Technological Effort and Disembodied Technology Exports

Abstract

The emergence of a group of the more industrialised developing countries as exporters of various forms of embodied and disembodied technology has aroused some recent interest.² One important cause of this interest is the implications that TE (Technology Exports) have for the process of technological development in the exporting countries. It is evident that these countries do not have sophisticated technological infrastructures. They certainly spend relatively little on industrial research and development. Yet the fact that they are able to compete on international markets with established technology sellers from the advanced countries indicates that they have mastered a range of complex skills and technologies, which enables them to design and manufacture entire production plants, offer engineering consultancy, set up direct investments overseas and license their know-how to foreign manufacturers. The growth of TE thus creates a strong presumption that considerable technological activity is being conducted in these developing countries.

This paper was co-authored with Sharif Mohammad and was prepared under the auspices of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi. We are grateful to Ashok Desai and an anonymous referee of World Development for comments on an earlier draft, but retain responsibility for the views expressed here.