Chan-Yuan Wong

Modeling the behaviour of science and technology: self-propagating growth in the diffusion process

Through theoretical analysis and empirical demonstration, this paper attempts to model the behavior of science and technology by investigating the self-propagating behavior of their diffusion for South Korea, Malaysia and Japan. The dynamics of the self-propagating behavior were examined using the logistic growth function within a dynamic carrying capacity, while allowing for different effectiveness of potential influence of science and technology producers on potential adopters. Evidence suggests that the self-propagating growth function is particularly relevant for countries with advanced science and technology, like Japan. While self-propagating growth was also found for South Korea, the diffusion process remained fairly static for Malaysia.

Growth behavior of publications and patents: A comparative study on selected Asian economies

This study attempts to model the growth behavior of the number of publications and patents of South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Malaysia. Three competing growth functions, namely, simple logistic growth function, bi-logistic growth function and logistic function within a dynamic carrying capacity were considered. The findings provide insight to the diffusion process of science and technology, often measured by the number of publications and patents, respectively. The function that provides the best fit to the observed data was opted for explaining the diffusion process. The function with the best fit is the bi-logistic growth function for the number of publications as well as the number of patents of South Korea and Taiwan, the logistic growth function within a dynamic carrying capacity (LGDCC) for the number of publications and the bi-logistic growth function for the number of patents of Japan, and the LGDCC for the number of publications and simple growth function for the number of patents of Malaysia. The results suggest a dynamic self-propagating growth for the science and technology, and thereby a transition from science and technology-push to market-pull growth for South Korea and Taiwan. While a similar transition was observed for the technology of Japan, the growth in science had entered a maturity stage. On the other hand, the growth potential in science is dynamic for Malaysia, but its technological advancement is relatively lower and static compared to the other economies.

Trajectories of science and technology and their co-evolution in BRICS: Insights from publication and patent analysis

By empirical demonstration, this study extends the assessments of BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in performing science and technology in previous studies by exploring their cumulative patterns of science and technology (proxied by publications and patents respectively). Projections of cumulative production in science and technology are made using logistic growth function. Our analyses show that – though having different growth trajectories in science production – the BRICS countries exhibit similar patterns in pursuing technology. This embodies the strong commitment of BRICS to improve their technological capabilities in the process of industrial development. Inspired by the Relative Impact Index (RII) proposed by Nesta and Patel, we propose the Relative Science Impact Index (RSII) to evaluate the relative impact of science and technology on the process of technological catching-up in emerging economies and examine the co-evolution between science-based patents and patent citations. Our correlation analysis between forward citation and RSII marks some distinctive pursuits of BRICS countries in science-based patenting activities.

The pathway of development: science and technology of NIEs and selected Asian emerging economies

Many emerging countries in Asia demonstrate a strong pattern of growth and potential of diffusion in science and technology that is dynamic and self-propagating. To elucidate the evolution in science and technology and the institutional dynamics that drive the self-propagating behavior, this paper examines the divergent models pursued by selected Asian economies in regard to science and technological catch-up. An analysis of papers and patents production for each nation was conducted to examine the indigenous science and technology capabilities. This study focuses on six major economies, namely China, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. In addition, Japan, a country with advanced development of science and technology, is included for comparison. The findings provided insight and understanding of evolving science and technological waves and the dynamic potentials in science and technology. We demonstrate the pursued catching-up models that drive the self-propagating behavior and industrialization, thus providing a more complete understanding of the innovation systems than those examined in previous studies.

The sustainability of functionality development of science and technology: Papers and patents of emerging economies

Recent development saw concerted efforts by emerging countries to transform their industrial-based economy to post-industrial knowledge-based economy. The growth of science and technology is necessary to support this economic transformation strategy. Based on the concept of functionality development of a growth model, this study attempts to analyze the dynamism and sustainability of growth in science and technology of selected Asian emerging economies. Using the number of published papers and patents as proxies, bi-logistic growth functions were fitted to examine the prolongation ability of science and technology, and the time at which each functionality development emerges. The perspective of a paradigm shift from industrial to knowledge-based economic development is taken into consideration in the analysis. The estimated prolongation ability of the newly industrialized economies (NIEs) including South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore suggests significant transformation of their innovation system that led to a higher degree of functionality, while developing economies such as China, Malaysia and Thailand show no significant change over the years. The results suggest that the NIEs have succeeded in developing new growth trajectories that are beneficial for the transformation towards a knowledge-based economy.

