COR2201

Technology & World Change

Course Introduction

Facilitator: Dr. NEO KoK Beng

kbneo@smu.edu.sg

SG7: Tue, 3.30pm TA: Ray Lim, raylim.2021@business.smu.edu.sg

G6: Tue, 7.00pm TA: Subodhini, subodhiniv.2022@business.smu.edu.sg

Copyrights © 2023 Neo Kok Beng

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Lecture 1 Overview

❑ Course Introduction
~ Objectives
~ Course structure
~ Grades, Projects & Exam

❑ Technological Revolutions & Economics

~ Definition of Technology
~ Creative Destruction & New Growth Theory
~ Science & Technology: The Scientific Approach

❑ Industrial Revolutions 4.0 & Emerging Technologies

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EDUCATOR
Doctor of Innovation (SMU), MBA, Accountancy (NTU), B.Eng, Electrical (NUS)
Adjunct/Visiting Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship
UNDP, Harvard, Stanford, Tsinghua, Fudan, Nanjing, NUS, SMU & SUTD
Lead instructors, Lean LaunchPad@ Singapore, Graduate Research Innovation Progamme
Director/Dean (Honorary), Nanjing Health Bioinformatics Research Institute

ENGINEER
Fellows, ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisation, Institution of Engineers (Singapore)
Vice President (New Business), Singapore Technologies
Singapore President’s Design Award
USA Veterans’ Affairs Innovation Initiative Award
NUS Innovation & Entrepreneurship Awards

ENTREPRENEUR
Founder/CEO AWAK Technologies (UCLA spin-off)
Founding Chairman & Angel Investors:
Medtech: Breathonix, Craft Health, E3A, Rocesco
Engineering: NEO Aeronautics, BeeX, Gush, Lumos, E2S2 System
Accelerators: ASPIRE, Imagineering Global
Course Objectives
Technology & World Change aims to equip the students with strong conceptual
foundation for understanding the dynamics process of technological innovations
and its socio-economic impact.

Students will acquire the fundamental concepts, methodologies and tool-kits for
them to critically frame issues, analyze information and strategize for innovations.

Technology Industry Policy

Entrepreneurs Strategist Analyst

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Reference Book (Optional)

Strategic Management of Technological Innovations

6th Edition
Melissa A. Schilling
McGraw-Hill

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Web Sites(Optional)
MIT Technology Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/

Techcrunch
http://techcrunch.com/

Wired Magazine
http://www.wired.com/magazine/

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 Syllabus

INTRODUCTION
Definitions of Technology
Technology & Economic Growth
Scientific Approach

PART 1: TECHNOLOGY & PART 2: TECHNOLOGY & PART 3: TECHNOLOGY &

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INDUSTRY SOCIETY

TE1 Technology Opportunities TI1 Technology Development TS1 Systems of Innovation

TE2 Minimal Viable Product TI2 Technology Strategy TS2 Intellectual Properties

TE3 Technology Workshop TI3 Technology Webinar TS3 Technology Investments

Idea Pitching / Fact Sheet Group Project / Presentations Policy Analysis Class Test

EXAMINATION
2 hr, MCQs+1 Essay Question
Case-based. Closed Book. Online
 Concepts, Theories
& Methodologies
INTRODUCTION
Definitions of Technology
Technology & Economic Growth
Scientific Approach

PART 1: TECHNOLOGY & PART 2: TECHNOLOGY & PART 3: TECHNOLOGY &

ENTREPRENEURSHIP INDUSTRY SOCIETY

Opportunity Evaluation S-Curve System of Innovation

TE1 TI1 TS1
Design Thinking Network Effect Science & Technology Plans

Disruptive Innovation Trademarks & Copyrights

Persona & Customer Profile TS2
TE2 TI2 Innovation Strategies Patents and Strategies
Value Proposition Design

Technology Workshop Technology Webinar Technology Investments

TE3 TI3 TS3
(3D Printing) (Space Explorations) (Venture Capitals)
 Class Schedule

Week Date (Tue) Description

1 Jan 10 Introduction
2 Jan 17 Technology & Entrepreneurship 1
3 Jan 24 (CNY holiday) Technology & Entrepreneurship 3 (online – 3D printing workshop)
4 Jan 31 Technology & Entrepreneurship 2
5 Feb 7 Video Idea Pitching & Business Validation
6 Feb 14 Technology & Industry 1
7 Feb 21 Technology & Industry 2
8 Feb 28 Term Break
9 Mar 7 Technology & Industry 3 (online – SpaceTech by astronaut)
10 Mar 14 Group Project Report & Presentations
11 Mar 21 Technology & Society 1
12 Mar 28 Technology & Society 2
13 Apr 4 Technology & Society 3 & Class Test
14 Exam

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 Industrial Revolutions 4.0
/Emerging Technologies
Week Date (Tue) Topics

