General-purpose technologies (GPTs) are a product, process or organisational system that can affect an economy at a national or global level. These technologies have the potential to drastically alter societies through their impact on pre-existing economic and social structures. Examples of GPTs include the airplane, automobile, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, bronze, computer, domestication, electricity, factory system, internal combustion engine, Internet, iron, mass production, money, nanotechnology, printing press, railways, steamboat, steam engine and the wheel. In economics, it is theorized that initial adoption of a new GPT within an economy may, before improving productivity, actually decrease it due to time required for development of new infrastructure, learning costs and, obsolescence of old technologies and skills. This can lead to a "productivity J-curve" as unmeasured intangible assets are built up and then harvested. The impending timeframe to utilize the latent benefits of the new technology is deemed a trade-off. Spin-out firms/inventors from organizations that had developed GPTs play an important role in developing applications. However, it has been observed that the level of cumulative innovation in GPTs diminishes as more spin-outs into application development occur.
Historical GPT Economists Richard Lipsey and Kenneth Carlaw classified 24 technologies in history as true GPTs. They define a transforming GPT according to the four criteria listed below:
is a single, recognisable generic technology initially has much scope for improvement but comes to be widely used across the economy has many different uses creates many spillover effects Since their book, more GPTs have been added for the 21st century.
Foundational The earliest technologies mentioned by Lipsey and Carlaw occur before the Neolithic period and have not been cast as GPTs, however, they are innovations that the other 24 rely upon.
Expanded list of 26 technologies
Steam engine increased labor productivity annually by 0.34%; IT by 0.6% (1995–2005); robotics by 0.36% (1993–2007).
Military and defense-related procurement In his book, Is War Necessary for Economic Growth?: Military Procurement and Technology Development, Vernon W. Ruttan examined the impact of military and defense-related procurement on U.S. technology development. Ruttan identifies the development of six general-purpose technologies:
Interchangeable parts and mass production Military and commercial aircraft Nuclear energy Computers and semi-conductors Internet Space industries Ruttan contended that the current technological landscape would look very different in the absence of military and defense-related contributions to commercial technology development. However, from his research, he determined that commercial technology development would have occurred in the absence of military procurement. He cited nuclear power as an example of a general-purpose technology that would not have developed.
See also Dual-use technology
References
External links Usage History of Industrial Robotics from IFR Paperless office adoption statistics – 2015 Installed solar capacity and solar employment growth – 2015