Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: International Technology Transfers: Adoption or Imitation

经济学博士论文研究：国际技术转让：采用或模仿

• 批准号: 2315548
• 负责人: Yongseok Shin
• 金额: $ 2.79万
• 依托单位: Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315548&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Economics; International

Innovation and commercialization of technology are the sources of firms’ competitive advantage and countries’ economic growth. Hence, firms and countries compete and cooperate over frontier technologies through various channels. As geopolitical tension and inequality among countries rise, more research on such interactions in the global economy is needed. This research delves into the dynamics of international technology transfer, specifically focusing on its two major channels: technology imitation and technology adoption. Imitation is unauthorized replication of existing technologies without compensating the innovators, while adoption means legal acquisition of technologies through licensing agreements. These two distinct channels of international technology transfer not only coexist but also interact with each other, shaping the growth and development of countries, and consequently the global economy. This study utilizes unique data on imitation and adoption, and investigates the interplay between these two channels. The derived results will provide important policy implications. First, by documenting how different industries use different modes of technology transfer, the research can inform industrial policy, particularly on promoting innovations. Second, it will help both leader and follower countries better understand the relative costs and benefits of the two channels of technology transfer. Third, by shedding light on the global competition and cooperation in the market for technology, it will help devise more efficient and compatible institutions, including intellectual property (IP) systems. Such institutions can better satisfy various needs of countries and reduce tension between developed and developing countries.This project starts by constructing a unified endogenous growth model to theoretically explain the mechanisms and assess the impacts of technology adoption and imitation. This framework disentangles the economic forces at play and offers a nuanced understanding of how these dynamic decisions of firms and countries' policies shape their growth trajectories. Next, on the empirical side, the researchers will utilize two proprietary datasets on global patent litigations and patent licensing agreements at the patent- and firm-levels to offer a set of new facts to the field. By taking such direct measures with a granular approach, this research can enrich the understanding of technology transfer patterns across a broad set of developed and developing countries, a critical aspect in today’s highly globalized economy. Lastly, employing a quantitatively-oriented approach, the research will enable realistic assessment of various hypothetical policies, which provides guidance on the optimal industrial innovation subsidies and international agreements of IP protection.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

技术的创新和商业化是固件竞争优势和国家经济增长的来源。因此，企业和国家通过各种渠道在边境技术上进行竞争和协调。随着国家之间的地缘政治紧张和不平等的增长，需要对全球经济中这种互动的更多研究。这项研究深入研究了国际技术转移的动态，特别关注其两个主要渠道：技术模仿和技术采用。模仿是对现有技术的未经授权复制而无需补偿创新者的，而采用意味着通过许可协议对技术的法律收购。这两个不同的国际技术转移渠道不仅共存，而且彼此互动，塑造了国家的增长和发展，因此是全球经济的。这项研究利用了有关模仿和采用的独特数据，并研究了这两个渠道之间的相互作用。派生的结果将提供重要的政策影响。首先，通过记录不同行业如何使用不同的技术转移方式，该研究可以为工业政策提供信息，尤其是在促进创新方面。其次，它将帮助领导者和追随者国家更好地了解技术转移两个渠道的相对成本和收益。第三，通过阐明技术市场上的全球竞争与合作，它将有助于设计更高效和兼容的机构，包括知识产权（IP）系统。这样的机构可以更好地满足国家需求，并减少发达国家和发展中国家之间的紧张关系。该项目首先要构建统一的内源性增长模型来解释理论机制并评估技术采用和模仿的影响。该框架揭示了经济力量在发挥作用，并对企业和国家政策的这些动态决策如何塑造其成长轨迹有细微的理解。接下来，在经验方面，研究人员将在专利和公司级别的全球专利诉讼和专利许可协议上使用两个专有数据集，以向该领域提供一系列新事实。通过采用颗粒状方法采取此类直接措施，这项研究可以丰富对广泛发达和发展中国家的技术转移模式的理解，这是当今高度全球化的经济中的关键方面。最后，该研究采用定量导向的方法，可以实现对各种假设政策的现实评估，该政策提供了有关IP保护的最佳工业创新补贴和国际IP保护协议的指导。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过该基金会的知识优点和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务。