Global technology policies for economic growth

With the end of the Cold War, nations throughout the world are placing ever greater emphasis on economic growth. Over the last 50 years, advances in t echnology have been the single most important factor in creating growth in many economies, and thus policies to promote technological innovation rank high on the list of priorities for both developed and developing countries. In general, as countries progress up the economic ladder, national R&D int ensity, (i.e., R&D/GDP), tends to increase along with per capita income. In addition, nations move through a discernible sequence of technology polici es from an initial focus on infrastructure, through a set of actions design ed to encourage technology acquisition from more advanced economies, to com prehensive education and research agendas targeted to the creation and deve lopment of new technology. In the United States, national technology policy for economic growth focuses on education, building a 21st century infrastr ucture, and creating a business climate that encourages growth, technologic al innovation, and risk taking. Throughout the last 50 years there have been significant changes in the com petitive position of nations. In recent years, U.S. corporations have regai ned some of the competitive leadership they lost in the 1980s. This has bee n accompanied by significantly increased R&D spending by U.S. industry, par ticularly in the information and health care related sectors. U.S. industry funding of R&D overtook that from the government in the early 1980s and ac counts for almost two-thirds of the national total. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scien ce Inc.