1 Jan 10
2 Jan 17 Metaverse & Digital Twins, Urban Aerial Mobility (flying car)
3 Jan 24 (CNY holiday)
4 Jan 31 Blockchain, Robotics
5 Feb 7
6 Feb 14 Autonomous Car, Indoor Farming
7 Feb 21
8 Feb 28 Term Break
9 Mar 7 Industry Webinar (Space Technologies)
10 Mar 14
11 Mar 21 Smart Cities, Alternative Proteins
12 Mar 28 Clean Energy, Artificial Intelligence
13 Apr 4
14 Exam

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 Readings (Compulsory)
Lecture Topic 1 Topic 2

Introduction No reading Post Scarcity Prophet

https://reason.com/2001/12/01/post-scarcity-prophet-2/

TE 1 Opportunity Recognition Design Thinking, Tim Brown, HBR Jun 2008

https://biz.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Business/
Entrepreneurship/Book%3A_Entrepreneurship
_and_Innovation_Toolkit_(Swanson)/01%3A_
Chapters/1.02%3A_Chapter_2__Opportunity_
Recognition_and_Design_Thinking

TE 2 Know Your Customers “Jobs to be Done” A better way to think about your business
Clayton Christensen, HBR Sep 2016 model, Alex Osterwalder, HBR May 2013

Value Proposition Design Why the Lean Startup Changes Everything

https://www.strategyzer.com/books/value- Steve Blank, HBR May 2013
proposition-design

TI 1 Right Tech, Wrong Time Pipelines, Platform & the New Rules of
Ron Adner, HBR Mar 2010 Strategy, Marsahll Alystyne, HBR Apr 2016

TI 2 What is Disruptive Innovation. Clayton You Need an Innovation Strategy, Gary

Christensen, HBR Dec 2015 Pisano, HBR June 2015

ht
 Readings (Compulsory)
Lecture Topic 1 Topic 2

TS 1 Bringing the Silicon Valley Inside Research, Innovation & Enterprise Plan 2020
https://hbr.org/1999/09/bringing-silicon-valley- https://www.nrf.gov.sg/docs/default-
inside source/default-document-
library/rie_booklet_fa2021_pages.pdf?sfvrsn=
4417ed10_2
\

TS2 Understanding Innovation & IP: Patent, Strategic Management of Intellectual

Trademark, Copyrights, Design Property", MIT Sloan Management
https://www.ipos.gov.sg/understanding- Review; Spring2004, Vol. 45 Issue 3, p35-
innovation-ip 41
FORMAT OF WEEKLY LECTURE

60 mins: Topic 1
30 mins Lecture
30 mins Group work / Exercise

10 mins: Break

60 mins: Topic 2
30 mins Lecture
30 mins Group work / Exercise

5 mins: Break

60 mins: Industrial Revolutions 4.0 / Emerging Technologies

30 mins Student Group Presentation: Topic 1
30 mins Student Group Presentation: Topic 2

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PREPARATION (Before Class)

Please note that classes are seminars based

You are supposed to complete all the readings before attending class.
You may be asked to describe concepts and how they are applied in class.

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 Assignments Attendance + Class
Pathway & Participations + Emerging
Assessment Technologies
(5%+10%+5%)

Technology & Entrepreneurship

Technology & Industry Technology & Society
Individual Business
Group Presentation/Report Class Test
Pitching/Fieldwork
(10%+ 10%) (10%)
(10% + 10%)

Examination
(30%)

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Class Participations (20%)
Emerging Technologies presentation (5%)

Class Attendance (5%)

Class Participations (10%)

- A will keep track of class participation (quantitative)
- Instructor will grade on class participation (qualitative)
- Include assignments for online sessions

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Industry Webinars – Space
Exploration Series

By NASA Astronaut
Jeff Williams

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Individual Pitch (10%)
Field Validation (10%)
Pitch:
Each student is to give a pitch of their business idea based on a 2
minutes video (2-rounds voting in class)

Validation:
Conduct an experiment on validation of a hypothesis in the
Value Proposition Canvas

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Group Project (20%)
Maximum 5 project groups per segment.

Criteria for group formation:

-5 students per group
-max 3 student from same School (subject to class compositions)

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Group Project: Technology & Industry
• Choose one technology unicorn in Asia and inform the TA.

https://www.failory.com/startups/apac-unicorns

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Group Project: Technology & Industry

• ALL REPORT MUST BE IN PDF FORMAT (and no ZIP or other file formats).
• Select an Asia Technology Unicorn for analysis.
• Please register topic with TA by week 4.
• Please upload report to eLearn 1 week after class presentation.
• Report should be 10 ~ 30 pages, excluding appendices.
• Format:
1) Introduction
2) Technological Evolutions (S-curve, Dominant Design, Network Effects)
3) Unicorn Strategy (innovations & growth)

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Class Test (10%)

• 1 hour, open book

• 1 question
• Case-based, Online.