On a path to creative destruction: science, technology and science-based technological trajectories of Japan and South Korea

This study attempts to examine systematically the growth trajectories of science, technology and science-based technologies of Japan and South Korea. Drawing upon the empirical materials and findings, this paper provides a detailed description of the evolution and pathways taken by Japan and South Korea to achieve growth in science and technology. Both the quantities (number of papers and patents) and impact (citations) measures of research activities are used to provide a coherent depiction of progress and development trajectories. Japan and South Korea achieved significant progress in production of science and technology. However, both economies experienced a sharp contraction in the number of citations per new patent since the mid 2000s. To address their structural systemic failure, Japan and South Korea have invested heavily in scientific areas that concord with the next wave of technological innovations. The effort has recorded positive effects on science-based technological growth trajectories.

Modeling the dynamics of science and technology diffusion of selected Asian countries using a logistic growth function

Summary Science and technological production can be the result of a self‐propagating growth in the process of diffusion. In the transition to a knowledge‐based economy, many emerging Asian countries have attempted to raise their national investments to develop their science and technological capability. This study attempts to compare the growth behavior of science and technology of selected emerging countries (China, Malaysia, and Thailand) with that of the newly industrialized economies (NIEs) (Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan) using logistic growth function with a dynamic carrying capacity. Japan is also included in the study to provide a benchmark for advanced science and technological development. While a dynamic self‐propagating growth is found for the science and technology of the NIEs, the corresponding growth potential is relatively lower and static for the emerging economies. Unlike in Japan where the growth potential of science and technology has seemingly reached a plateau, the NIEs are still reaping the dynamics of the interaction between science and technology, and the emerging economies are at the initial stage of this development process.

The dynamic effect of knowledge capitals in the public research institute: insights from patenting analysis of ITRI (Taiwan) and ETRI (Korea)

This study aims what knowledge capital accumulated by the public research institutes (PRIs) of South Korea and Taiwan to facilitate process configurations of new industrial structure. The patenting trends of two PRIs, ETRI of South Korea and ITRI of Taiwan, are assessed to highlight the established knowledge structures for emergence of multi-agent structure since 1990s. To examine their dynamics and variations of knowledge capital, the data series are separated into two phases (catching-up phase from 1970s to 1990s, and post catching-up phase since the 2000s) in accordance to (1) number of patents, (2) number of sole owned and co-owned patents, (3) backward and forward citations, (4) science-linked patents, and (5) fields of patent. When the role of PRIs in the latecomer country is evolving from a facilitator in the catching-up phase to become a mediator in the post catching-up phase, this study demonstrated their influence and dynamic effect in reinforcing industrial strategies and national approaches to attain endogenous structural change in the national innovation system. Our results signal telecommunications is the promising technology targeted by Korea’s chaebols while Taiwan’s small-medium size enterprises are utilizing the aggregate knowledge capital accumulated and derived from semiconductor technologies to develop their niches onto a diverse range of product innovations.

Technology stocks and economic performance of government-linked companies: the case of Malaysia

Abstract On the basis of the case study of the selected government-linked companies (GLCs), this paper examines the technological stock progress and further assesses its implication for growth. A synthesized framework of analysis (using technological stock and logistic growth function) is proposed to highlight the virtuous cycle between R&D investment, technology stock and growth. The results suggest that two of the selected firms (Proton and Golden Hope), indeed, showed better technological progress. However, Proton seems to achieve the maturity stage of technology and further needs to enhance its technology capability to drive its performance in the future. In contrast, TNB is found to lack the technological development to promote performance. The results, on the one hand, suggest that technology development is mostly progressive with high returns in the areas where the country has definite comparative advantage (e.g. oil palm) and when better partnership exists. On the other hand, in a highly protectiv...

Diffusion of Catching-up Industrialization Strategies: The Dynamics of East Asia's Policy Learning Process

Abstract This paper provides an overview of catch-up industrialization strategies in East Asia over the past few decades, articulating a theoretical-conceptual change from Akamatsus Flying Geese Model to a leapfrogging and path-creating catching-up model. Within this intellectual context, this study explores the economic, political and institutional conditions for effective implementation of catch-up strategies (management of state-created learning rents) in South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia. It proposes a new analytical grid that summarizes the current research on Chinas catch-up industrialization, explicitly acknowledging Chinas arguably unique multi-pronged mixed-mode model. The strategic models discussed in this paper may provide policy lessons for other developing economies in Asia aspiring to follow the path of technology upgrading.