Brian Wixted

Bridging Concept 2: Economic Development

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Long before I discovered the academic literature on the role of technology in economic development I had a passionate interest in trying to understand third world development issues. Being in high school during the 1980s with the beginnings of obvious technological change with the introduction of accessible computing power, it was natural to be fascinated by the economics of change. It also contrasted starkly with the third world debt crises and droughts of Africa. It wasn’t too big a stretch to ponder the combination, with the success of US companies such as Apple and the rise of Japan in electronics and autos.

So I went to university to do economics and was amazed that technology, knowledge and related topics were not part of mainstream analysis.

And there the story would probably have ended except a couple of years later I fell into a job that was all about keeping of track of science indicators. This introduced me to the still surprisingly small literature on science and innovation. Working on science indicators for 5 years, has always been for me what I consider my primary university degree.

Through various job positions related to science and innovation analysis I still retain that initial interest in connecting human creativity and skill with issues of economic development, particularly as they relate to the poorer segment of world society. However, hopefully my understanding has deepened. Today, I am increasingly interested by the value network thinking can play in highlighting opportunities and barriers to development. Individual or corporate capacity and capability are important but these need to be incorporated into extended systems and thus how connectedness happens, functions and is structured seems very important.