Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Part I

Thomas Jefferson said " E]very generation needs a new revolution." The revolution for the generations in the first half of the 20th century was socialism/communism. For the generations of the second half of the same century, it was the return to capitalism. For the current generation, it seems to be entrepreneurialism. Three insights concerning economic growth have become clear in recent times. Firstly, the key to economic growth is technology (T). Secondly, innovation (I) is the driver of technology growth. Finally, entrepreneurship (E) is a highly powerful but extremely underappreciated contributor to innovation. Yet there persists a paucity of academic books covering the large variety of issues impinging on TIE-exploitation from a contemporary viewpoint. This book is the third and final part of a textbook-trilogy that seeks to fill this gap. The first part (this book) is titled My World, My Nation as it examines TIE interactions from a world-perspective but stressing nation building. Part II: My Firm discusses how an established firm could prosper in the contemporary world of globalized competition and technology. Part III: My Startup discusses issues of particular interest to the growing number of youth pursuing an entrepreneurial career. The origins of this trilogy lie in the class notes compiled by the author while teaching 'Management of Technological Innovation' to undergraduate and graduate students from science, engineering and business departments. The final contents have been influenced strongly by the insights derived by him while living and working in India, the UK, Hong Kong (including extensive travels to mainland China), and the USA. Thus, rather than focusing just on the lessons to be learnt from the experiences of a developed country such as the USA (as most books on the themes examined do), this trilogy empathizes with the biases and concerns of the developing parts of the world as well. Among the topics examined in this book (Part I) are the techno-economic history of the world, the philosophies of science and technology, the industrial revolution, theories of economic growth, economic downturns, and the roles of technology and culture in national development.