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Examination (30%)

• 2 hours, Closed book

•1 Essay + MCQs
• Case-based, Online.
• Review in Week 13

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 Topic 1:

Course Introduction

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 COR2201
Technology & World Change

Lecture 1

Technology Revolution & Societal Impact

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 Science studies what is,
technology creates what never was.

Theodor Von Karman 1881~ 1963

Copyrights © 2018 Neo Kok Beng

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Readings
COMPULSORY
Reason Magazine, PostScarcity Prophet, Paul Romer on growth,
technological change and unlimited human growth
http://reason.com/archives/2001/12/01/post-scarcity-prophet/print

[SKIM] RIP – Basic & Applied Research

http://issues.org/29-2/venkatesh/

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 Why study TWC?
(social sciences, economics, accountancy, business, law, information…..)

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Why Study TWC?

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Why Study TWC?

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Why Study TWC?

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 Why Study TWC?

Technological innovation was the heart of the industrial

revolution and the key enabling technology was the invention
and improvement of the steam engine 32
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 Why Study TWC?
Innovation by Industry:
The Importance of Strategy

• Successful innovation requires carefully crafted

strategies and implementation processes.
• Innovation funnel
– Most innovative ideas do not become successful new products.

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 Why Study TWC?
• Technological innovation now the single most
important driver of competitive success in
many industries
– Many firms earn over one-third of sales on products developed
within last five years
– Product innovations help firms protect margins by offering new,
differentiated features.
– Process innovations help make manufacturing more efficient.

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 Why Study TWC?
Innovation in Research:
The Importance of National Science & Technology policy

• The majority of R&D funds spent in OECD countries come from

industry, and percentage has been increasing.

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What is Technology?
(art, science, engineering, economics, invention, innovation …..)

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Technology v. Science

“Science is that form of human activity which is devoted to the

production of theory-related knowledge of material
phenomena whose root function is to attain an enhanced
understanding of nature.”

“Technology is the human activity which is devoted to the

production of technics [material products of human making or
fabrication] – or technic-related intellectual products - whose
root function is to expand the realm of practical human
possibility.”

Copyrights © 2018 Neo Kok Beng

McGinn (1999)
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Technological Change

“Constant revolutionising of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all

social conditions, everlasting uncertainty…all established national
industries have been destroyed or are daily being destroyed. They
are dislodged by new industries…whose products are consumed not
only at home , but in every corner of the globe. In place of old wants
satisfied by the production of the country, we find new wants…the
intellectual creativity of nations become common property.”
Marx and Engels (1848)

Copyrights © 2018 Neo Kok Beng

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Technology

• Is embedded in artefacts
• Is embedded in people and organisations
• Contains a large element of tacit knowledge
• Developments in technology give rise to
technological change

Copyrights © 2018 Neo Kok Beng

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 Technology Creation-Application
Creation Application

PRODUCT PROCESS MARKET

Product Quality Service

Basic Development Engineering Control Distribution
Research
Applied Manufacturing Application
Design
Research Engineering Engineering
Engineering

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Definition of Technology
A process which,
through an explicit or implicit phase of research and development,
(the application of scientific knowledge),
allows for commercial production of goods or services

Scientific Knowledge

Existing Techniques R&D Problems to be solved

TECHNOLOGY

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Technology: Embodiment

❑ Hardware (equipment, components, materials)

❑ Software (program, database, standards, specifications)

❑ Humanware (codified or uncodified skills, experience, knowhow)

❑ Organisationware (systems, process and procedures)

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Technology: Applications Hierarchy
❑ Environmental Technology
➢ Waste Treatment Technology
➢Incinerator Technology

❑ Storage Technology
➢ Non-volatile storage
➢ Flash-memory Technology/ HDD Technology

❑ Display Technology
➢ Flat Panel Technology
➢ LCD Technology

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Technology: Knowledge Hierarchy
❑ Electronics Material Technology
➢ Semiconductor Technology
➢CMOS Technology

❑ Biotechnology
➢ Genetic Engineering
➢ DNA Techniques

❑ Signal Processing
➢ Modulation Technique
➢ PCM Technique

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GOVERNMENT

Science & Technology

(S&T)

INDUSTRY vs

Management of Technology
(MOT)

ENTERPRISE

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Management of Technology

Management of Technology (MOT)

links engineering, science and management disciplines
to address the issues involved in planning, development and implementation
of technological capabilities
to shape and accomplish the strategic and operational objectives of an organization

US National Research Council

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Management of Technology
Technology management is not research and development
(R&D) management.

R&D management refers to the process by which a company

runs its research laboratories and other operations for the
creation of new technologies.

