July 1996 Edition Globalization of Technology Poses Challenges for Policymakers by Mary Lowe Good Technology is directly linked to national economic growth, and its globalization poses difficult challenges for policymakers, not just in technology policy, but in areas such as trade and regulatory policy. Technology-related policy issues are made all the more difficult as one struggles to interpret the national interest, when much of the technology needed for national growth is developed and managed by multinational companies whose markets, operations, and sources of capital are distributed throughout the globe.
Investment capital flows around the world daily in search of the greatest returns.
As an example of the globalization of labor, thousands of engineers in India are designing computer chips for America's leading firms, and beaming these designs overnight to California and Texas via satellite. But it is technology that contributes most to economic growth. Leading economists estimate that technology accounts for at least one half of economic growth in the advanced industrial nations over the past 50 years. This is not to say that science should take a back seat to technology. Science is an integral part of the balanced portfolio of research an advanced nation must have to ensure its long-term growth.