Title: Introduction: technological innovation and productivity growth: a perspective after the burst of the IT bubble

Authors: Pedro Conceicao, Manuel V. Heitor

Addresses: Centre for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon, Portugal. ' Centre for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract: This paper considers the relationship between technological innovation and productivity growth and provides a unified framework of reference to read and interpret the papers included in this issue. As we have come to understand more and more about the complex relationship between technological innovation and productivity, it is also true that the importance attributed to technological change has shifted considerably over the last few years. From the ||frustrating years|| of the productivity slowdown, to the euphoria of the IT bubble, to the current state of somewhat scepticism in which technological change as an economic issue has come to look, if not quite irrelevant, like taking second-stage to other concerns. This paper provides a brief overview of these shifts, but then moves to a review of the current state of knowledge, based on both conceptual and empirical findings. Research on innovation and productivity has been vibrant, as we hope to show, and has produced illuminating insights, with intellectual and practical policymaking relevance. After reviewing some of these research results, the paper concludes by introducing the remaining papers in this issue, which focus on critically relevant aspects of the emerging network society. It is hoped that these papers will add to the current level of scholarship, and will contribute to expanding our knowledge about the relationship between technological innovation and productivity growth in the network society.

Keywords: technological innovation; productivity growth; technological change; network society.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2003.003884

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 2003 Vol.3 No.2, pp.113 - 126

Published online: 10 May 2004 *

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