India's Economic Development: The Role of Institutionalized Technology Transfer

Abstract:     
This paper discusses India's institutionalized technology transfer (TT) policies and practices and examines their impact on economic development. The paper is organized chronologically. The pre-independence era is sub-organized into: early history and British colonial period. The post-independence era is sub-organized into four 15-year periods: 1951-65, 1966-80, 1981-95, and 1996-present. Following independence, India's TT policy involved reverse-engineering foreign technology; incrementally improving it, adopting it to local or similar conditions, and producing for import substitution and for export by state owned enterprises and a small group of established oligarchs, ultimately leading to SMEs taking over in few niche technologies and growing to become worldwide suppliers. The real-world facts assembled, and insights gained from results of fairly simple statistical analysis of hard data are pregnant with meaning for socio-economic science practitioners and researchers alike. Lastly, some analyses to support future policy decisions are suggested.

Keywords: Technology transfer; Comparative technology transfer; History of technology transfer, India technology transfer; India; Israel; Turkey; Intellectual property; Diffusion of technology; Development; Comparative development Agricultural extension; Incubators; Technoparks; Policy; Technology policy; Tec

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