The Challenges of Technology and Economic Catch-up in Emerging Economies

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Innovation is a pivotal driving force behind economic growth. Technological capability deepens and diversifies industrial activity, which fundamentally enhances growth potential. Consequently, failure to build effective technological capability can lead to slow long-term economic growth. This book synthesizes and interprets existing knowledge on technology upgrading failures in order to better understand the challenges of technology upgrading in emerging economies. The objective is to bring together diverse evidence on three major dimensions of technology upgrading: paths of technology upgrading, structural changes in the nature of technology upgrading, and the issues of technology transfer and technology upgrading. Knowledge on these three dimensions is synthesized at the firm, sector, and macro levels across different countries and world macroregions.

Compared to the challenges and uncertainties facing emerging economies, our understanding of technology upgrading is sparse, unsystematic, and scattered. The recent growth slowdown in many emerging economies, often known as the middle-income trap, has reinforced the importance of understanding the technology upgrading challenges they experience. While our understanding of these issues from the 1980s and 1990s is relatively more systematised, the more recent changes that took place during the globalization and proliferation of global value chains, and the effects of the 2008 financial crisis, have not been explored and compared synthetically. The current effects of COVID-19, geopolitical struggles, and the growing concern around environmental sustainability add significant complexity to an already problematic situation. The time is ripe to take stock of our existing knowledge on processes of technology upgrading in emerging economies and make further inroads in research on this crucial issue.

Jeong-Dong Lee, Professor of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program on Technology Management, Economics, and Policy, Seoul National University,Keun Lee, Professor of Economics and Head of the Center for Comparative Economic Studies, Seoul National University,Dirk Meissner, Distinguished Professor and Head of the International Laboratory for Economics of Innovation, National Research University Higher School of Economics,Slavo Radosevic, Professor of Innovation Studies, University College London,Nicholas Vonortas, Professor of Economics and International Affairs and Director of the Institute of International Science and Technology Policy, The George Washington University

Jeong-Dong Lee is a Professor of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program on Technology Management, Economics, and Policy at Seoul National University. He is an editor of the journal Science and Public Policy. Since 2019, he has served as the Special Advisor to the President for Economy and Technology in the Office of the President, The Republic of Korea.


Keun Lee is a Professor of Economics and Head of the Center for Comparative Economic Studie at Seoul National University. He is an editor of Research Policy, and an associate editor of Industrial and Corporate Change. He previously served as the President of the International Schumpeter Society, and a member of the Committee for Development Policy of the UN.


Dirk Meissner is Distinguished Professor and Head of the International Laboratory for Economics of Innovation at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow. He serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Knowledge Management and International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management.


Slavo Radosevic is Professor of Innovation Studies at the University College London where he has also been acting and deputy director of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies. He acts as an expert for the EC, OECD, UNESCO, UNIDO, World Bank, UNECE, and several governments in CEE.

Nick Vonortas is Professor of Economics and International Affairs and Director of the Institute of International Science and Technology Policy at The George Washington University. He also holds a 'São Paulo Excellence Chair' in Technology and Innovation Policy at the University of Campinas, Brazil, and is an editor of the journal Science and Public Policy.