Technological change

Short description: Process of invention, innovation and diffusion of technology or processes

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

|

Technological change or technological development is the overall process of invention, innovation and diffusion of technology or processes.[1][2] Technological change includes the invention of technologies (including processes) and their commercialization or release, research and development (producing emerging technologies), the continual improvement of technologies (toward goals such as maximizing profit), and the diffusion of technologies throughout industry or society (which sometimes involves disruption and convergence).

Template:History of technology sidebar

## Contents

* 1 Modeling technological change
* 1.1 Invention
* 1.2 Diffusion
* 2 Technological change as a social process
* 2.1 Elements of diffusion
* 2.2 Innovation
* 2.2.1 Communication channels
* 2.2.2 Social system
* 2.2.3 Time
* 3 Economics
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 5.1 Notes
* 5.2 Further reading
* 6 External links

## Modeling technological change

Linear model of innovation of three phases of technological change, now obsolete

In its earlier days, technological change was illustrated with a linear model of innovation, which has now been largely discarded for a model of technological change that involves innovation at all stages of research, development, diffusion, and use. When speaking about "modeling technological change", this often means the process of innovation. This process of continuous improvement is often modeled as a curve depicting decreasing costs over time (for instance fuel cell which have become cheaper every year). Technological change is also often modelled using a learning curve, e.g. Ct=C0 * Xt^-b

Technological change itself is often included in other models (e.g. climate change models) and was often taken as an exogenous factor. These days technological change is more often included as an endogenous factor. This means that it is taken as something you can influence. Today, there are sectors that maintain the policy which can influence the speed and direction of technological change. For example, proponents of the induced technological change hypothesis state that policymakers can steer the direction of technological advances by influencing relative factor prices and this can be demonstrated in the way climate policies impact the use of fossil fuel energy, specifically how it becomes relatively more expensive.[3] Until now, the empirical evidence about the existence of policy-induced innovation effects is still lacking and this may be attributed to a variety of reasons outside the sparsity of models (e.g. long-term policy uncertainty and exogenous drivers of (directed) innovation).[4] A related concept is the notion of directed technical change with more emphasis on price-induced directional rather than policy-induced scale effects.[5]

### Invention

Invention is the creation of something new, or a "breakthrough" technology. This is often included in the process of product development and relies on research. This can be demonstrated in the invention of the spreadsheet software. Newly invented technologies are conventionally patented.

### Diffusion

Main article: Physics:Diffusion of innovations

For the mathematical treatment of diffusion, see Logistic function.

Diffusion is the spread of a technology through a society or industry.[6] The diffusion of a technology theory generally follows an S-shaped curve as early versions of technology are rather unsuccessful, followed by a period of successful innovation with high levels of adoption, and finally a dropping off in adoption as a technology reaches its maximum potential in a market. In the case of a personal computer, it has made way beyond homes and into business settings, such as office workstations and server machines to host websites.

## Technological change as a social process

Underpinning the idea of a technological change as a social process is a general agreement on the importance of social context and communication. According to this model, technological change is seen as a social process involving producers and adopters and others (such as government) who are profoundly affected by cultural setting, political institutions, and marketing strategies.

In free market economies, the maximization of profits is a powerful driver of technological change. Generally, only those technologies that promise to maximize profits for the owners of income producing capital are developed and reach the market. Any technological product that fails to meet this criterion – even though they may satisfy important societal needs – are eliminated. Therefore, technological change is a social process strongly biased in favor of the financial interests of capital. There are currently no well established democratic processes, such as voting on the social or environmental desirability of a new technology prior to development and marketing, that would allow average citizens to direct the course of technological change.[7]

### Elements of diffusion

Emphasis has been on four key elements of the technological change process: (1) an innovative technology (2) communicated through certain channels (3) to members of a social system (4) who adopt it over a period of time. These elements are derived from Everett M. Rogers' diffusion of innovations theory using a communications-type approach.

