During the 18th century, Sweden gave cash to its “spies” in England so they could buy copper and iron production secrets. Meanwhile, England issued a patent to a chemist who just returned from Russia with a new brewing method. Moving in the other direction, Samuel Slater took from England the technology that let him establish the first US water-powered textile mill.
Where we are going with this? For centuries, nations have stolen intellectual property from afar. Feeling there was no need to distinguish between introducers and inventors, they patented the product or process and called it their own. Afterwards though, they sought to prevent other countries from doing precisely what they did.
In a 21st century version of intellectual property theft, on May 1st, the US accused Chinese military computer hackers of stealing trade secrets from our solar power, steel and nuclear plants. Broadening the topic to cybercrime, a June 2014 Intel Security report concludes that the US, Germany and China are among the largest losers.
Also though (and predictably), the US, Germany and China are increasingly facilitating global technology transfer:
Below, we can get an idea of the content of the knowledge flows that move among nations.
Our bottom line? There is always a tension between protecting and disseminating new ideas. Knowledge transfers can provide a platform from which new ideas are generated and a springboard for economic growth. On the other hand, through patent and copyright protection, innovators can receive the rewards that spur further invention.
In a comment, please let us know how much you would encourage or prohibit global technology transfer.
When Is Technology Transfer Okay?
Elaine Schwartz
Elaine Schwartz has spent her career sharing the interesting side of economics. At the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she has been honored through an Endowed Chair in Economics and the History Department chairmanship. At the same time, she developed curricula and wrote several books including Understanding Our Economy (originally published by Addison Wesley as Economics Our American Economy) and Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). Elaine has also written in the Encyclopedia of New Jersey (Rutgers University Press) and was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom.” Beyond the classroom, she has presented Econ 101 ½ talks and led workshops for the Foundation for Teaching Economics, the National Council on Economic Education and for the Concord Coalition.
