“From 2001 to 2004, China specialized in 16% of its total technological capacity, but during the 2017 to 2020 study period, that proportion increased to 94% of its capacity.”
Source: WIPO report
On May 2nd, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released its latest biennial report entitled 'Making innovation policies work for development'. The report analyzes patent applications, scientific publications, and economic data from around the world over the past 20 years to identify innovations. Effective policies for diversifying the national economy. While the WIPO report highlights the highly concentrated nature of the global innovation economy, it also highlights several countries that have seen significant improvements in their technological diversification during the period under review.
Changing global economic conditions require new industrial policies for innovation
According to the WIPO report, many of the industrial policies implemented by governments since the 1950s have led to technological diversification based on economic conditions that have changed significantly over the past two decades. Import substitution and export-led growth policies have met with mixed success, and critics argue that these tactics have left certain sectors less valuable than others, with no certainty that they are as valuable as predicted. They point out that they tend to benefit certain sectors. Although the resurgence of industrial policymaking in the United States and the European Union is too recent to be properly measured, the WIPO report suggests that countries' science and technology We advocate policies that utilize the innovation (STI) system. .
Source: WIPO report
According to WIPO, a total of eight countries accounted for 50% of all exports, 60% of all scientific publications and 80% of all international patents over the past 20 years. Analyzing innovation achievements, the United States and Japan lead the world, accounting for 50% of the total of all technological achievements. China also occupies a leading position, accounting for 14% of total scientific output and 10% of output, ranking second in both of these innovation output indicators.
Although there are also concentrations of innovation outcomes across different fields of science, technology, and production, the WIPO policy report found that there is greater equivalence between innovation fields than between countries of origin. Assessing achievements from 2017 to 2020 within the 626 key areas of science, technology and production tracked by WIPO, three of the 11 key areas within science account for half of all achievements. include: Chemistry (22%), Engineering (16%), Physics and Mathematics (14%). Within technology, information and communication technology (ICT) (18%), biopharmaceuticals (16%), equipment (11%), and engines and transportation (8%) are the top 4 out of 14 areas, with all scientific publications accounted for half of the International patent applications and exports in this field. In contrast, the 15 production sectors were dominated by machinery and transportation equipment (30%) and industrial products (21%).
China's patent boom narrows the gap in technological capabilities
Although technological specialization and diversification are stronger in high-income economies, the WIPO report notes that the economic gap between low-income and high-income countries has narrowed slightly since 1990. I am. Still, WIPO's research on innovation output between countries reflects the high level of innovation output between countries. -Developed countries enjoy more advanced technological capabilities in areas that other countries have not mastered. For example, Afghanistan specializes in only two of her abilities, both of which are production abilities that are very common worldwide (fruits and nuts, spices), while Germany specializes in 500 different abilities, That average is just less than one-eighth. All countries assessed in WIPO's Innovation Report.
Source: WIPO report
Overall, the countries assessed by the WIPO report increased their scientific, technological and productive capacity by 5% from 2001-2004 to 2017-20. China in particular has significantly improved its technological capabilities, thanks in large part to a boom in domestic patent application activity. From 2001 to 2004, China specialized in 16% of its total technological capacity, but that proportion increased to 94% of its capacity during the survey period from 2017 to 2020. Another country that has seen significant increases in capacity is South Korea. In South Korea, science and technology capacity increased from 40% to 66% and 83%, respectively. In India, science specialization increased from 42% to 68% and technology specialization increased from 9% to 21%. Although Germany and Japan enjoyed high levels of capacity specialization during the initial study period, both countries experienced cuts in all three of their sectors by 2020.
Source: WIPO report
While much of the knowledge represented by scientific publications and international patents can be easily traded across borders, WIPO's Innovation Report highlights the innovation infrastructure and knowledge built by countries that diversify and specialize their technological capabilities. Many of the bases admit that relocation is difficult. The report concludes that countries that adopt smart specialization policies to close innovation gaps will be better able to identify constraints to their innovation capabilities.