### Innovation

Rogers proposed that there are five main attributes of innovative technologies that influence acceptance. He called these criteria ACCTO, which stands for Advantage, Compatibility, Complexity, Trialability, and Observability. Relative advantage may be economic or non-economic, and is the degree to which an innovation is seen as superior to prior innovations fulfilling the same needs. It is positively related to acceptance (e.g. the higher the relative advantage, the higher the adoption level, and vice versa). Compatibility is the degree to which an innovation appears consistent with existing values, past experiences, habits and needs to the potential adopter; a low level of compatibility will slow acceptance. Complexity is the degree to which an innovation appears difficult to understand and use; the more complex an innovation, the slower its acceptance. Trialability is the perceived degree to which an innovation may be tried on a limited basis, and is positively related to acceptance. Trialability can accelerate acceptance because small-scale testing reduces risk. Observability is the perceived degree to which results of innovating are visible to others and is positively related to acceptance.

#### Communication channels

Communication channels are the means by which a source conveys a message to a receiver. Information may be exchanged through two fundamentally different, yet complementary, channels of communication. Awareness is more often obtained through the mass media, while uncertainty reduction that leads to acceptance mostly results from face-to-face communication.

#### Social system

The social system provides a medium through which and boundaries within which, innovation is adopted. The structure of the social system affects technological change in several ways. Social norms, opinion leaders, change agents, government and the consequences of innovations are all involved. Also involved are cultural setting, nature of political institutions, laws, policies and administrative structures.

#### Time

Time enters into the acceptance process in many ways. The time dimension relates to the innovativeness of an individual or other adopter, which is the relative earliness or lateness with which an innovation is adopted.

Technological change can cause the production-possibility frontier to shift outward, allowing economic growth.

## Economics

In economics, technological change is a change in the set of feasible production possibilities.

A technological innovation is Hicks neutral, following John Hicks (1932), if a change in technology does not change the ratio of capital's marginal product to labour's marginal product for a given capital-to-labour ratio. A technological innovation is Harrod neutral (following Roy Harrod) if the technology is labour-augmenting (i.e. helps labor); it is Solow neutral (following Robert Solow) if the technology is capital-augmenting (i.e. helps capital).[2][8]

## See also

* Accelerating change
* Moore's law
* Cultural lag
* Investment-specific technological progress
* Posthumanism
* Productivity
* Productivity-improving technologies
* Second Industrial Revolution
* Technical change
* Technological innovation system
* Technological revolution
* Technological transitions
* Technological unemployment
* Theories of technology
* Wait calculation

## References

### Notes

1. ↑ Derived from Jaffe et al. (2002) Environmental Policy and technological Change and Schumpeter (1942) Capitalism, Socialisme and Democracy by Joost.vp on 26 August 2008
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 From The New Palgrave Dictionary of technical change " by S. Metcalfe.
• "biased and biased technological change" by Peter L. Rousseau.
• "skill-biased technical change" by Giovanni L. Violante.
3. ↑ Ruttan, Vernon W. "Technology, growth, and development: an induced innovation perspective." OUP Catalogue (2000).
4. ↑ Jaffe, Adam B., Richard G. Newell, and Robert N. Stavins. "Technological change and the environment." Handbook of environmental economics. Vol. 1. Elsevier, 2003. 461–516.
5. ↑ Acemoglu, Daron. "Directed technical change." The Review of Economic Studies 69.4 (2002): 781–809.
6. ↑ Lechman, Ewa (2015). ICT Diffusion in Developing Countries: Towards a New Concept of Technological Takeoff. New York: Springer. pp. 30. ISBN 978-3-319-18253-7.
7. ↑ Huesemann, Michael H., and Joyce A. Huesemann (2011). Technofix: Why Technology Won’t Save Us or the Environment, Chapter 11, "Profit Motive: The Main Driver of Technological Development", New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, Canada, ISBN 0865717044
8. ↑ J. R. Hicks (1932, 2nd ed., 1963). The Theory of Wages, Ch. VI, Appendix, and Section III. Macmillan.

