IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/prodev/v11y2011i4p321-338.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Technological innovation, global justice and politics of development

Author

Listed:
  • Theo Papaioannou

    (Development Policy and Practice, The Open University, Chambers Building, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK)

Abstract

The importance of innovation in human development is undeniable. Since the 1780s, successive scientific and technological revolutions have introduced new products and services with tremendous impact on well-being and general welfare. Yet innovation has not been available to all individuals and their societies. There are still countries in the developing world which lack proper access to fundamental innovations such as medicines, electricity, information and communication technologies (ICTs) and so on. Unequal generation and diffusion of innovation constitutes a major problem of global justice. However, neither innovation theory nor the theory of global justice provides solutions. On the one hand, innovation theory has so far refused to engage with questions of fairness and justice in the generation and diffusion of new technologies. On the other hand, emerging approaches to global justice have been almost indifferent to the prominence of new technologies in the fight against poverty and inequality. The aim of this article is to bridge the gulf between the literatures of technological innovation and global justice. It will be argued that technological innovation can satisfy minimum requirements of global justice only through successful public action and campaigning against unjust innovation diffusion. This implies that politics of development should support redistributive systems and global social movements against current Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regimes, providing alternative incentives for successful generation and application of new knowledge.

Suggested Citation

  • Theo Papaioannou, 2011. "Technological innovation, global justice and politics of development," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 11(4), pages 321-338, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:11:y:2011:i:4:p:321-338
    DOI: 10.1177/146499341001100404
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/146499341001100404
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/146499341001100404?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giovanni Dosi & Luigi Marengo & Corrado Pasquali, 2010. "How Much Should Society Fuel the Greed of Innovators? On the Relations between Appropriability, Opportunities and Rates of Innovation," Chapters, in: Riccardo Viale & Henry Etzkowitz (ed.), The Capitalization of Knowledge, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Kenneth J. Arrow, 1997. "Invaluable Goods," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 757-765, June.
    3. Maureen Mackintosh & Paula Tibandebage, 2007. "Competitive and Organisational Constraints on Innovation, Investment and Quality of Care in a Liberalised Low-income Health System: Evidence from Tanzania," The European Journal of Development Research, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 81-99.
    4. Richard R. Nelson, 2006. "The Market Economy and the Scientific Commons," Chapters, in: Birgitte Andersen (ed.), Intellectual Property Rights, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Joanna Chataway & Stefano Brusoni & Eugenia Cacciatori & Rebecca Hanlin & Luigi Orsenigo, 2007. "The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) in a Changing Landscape of Vaccine Development: A Public/Private Partnership as Knowledge Broker and Integrator," The European Journal of Development Research, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 100-117.
    6. Nelson, Richard R. & Winter, Sidney G., 1993. "In search of useful theory of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 108-108, April.
    7. Virginia Eubanks, 2007. "Popular technology: Exploring inequality in the information economy," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 34(2), pages 127-138, March.
    8. Susan E Cozzens, 2007. "Distributive justice in science and technology policy," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 34(2), pages 85-94, March.
    9. Theo Papaioannou & Helen Yanacopulos & Zuhre Aksoy, 2009. "Global justice: From theory to development action," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(6), pages 805-818.
    10. Bengt-Åke Lundvall & K. J. Joseph & Cristina Chaminade & Jan Vang (ed.), 2009. "Handbook of Innovation Systems and Developing Countries," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12943.
    11. Chris Freeman & Luc Soete, 1997. "The Economics of Industrial Innovation, 3rd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 3, volume 1, number 0262061953, December.
    12. Edward Woodhouse & Daniel Sarewitz, 2007. "Science policies for reducing societal inequities," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 34(2), pages 139-150, March.
    13. Srinivas, Smita & Sutz, Judith, 2008. "Developing countries and innovation: Searching for a new analytical approach," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 129-140.
