Role Of Technology In Economic Development 3i2r3f

Role of Technology in Economic Development The technology can be regarded as primary source in economic development and the various technological changes contribute significantly in the development of underdeveloped countries. Technological advancement and economic growth are truly related to each other. The level of technology is also an important determinant of economic growth. The rapid rate of growth can be achieved through high level of technology. Schumpeter observed that innovation or technological progress is the only determinant of economic progress. But if the level of technology becomes constant the process of growth stops. Thus, it is the technological progress which keeps the economy moving. Inventions and innovations have been largely responsible for rapid economic growth in developed countries.

The growth of net national income in developed countries cannot be claimed to have been due to capital alone. Kindleberger observed that major part of this increased productivity is due to technological changes. Robert Solow estimated that technological change ed for about 2/3 of growth of the U.S. economy; after allowing for growth in the labour force and capital stock.

In fact, the technology can be regarded as primary source in economic development and the various technological changes contribute significantly in the development of underdeveloped countries. The impact of technological change on production functions can be illustrated with the help of following diagrams.

In the above figures 1 to 3 R’ is an isoquant of production function before technological change and R’ represents the same quantities output after the innovation in the first figure. The innovation is neutral with respect to labour and capital. The new production function R shows that the same output can be produced with less labour and less capital after technological advancement. The second figure shows that innovation is labour saving and R’ shows that same output can be produced with lesser inputs but the saving of labour is greater than that of capital. The third figure shows that the innovation is capital saving and R’ shows that the same output can be produced by less inputs after technological change but saving of capital is greater than that of labour. It is generally assumed that the technological advancement is even more important than capital formation. But the capital formation

alone can bring out economic development to a limited extent and the progress stops if there is no technological change. A country cannot remain dependent on the import of technology. A nation that spends more on science and technical research will tend to grow faster than another country accumulating more capital but spending less on technological.

In the first figure (4) the country A concentrates on accumulation of more capital resources while in second figure 5, country B focuses attention on technological aspects but does not regulate the accumulation of capital. It is clear that the progress of country B is faster than that of country A due to the high rates of technological development. The concept that technological progress is more important than capital formation is illustrated with the help of production function in the diagram 6.

In the figure 6, OP represents the production function which rises to OP,, OP2 and OP., with technological progress. On the production function OP if amount of capital per worker raised from Rs. 150 to Rs. 200, the output per worker of labour is raised from SM to XM1, when capital per unit of labour is Rs. 300 the output per labour is. ZM,. The main objective of technological progress is to make a better utilization of labour and other resources and hence the production function shifts upward which means that more output per labour can be obtained by the same amount of capital per worker. The quantity of capital per worker remains at Rs. 150, the production per worker goes on increasing from SM to NM. This is due to the upward shifting of the production function. In the same fashion, more production can be produced at other levels of capital intensity. Thus, technological progress results in shifting the production function upward which enables more output per labourer with same amount of capital per worker. Technology is always moving—and it touches every part of our lives. Each year, we see more and more of the reality that only existed in science fiction come to life. In 2014, we saw our fair share of consumer, mass market mobile technological advancement, most

notably in the launching of the new smartwatch platform and the continued saturation of the smartphone market. However, we also saw a big move in technology other sectors as well, including transportation, healthcare, and space exploration. So here are the 10 best technology advances of 2014—the ones that truly had us excited for the future:

10. Virtual Reality Goes Mainstream Oculus Rift has been the talk of the town for a couple of years now, but after being purchased by Facebook this year, we’ve been seeing the devices pop up in more and more places. At this year’sSan Diego Comic-Con, Facebook teamed up with Hollywood to create two unique virtual reality experiences: one for X-Men and one for Pacific Rim. Both of the experiences were made uniquely for the platform and immersed viewers directly into the action. Expect to see a lot more of this in the future as virtual reality technology advances and more of the public gets to try it for the first time.

9. Google’s Lenses Monitors Blood Sugar Levels Google are taking their wearable technology ambitions even further with a smart lens—but it might not be quite what you think. It’s not Google Glass plastered onto your eye. Instead of sending you Google+ notifications, its transmitters are used for an entirely different end goal: monitoring diabetics’ tears for glucose. Google lens are being developed by Google X, the offshoot of the tech giant that handles their most ambitious and risky projects such as Glass and self-driving cars. These lenses see Google moving further into wearable technologies and crossing over into healthcare tech.—Jonathan Keane

8. Ultra Short Throw 4K Projector is the Future of the Television The Ultra Short Throw 4K Projector was immediately one of the coolest things to come from CES at the beginning of this year. We still view projectors as clunky, old technology, but Sony is looking to change that with its newest possible addition to your living room. It’ll take an entire wall of your living room, but with its beautiful,

unobtrusive design, it fits in with the modern home pretty well. Say hello to the future of living room screens.

7. HP Sprout Touch Mat Reinvents the Workstation The real technological wonder of HP’s Spout Touch Mat isn’t in the development of brand new technologies, but instead in how the device uses pre-existing technologies together to do something entirely new. The idea behind Sprout is to reinvent the digital workspace, using a an overhead projection camera that can detect finger/hand gestures, track objects, and even interact with them in unique augmented reality use cases. Most importantly, it has an interesting take on how the world of touch screens and traditional desktop computers might interact and function in a universal, digital workstation.

6. Ind.ie Takes the Internet off the Grid Every few weeks it seems that companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter are in the spotlight for issues around security and privacy. Each time the public is able to catch some small glimpse behind the curtain of what these companies are doing with all of the personal information they control, there is inevitably a backlash, followed by some sort of apology or explanation from the company.

5. Hoverboards Are For Real We’ve been waiting our whole lives for a real hoverboard and we were all successfully faked out earlier this year by Funny or Die’s video stunt involving Tony Hawk and Christopher Lloyd and a fake company called HUVr. The whole thing came out as a hoax though shortly after, to the disappoint of people all across the Internet.

4. Computer Chips are Becoming More like Human Brains The idea behind the development of neuromorphic chips is to make them a bit more like us—and in turn, make computers better at navigating and modeling human behavior. These neuromorphic chips, being developed by companies such as Qualcomm, are designed to perceive beyond just their programming, such as being able to process sensory data and react accordingly. It’ll have a huge effect on robotics in the next few

years and continue reshape the way we think of computers and our relationship with them.

3. Orion Test Flight Leads the Way for Human Mars Landing The recent NASA Orion test flight has finally gotten Americans excited about the future of space travel. The test has set the groundwork for future Orion launches, which includes planned manned deep-space trips to an asteroid and Mars. Those might not happen right away, but now that the first test flight has happened we couldn’t be more excited about what it could mean for the future.

2. Self-Driving Cars Will Be Everywhere

When we talk about self-driving cars these days, we’re not just talking about the one made by Google without a steering wheel. Everyone from Tesla to Audi are testing and implementing self-driving technologies to put in their high-end vehicles. While none of them are doing anything as extreme as Google, clearly the influence is being seen across the industry as the desire for self-driving features grows.

1. Google’s Cancer-Detecting Pill Google pushed strongly in the world of healthcare this year with its glucose-detecting lenses, the Google Genomics cloud storage project, and most notably, its new cancer-detecting pill. The pill contains magnetic nanoparticles that attach themselves to cancerous molecules that may or may not be flowing through your bloodstream. The pill would then actually be able to notify you on your wearable device whenever it has accomplished its cancer purging. Even though it’s still years from hitting the market, it’s one of those game-changing technologies that only Google has the money, intuition, and ambition to create.