### Further reading

Books

* Green, L. (2001). Technoculture, Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest, pp. 1–20.
* Jones, Charles I. (1997). Introduction to Economic Growth. W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-97174-0
* Kuhn, Thomas Samuel (1996). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd edition. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-45808-3
* Mansfield, Edwin (2003). Microeconomic Theory and Applications, 11th edition. W. W. Norton ISBN 0-393-97918-0
* Rogers, Everett (2003). Diffusion of Innovations, 5th edition, Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-2209-1

Articles

* Danna, W. (2007). "They Had a Satellite and They Knew How to Use It", American Journalism[clarification needed], Spring, Vol. 24 Issue 2, pp. 87–110. Online source: abstract and excerpt.
* Dickey, Colin (January 2015), A fault in our design . "Perhaps a brighter technological future lies less in the latest gadgets, and rather in learning to understand ourselves better, particularly our capacity to forget what we’ve already learned. The future of technology is nothing without a long view of the past, and a means to embody history’s mistakes and lessons." Aeon
* Hanlon, Michael (December 2014), The golden quarter. "Some of our greatest cultural and technological achievements took place between 1945 and 1971. Why has progress stalled?" Aeon

## External links

* v
* t
* e

Emerging technologies

Fields|

| Agriculture|

* Agricultural robot
* Cellular agriculture
* Closed ecological systems
* Cultured meat
* Genetically modified food
* Precision agriculture
* Vertical farming

|

Architecture|

* Arcology
* Building printing
* Contour crafting
* Domed city

Biomedical|

* Artificial uterus
* Ampakine
* Brain transplant
* Cryonics
* Cryoprotectant
* Cryopreservation
* Vitrification
* Suspended animation
* De-extinction
* Genetic engineering
* Gene therapy
* Head transplant
* Isolated brain
* Life extension
* Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence
* Nanomedicine
* Nanosensors
* Organ printing
* Personalized medicine
* Regenerative medicine
* Stem-cell therapy
* Tissue engineering
* Robot-assisted surgery
* Synthetic biology
* Synthetic genomics
* Virotherapy
* Oncolytic virus
* Tricorder
* Whole genome sequencing

Displays|

| Next generation|

* FED
* FLCD
* iMoD
* Laser
* LPD
* OLED
* OLET
* QD-LED
* SED
* TPD
* TDEL
* TMOS
* MicroLED

|

Screenless|

* Bionic contact lens
* Head-mounted display
* Head-up display
* Optical head-mounted display
* Virtual retinal display

Other|

* Autostereoscopy
* Flexible display
* Holographic display
* Computer-generated holography
* Multi-primary color display
* Ultra HD
* Volumetric display

Electronics|

* Electronic nose
* E-textiles
* Flexible electronics
* Molecular electronics
* Nanoelectromechanical systems
* Memristor
* Spintronics
* Thermal copper pillar bump
* Twistronics

Energy|

| Production|

* Airborne wind turbine
* Artificial photosynthesis
* Biofuels
* Carbon-neutral fuel
* Concentrated solar power
* Fusion power
* Home fuel cell
* Hydrogen economy
* Methanol economy
* Molten salt reactor
* Nantenna
* Photovoltaic pavement
* Space-based solar power
* Vortex engine

|

Storage|

* Beltway battery
* Compressed air energy storage
* Flywheel energy storage
* Grid energy storage
* Lithium–air battery
* Molten-salt battery
* Nanowire battery
* Research in lithium-ion batteries
* Silicon–air battery
* Thermal energy storage
* Ultracapacitor

Other|

* Smart grid
* Wireless power

Information and
communications

* Ambient intelligence
* Internet of things
* Artificial intelligence
* Applications of artificial intelligence
* Progress in artificial intelligence
* Machine translation
* Mobile translation
* Machine vision
* Semantic Web
* Speech recognition
* Atomtronics
* Carbon nanotube field-effect transistor
* Cybermethodology
* Fourth-generation optical discs
* 3D optical data storage
* Holographic data storage
* GPGPU
* Memory
* CBRAM
* FRAM
* Millipede
* MRAM
* NRAM
* PRAM
* Racetrack memory
* RRAM
* SONOS
* Optical computing
* RFID
* Chipless RFID
* Software-defined radio
* Three-dimensional integrated circuit

