Techno-globalism, techno-nationalism and technological systems: organizingthe evidence

This paper deals with the globalization process, and with the tension betwe en national, super-national and sub-national forces it entails in the field of technology. The concept of technological system (TS) is proposed as a useful starting p oint to analyze the consequences that globalization has for a variety of di fferent technological aspects. A taxonomy is then put forward to distinguis h its implications for those elements of a TS which are more related to the state from those which are closer to the idea of nation. Interesting resul ts are obtained by allocating the contributions of a growing, but not yet c onclusive, body of literature to more specific technological aspects, such as: 'techno-territoriality', pertaining to physical distances and spaces, ' techno-sovereignty', related to governance structures and policy making, 't echno-citizenship', about strategic behaviors and accountability, and 'tech no-nationality', concerning socio-cultural sharing phenomena. The applicati on of this taxonomy shows that globalization has reduced the relevance of n ational (and more local) technological aspects much less than is generally maintained. This is particularly true for techno-nationality. Indeed, a cer tain communality of language and culture within a country, along with its h istorically formed institutional setting, is an important enabler of the in novative process and induces different technological styles and performance s. 'Techno-national systems of innovation' therefore still matter. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.