THE CONTINUING, WIDESPREAD (AND NEGLECTED) IMPORTANCE OF IMPROVEMENTSIN MECHANICAL TECHNOLOGIES

Rosenberg's historical analyses of the varying sources and directions of technological change are confirmed by contemporary bibliometric dat a, in particular: (1) the growth of science-based technologies develop ed mainly in the R&D laboratories of large firms; (2) more pervasive i mprovements in production methods based on mechanical technology. The considerable importance of the latter has persisted well into the late twentieth century, but has been neglected in analysis and policy. Gre ater attention, in particular, should be paid to: - more refined measu res of technological activities than R&D classified by large firms' pr incipal product groups; - the cumulative and complementary (rather tha n displacing and competitive) nature of successive 'technological para digms'; - the central role of mechanical, instrumentation and software technologies in the decentralised and continuous improvements in prod ucts and production methods.