    14. World Bank, 2010. "World Development Indicators 2010," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4373, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Papaioannou Theo & Watkins Andrew & Kale Dinar & Mugwagwa Julius, 2015. "Industry associations, health innovation systems and politics of development: the cases of India and South Africa," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(2), pages 253-289, August.
    2. Pansera, Mario & Owen, Richard, 2018. "Framing inclusive innovation within the discourse of development: Insights from case studies in India," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 23-34.
    3. Pansera, Mario & Owen, Richard, 2015. "Framing resource-constrained innovation at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’: Insights from an ethnographic case study in rural Bangladesh," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 300-311.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giovanni Dosi & Richard Nelson, 2013. "The Evolution of Technologies: An Assessment of the State-of-the-Art," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 3(1), pages 3-46, June.
    2. Theo Papaioannou, 2016. "Marx and Sen on incentives and justice: Implications for innovation and development," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 16(4), pages 297-313, October.
    3. Dosi, Giovanni & Nelson, Richard R., 2010. "Technical Change and Industrial Dynamics as Evolutionary Processes," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 51-127, Elsevier.
    4. Mario Pansera & Fabien Martinez, 2017. "Innovation for development and poverty reduction: an integrative literature review," Post-Print hal-02887777, HAL.
    5. Dosi, Giovanni & Lamperti, Francesco & Mazzucato, Mariana & Napoletano, Mauro & Roventini, Andrea, 2023. "Mission-oriented policies and the “Entrepreneurial State” at work: An agent-based exploration," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    6. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/401t6job098n79ch91o9giov9d is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Pansera, Mario & Owen, Richard, 2015. "Framing resource-constrained innovation at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’: Insights from an ethnographic case study in rural Bangladesh," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 300-311.
    8. Mario Pansera & Soumodip Sarkar, 2016. "Crafting Sustainable Development Solutions: Frugal Innovations of Grassroots Entrepreneurs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-25, January.
    9. Petersen, Alexander M. & Rotolo, Daniele & Leydesdorff, Loet, 2016. "A triple helix model of medical innovation: Supply, demand, and technological capabilities in terms of Medical Subject Headings," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 666-681.
    10. Chang, Yuan-Chieh & Chen, Min-Nan, 2016. "Service regime and innovation clusters: An empirical study from service firms in Taiwan," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(9), pages 1845-1857.
    11. Robra, Ben & Pazaitis, Alex & Giotitsas, Chris & Pansera, Mario, 2023. "From creative destruction to convivial innovation - A post-growth perspective," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    12. Murmann, Johann Peter & Frenken, Koen, 2006. "Toward a systematic framework for research on dominant designs, technological innovations, and industrial change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 925-952, September.
    13. Eduardo da Motta e Albuquerque, 2015. "Visible seeds of socialism and metamorphoses of capitalism: socialism after Rosdolsky," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 39(3), pages 783-805.
    14. Samia Nour, 2014. "Regional Systems of Innovation and Economic Structure in the Arab Region," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 5(3), pages 481-520, September.
    15. Castellacci, Fulvio, 2008. "Technological paradigms, regimes and trajectories: Manufacturing and service industries in a new taxonomy of sectoral patterns of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6-7), pages 978-994, July.
    16. Fulvio Castellacci, 2007. "Technological regimes and sectoral differences in productivity growth ," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(6), pages 1105-1145, December.
    17. Dosi, Giovanni & Llerena, Patrick & Labini, Mauro Sylos, 2006. "The relationships between science, technologies and their industrial exploitation: An illustration through the myths and realities of the so-called `European Paradox'," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 1450-1464, December.
    18. Fagerberg, Jan & Verspagen, Bart, 2009. "Innovation studies--The emerging structure of a new scientific field," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 218-233, March.
    19. McMahon, Dominique & Thorsteinsdóttir, Halla, 2013. "Pursuing endogenous high-tech innovation in developing countries: A look at regenerative medicine innovation in Brazil, China and India," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 965-974.
    20. Hawkins, Richard & Langford, Cooper H. & Saunders, Chad, 2015. "Assessing the practical application of social knowledge: A survey of six leading Canadian Universities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 83-95.
    21. Woodson, Thomas S. & Hoffmann, Elina & Boutilier, Sophia, 2021. "Evaluating the NSF broader impacts with the Inclusion-Immediacy Criterion: A retrospective analysis of nanotechnology grants," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:11:y:2011:i:4:p:321-338. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.