Policies for Developing New Technologies

Section 1 of this article identifies a central feature of technology policies pursued during the second half of the twentieth century. This was the very widespread concentration on policies to promote the creation, dissemination and application of information and communication technology (ICT). Section 2 asks whether this heavy concentration on one technology is likely also to be a feature of technology policies in the next half century for some new general purpose technology, such as biotechnology. Section 3 examines the potential of biotechnology and concludes that it does not possess that special combination of characteristics which made ICT such a uniquely strong candidate for supportive policies everywhere. Finally, Section 4 reviews the economic and social climate in which new technologies are likely to be further developed in the twenty-first century and concludes that this will probably not be so favourable to a renewal of high growth. However, the development of a combination of several new technologies with ICT and a strategy designed to promote their application in the poorer countries of the world does offer some hope for a more favourable outcome.