This course will investigate the economic and political dynamics of technological innovation and the role of strategies, policies, regulations, and other institutions in its global diffusion. We also explore why some countries are better at innovation than others.
The course is divided into four modules:
PART I Defining and Understanding Science, Technology, and Innovation
PART 2 Governing Technological Innovation & STI Policy
PART 3 Creating Regulatory and Technology Standards
PART 4: Special Issues
We ask: What do we mean by science and technology? Why do countries adopt similar or different science, technology, and innovation strategies, regulations, and standards in support of economic growth? What are the different paths that technological innovation and diffusion take, and how do they impact productivity and competitiveness? Who governs these processes and how? Ultimately, these questions help us understand the role of government, markets, and society in shaping global technological and economic change. While the subject is vast, the course's scope helps keep it manageable. It draws on the scholarly and popular literature, as well as industry examples. The course also compares US technology innovation strategies with those of Europe, Asia, and selected developing countries.
The course is open to advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Prior work in political science or economics is strongly recommended.
I have tried to keep your weekly readings manageable. The course delves more deeply into economic, political, and technological elements. However, you are given the flexibility to choose research topics of particular interest to you.
Please keep apprised of current issues regarding the economic and political dynamics of technological innovation by reading a good daily or weekly publication such as The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The New York Times, and/or The Economist. I will also be posting current event articles on Canvas from time to time. These will help link some of the more conceptual themes in the course with real-world events.
Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.
Generative and Editorial Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tool Use is only permitted in this class with proper citation. Per GaTech's Honor Code, students may not submit any work generated by an AI program as their own. If students include material generated by an AI program, it should be cited like any other reference material (with due consideration for the quality of the reference, which may be poor). When/if students use AI platforms in their assignments, they should write a note to clarify where in the process they used AI, include the prompt used to generate the material, and which platform(s) were used. See this article for how to cite AI properly: How to cite ChatGPT https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt
Generative AI derives its output from other sources used to train the models without citation. This is plagiarism. Students should be aware that the material generated by these programs may be inaccurate, incomplete, biased or otherwise problematic. As most assignments in this class will require students to relay their own thoughts and analyses, if the professor suspects the heavy use of AI to complete an assignment the student may be required to demonstrate their knowledge orally in an informal one-on-one meeting with the professor to make sure the ideas are their own. Uncited, high use of AI (as identified by TurnItIn) will be reported to OSI for further adjudication.
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Identify, compare, and evaluate different sets of policies and institutions (finance, research & development, skills, other) governing different types of technologies across countries;
- Apply theoretical frameworks towards understanding science, technology, and innovation and their impact on economic change;
- Trace and compare a technology over time between two countries alongside regulations/institutions designed to govern it;
- Establish good research questions;
- Strengthen your capability to develop persuasive arguments;
- Strengthen your critical analysis and presentation skills;
- Research, analyze, and write a paper on any of the course module topics, thereby deepening their understanding of the phenomenon under question.