevant and empirically grounded middle level conceptual and statistical framework based on three dimensions: (i) Intensity (ii) breadth of technological upgrading, and (iii) technology and knowledge exchange. As an outcome, we construct a three-pronged composite indicator of technology upgrading based on 35 indicators which reflect different drivers and patterns of technology upgrading of countries at different income levels. We show that technology upgrading of middle-income economies is distinctively different from that of low and high-income economies. Our results suggest the existence of middle-income trap in technology upgrading - i.e. countries' technology upgrading activities are not reflected in their income levels. Based on the simple statistical analysis we show that the middle-income trap is present in all three aspects of technology upgrading, but their importance varies across different aspects. A trap seems to be higher for 'breadth' of technology upgrading than for 'intensity' of technology upgrading and is by far the highest for the dimension of knowledge and technology interaction with the global economy. Finally, our research shows that technology upgrading is a multidimensional process and that it would be methodologically wrong to aim for an aggregate index

Changing innovation systems in the developing country context: technology transfer and the new technological capabilities in the materials industry in Turkey

This thesis is concerned with analysing the extent that technology transfer contributes to the improvement and development of technological capabilities through learning at the firm level in a developing country context, and the impact of this process on the emergence and changes of key characteristics of innovation systems. Therefore, it investigates how innovation systems change over time and how they were influenced by technology transfer activities in the materials industry in Turkey between 1967 and 2001. As a contribution to the theory, the concept of technological capability is used as a bridge from the notion of technology transfer to that of the innovation system. Innovation system studies tend to rely on R&D statistics via innovation surveys for empirical analyses, whereas these could well be defined by qualitative data collected on technological capabilities through interviews. This thesis follows the latter route within an analytical framework that is designed for a firm-centred analysis. The qualitative data obtained from the interviews were transformed into categorical quantitative data to be used in multinomial logistic regression and linear regression analyses. This thesis shows firstly that firm-level capabilities were increasing over time during the period from 1967 to 2001 in the materials industry in Turkey. They were also increasing over time with the rising level of technological capabilities in the firms and the firms’ involvement in both collaborative relationships and in-house activities. Secondly, firmlevel capabilities shape the way the interactions in the innovation system change. As their level of technological capabilities deepen, firm interactions increase and shift to a moderate degree in plausible directions towards domestic agents, which are predominantly universities and research institutes. These findings support the firmdriven nature of the innovation systems