Manufacturing|

* 3D printing
* Claytronics
* Molecular assembler
* Utility fog

Materials science|

* Aerogel
* Amorphous metal
* Artificial muscle
* Conductive polymer
* Femtotechnology
* Fullerene
* Graphene
* High-temperature superconductivity
* High-temperature superfluidity
* Linear acetylenic carbon
* Metamaterials
* Metamaterial cloaking
* Metal foam
* Multi-function structures
* Nanotechnology
* Carbon nanotubes
* Molecular nanotechnology
* Nanomaterials
* Picotechnology
* Programmable matter
* Quantum dots
* Silicene
* Superalloy
* Synthetic diamond

Military|

* Antimatter weapon
* Caseless ammunition
* Directed-energy weapon
* Laser
* Maser
* Particle-beam weapon
* Sonic weapon
* Coilgun
* Railgun
* Plasma weapon
* Pure fusion weapon
* Stealth technology
* Vortex ring gun

Neuroscience|

* Artificial brain
* Brain–computer interface
* Electroencephalography
* Mind uploading
* Brain-reading
* Neuroinformatics
* Neuroprosthetics
* Bionic eye
* Brain implant
* Exocortex
* Retinal implant

Quantum|

* Quantum algorithms
* Quantum amplifier
* Quantum bus
* Quantum channel
* Quantum circuit
* Quantum complexity theory
* Quantum computing
* Quantum cryptography
* Quantum dynamics
* Quantum electronics
* Quantum error correction
* Quantum imaging
* Quantum information
* Quantum key distribution
* Quantum logic
* Quantum logic gates
* Quantum machine
* Quantum machine learning
* Quantum metamaterial
* Quantum metrology
* Quantum network
* Quantum neural network
* Quantum optics
* Quantum programming
* Quantum sensing
* Quantum simulator
* Quantum teleportation

Robotics|

* Domotics
* Nanorobotics
* Powered exoskeleton
* Self-reconfiguring modular robot
* Swarm robotics
* Uncrewed vehicle

Space science|

| Launch|

* Fusion rocket
* Non-rocket spacelaunch
* Mass driver
* Orbital ring
* Skyhook
* Space elevator
* Space fountain
* Space tether
* Reusable launch system

|

Propulsion|

* Beam-powered propulsion
* Ion thruster
* Laser propulsion
* Plasma propulsion engine
* Helicon thruster
* VASIMR
* Nuclear pulse propulsion
* Solar sail

Other|

* Interstellar travel
* Propellant depot
* Laser communication in space

Transport|

| Aerial|

* Adaptive compliant wing
* Backpack helicopter
* Delivery drone
* Flying car
* High-altitude platform
* Jet pack
* Pulse detonation engine
* Scramjet
* Spaceplane
* Supersonic transport

|

Land|

* Airless tire
* Alternative fuel vehicle
* Hydrogen vehicle
* Driverless car
* Ground effect train
* Hyperloop
* Maglev train
* Personal rapid transit
* Transit Elevated Bus
* Vactrain
* Vehicular communication systems

Pipeline|

* Pneumatic transport
* Automated vacuum collection

Other|

* Anti-gravity
* Cloak of invisibility
* Digital scent technology
* Force field
* Plasma window
* Immersive virtual reality
* Magnetic refrigeration
* Phased-array optics

Topics|

* Collingridge dilemma
* Differential technological development
* Disruptive Innovation
* Ephemeralization
* Exploratory engineering
* Fictional technology
* Proactionary principle
* Technological change
* Technological unemployment
* Technological convergence
* Technological evolution
* Technological paradigm
* Technology forecasting
* Accelerating change
* Moore's law
* Technological singularity
* Technology scouting
* Technology readiness level
* Technology roadmap
* Transhumanism

* Category
* List

* v
* t
* e

Science and technology studies

Economics|

* Economics of science
* Economics of scientific knowledge

History|

* History and philosophy of science
* History of science
* and technology
* History of technology

Philosophy|

* Anthropocene
* Antipositivism
* Empiricism
* Fuzzy logic
* Neo-Luddism
* Philosophy of science
* Philosophy of social science
* Philosophy of technology
* Positivism
* Postpositivism
* Religion and science
* Scientism
* Social constructivism
* Social epistemology
* Transhumanism

Sociology|

* Actor–network theory
* Social
* construction of technology
* shaping of technology
* Sociology of knowledge
* scientific
* Sociology of scientific ignorance
* Sociology of the history of science
* Sociotechnology
* Strong programme

