Dynamics of science and technology catch-up by selected Asian economies: A composite analysis combining scientific publications and patenting data

Abstract

The growing competitiveness of Asian economies in science and technology has received increasing attention of science and technology policy researchers. The empirical findings of many studies that unveiled the progress of science and technology in selected Asian economies provide an account of the virtuous cycle of S&T production for these economies. This paper extends these prior analyses in two ways. Firstly, we extended a similar impact study to USPTO patenting data to develop international comparative indicators on national technological output quality. While prior works have tracked the changing share of nations in world total patenting output quantity, we track the growth trend of both the quantity and quality of patenting activities of Asian economies. Secondly, we combine the above measures of quantity and quality of scientific and technological outputs to provide a composite analysis of the temporal dynamics of science and technology catch-up by the East Asian economies. Based on the stylized empirical findings, a dynamic model of phased development involving changing emphasis between science and technology is proposed. The pattern of growth of the 3-NIEs (South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore) appears to be consistent with their industrial development path discussed in literature. Policy implications of our findings for other developing economies and potential extension of the composite analysis approach to a broader range of countries are discussed. © AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH Vienna 2013.