technology

A technology is an ordered set of artefacts, problems and cognitive schemes in >production which enables actors to create states of order of matter-energy intentionally and to change the temporal structure of production. Hence, technology is embodied in >capital, including different kinds of capital, e.g. human and real.

Technology is the way how knowledge in production is transformed into other knowledge via the change of the >state space of inputs and outputs. Therefore, all the general concepts related to >knowledge apply to technology, too, in particular the distinction between referential and non-referential knowledge: For example, in EE it is commonplace to describe technology as consisting of "blueprints" (referential) and "routines" (non-referential). Insofar as technology involves the interaction of actors in a collective fashion, every technology can also be described as a >network. In economic systems, most technologies are therefore applied in the context of >organizations which define those networks. In market competition, the units are always particular compounds of technologies and organizations, embedded into certain institutional structures.

In taxonomies of technology the distinction between the base technology and applications is frequently made. The base technology, however, cannot be equated with the original invention but is a technological ideal-type mostly emerging from processes of >standardization during the life-cycle of a technology. In the evolutionary context, base technologies are the "Baupläne" ("construction plans") of families and species of technologies, which are a force of internal selection of variants. Technological innovation as a kind of >novelty mostly results from the recombination of existing technologies into new structures.

Understanding technology requires the analysis of the interaction of types of knowledge in the production and the use of technology. There are different kinds of technological change, depending on which kind of knowledge is more or less involved. In technology studies, this is mostly referred to as "demand pull" and "supply push" theories of technological change. From the viewpoint of EE, the broader interaction with other structures has also to be taken into consideration.

EE has developed many approaches to technology and market dynamics. There is a close relation to innovation studies and industrial economics. Important research issues relate to the interaction between firm organization, market structure and technological change, as well as to the long-run impact of institutions on technological change, especially in the study of national >innovation systems. A much contended issue is the question whether technological evolution might also lead to suboptimal states because of >path-dependency.

Basic References

Technology studies are a flourishing field in EE. Thus, it is difficult to recommend single contributions. One important source of my view of technology is:
Pier Paolo Saviotti, Technological Evolution, Variety and the Economy, Cheltenham: Elgar, 1996.
Another volume collects contributions with a distinctive evolutionary approach based on the VSR-mechanism:
John Ziman (ed.), Technological Innovation as an Evolutionary Process, Cambridge et al.: Cambridge UP.

In EE, the results of the sociology and history of technology are important contributions to further understand the role of technology in the economy. You may consult the websites:
A simple introduction into technology
History of technology
Sociology of technology

Semantic Field
knowledge
technology   novelty
capital   innovation   organization   path