Science
studies|

* Antiscience
* Bibliometrics
* Boundary-work
* Consilience
* Criticism of science
* Demarcation problem
* Double hermeneutic
* Logology
* Mapping controversies
* Metascience
* Paradigm shift
* Pseudoscience
* Psychology of science
* Science
* citizen
* communication
* education
* normal
* post-normal
* rhetoric
* wars
* Scientific
* community
* consensus
* controversy
* dissent
* enterprise
* literacy
* method
* misconduct
* priority
* skepticism
* Scientocracy
* Scientometrics
* Team science
* Traditional knowledge
* ecological
* Unity of science
* Women in science
* STEM

Technology
studies|

* Co-production
* Cyborg anthropology
* Dematerialization
* Digital anthropology
* Digital media use and mental health
* Early adopter
* Hype cycle
* Innovation
* diffusion
* disruptive
* linear model
* system
* user
* Leapfrogging
* Normalization process theory
* Reverse salient
* Skunkworks project
* Sociotechnical system
* Technical change
* Technocracy
* Technoscience
* feminist
* Technological
* change
* convergence
* determinism
* revolution
* transitions
* Technology
* and society
* criticism of
* dynamics
* theories of
* transfer
* Engineering studies
* Women in engineering

Policy|

* Academic freedom
* Digital divide
* Evidence-based policy
* Factor 10
* Funding of science
* Science policy
* history of
* science of
* Politicization of science
* Regulation of science
* Research ethics
* Right to science
* Socio-scientific issues
* Technology assessment
* Technology policy
* Transition management

* Portals
* Science
* History of science
* Technology
* Category
* Associations
* Journals
* Scholars

* v
* t
* e

Global human population

Major topics|

* Biocapacity
* Demographics of the world
* Optimum population
* Overpopulation
* Malthusian catastrophe
* Population
* Population ethics
* Population momentum
* Sustainable development
* Women's reproductive rights
* Zero population growth

Biological and
related topics|

* Family planning
* Pledge two or fewer
* Human population planning
* One-child policy
* Two-child policy
* Population biology
* Population decline
* Population density
* Physiological density
* Population dynamics
* Population growth
* Population model
* Population pyramid
* Projections of population growth

Human impact on
the environment|

* Deforestation
* Desalination
* Desertification
* Environmental impact
* of agriculture
* of aviation
* of biodiesel
* of concrete
* of electricity generation
* of the energy industry
* of fishing
* of irrigation
* of mining
* of off-roading
* of oil shale industry
* of palm oil
* of paper
* of the petroleum industry
* of reservoirs
* of shipping
* of war
* Industrialisation
* Land degradation
* Land reclamation
* Overconsumption
* Pollution
* Quarrying
* Urbanization
* Loss of green belts
* Urban sprawl
* Waste
* Water scarcity
* Overdrafting

Population
ecology

* Carrying capacity
* Deep ecology
* Earth's energy budget
* Food security
* Habitat destruction
* I = P × A × T
* Kaya identity
* Malthusian growth model
* Overshoot (population)
* World energy consumption
* World energy resources
* World3 model

Literature|

* A Modest Proposal
* Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc.
* An Essay on the Principle of Population
* "How Much Land Does a Man Need?"
* Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth
* Population Control: Real Costs, Illusory Benefits
* The Limits to Growth
* The Population Bomb
* The Skeptical Environmentalist
* The Ultimate Resource

Publications|

* Population and Environment
* Population and Development Review

Lists|

* Population and housing censuses by country
* Metropolitan areas by population
* Population milestone babies

Events and
organizations

* 7 Billion Actions
* Extinction Rebellion
* International Conference on Population and Development
* Population Action International
* Population Connection
* Population Matters
* Population Research Institute
* United Nations Population Fund
* Voluntary Human Extinction Movement
* World Population Day
* World Population Foundation

Related topics|

* Classic Maya collapse
* Fertility and intelligence
* Green Revolution
* Holocene extinction
* Migration

* Commons
* Human overpopulation
* Human activities with impact on the environment
* Human migration

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological change. Read more

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Engineering:Technological_change&oldid=4341427"
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template