Technology management focuses on the intersection of

technology and business, encompassing not only technology
creation but also its application, dissemination, and impact.

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MOT: 8 Challenges
➢ How to integrate technology into the overall strategic objectives of the firm
➢ Ho to get into and out of technologies faster and more efficiently
➢ How to assess/evaluate technology more effectively
➢ How best to accomplish technology transfer
➢ How to reduce product development time
➢ How to manage large, complex and interdisciplinary or interoganizational projects
➢ How to manage the organization’s internal use of technology
➢ How to leverage the effectiveness of technical professionals

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 Topic 2:

Growth Theory
&
Knowledge-based Economy

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Discussions:

➢ Creative Destructions
joseph schenpck

Creative Destruction Examples

Photography companies whose business was greatly replaced by smartphone incorporated companies;
Traditional watches increasingly becoming replaced by smartwatches;
Tablets and kindles replacing conventional printed books;

➢ New Growth Theory

suggests human capital has a central role in productivity and in innovation, as a stock of useful
knowledge that can generate continued growth.

New Growth theory is closely associated with American ecnomist, Paul Romer. A central proposition of
New Growth theory is that, unlike land and capital, knowledge is not subject to diminishing returns.

➢ Scientific Approach
hypothesis, evident based: establish a law or theory

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 CD: It is also sometimes known as Schumpeter's gale. According to
Schumpeter, the "gale of creative destruction" describes the "process
of industrial mutation that continuously revolutionizes the economic
structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly
creating a new one".

Discussion: Creative Destruction

In Gale’s CD: there is paradigm and paradigm shift

~ Schumpeter ~
Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy,
Second Edition, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., London (GB), pp. 61-62, 81-86

The Fundamental Impulse that sets and keeps Capitalist Engine in motion:
new consumers, goods, new methods of production or transportation,
new markets, new form of industrial organization
that capitalist enterprise creates.

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 IDEAS - THINGS
IDEAS: RECIPE THINGS:
(have increasing returns) labour: baker
Machine: oven
- if we focus on this, it is land: shop
real GDP
consistent and we can
residue
increase GDP

Discussions – Growth Theory

factor of
production

initially created to find the GDP of US

factor of production = land, labor, machine,

capital (under classical economics theory)

every FOP suffer from diminishing returns

Solow’s Surprise:
Investment is Not the Key to Growth
Chapter 3:
The Elusive Quest for Growth
Economists’ Adventure & Misadventures in the Tropics
By William Easterly

institutions will protect your IDEAS

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Discussions – New Growth Theory endogeneous

New Growth Theory

~ Paul Romer ~
Reason Magazine,
PostScarcity Prophet, Paul Romer on growth, technological change and unlimited human growth

http://reason.com/archives/2001/12/01/post-scarcity-prophet

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New Growth Theory
Economist Paul Romer is the lead developer of New Growth Theory.
This body of work, which grew out of his 1983 PhD thesis,
provides a foundation for business and government thinking
about the dynamics of wealth creation.

It addresses one of the oldest questions in economics:

What sustains economic growth in a physical world characterized by
diminishing returns and scarcity?
It also sheds new light on current economic issues. Among these, Romer is currently studying
how government policy affects innovation and how faster technological change might influence asset prices.

Unlike material goods, Romer posits,

new ideas that create new technologies can lead to unlimited economic growth.

His theory suggests that for a developing country, the most important government policies
may be those that determine the rate of technology transfer from the rest of the world.

For an advanced economy, the most important policies may be the ones
that influence the rate of technological innovation in the private sector.

His work has had a profound influence on the study of macroeconomics and macroeconomic policy
in the last decade.
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Discussions
❑ Technology divide does not have to follow the
income divide. Throughout history, technology
has been a powerful tool for human development
& poverty reduction

❑ The market is a powerful engine of technological progress

but is not powerful enough to create and diffuse the
technologies needed to eradicate poverty.

❑ Developing countries may gain especially from high

rewards from new technologies, but they also face
especially severe challenges in managing the risks.

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Discussions
❑ The technology revolution and globalization are creating
a network age – and that is changing how technology
is created and diffused.

❑ Even in the network age, domestic policy still matters.

All countries, even the poorest, need to implement
policies that encourage innovation, access and
development of advanced skills

❑ National policies will not be sufficient to compensate

for global market failures. New international initiatives
and the fair use of global rules are needed to channel new
technologies towards the most urgent needs of the poors.

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Discussions
❑ Policy – not charity – to build technological capacity
in developing countries

Technological Transfer – Problems????

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 Issues for Homo sapiens

Technology Drives Society?

Society Drives Technology?

Technology & Society Drive Each Other?

Is Technology Neutral?

homo sapiens : (Latin) wise man, knowing man

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 Technology Determinism
Most interpretations of technological determinism share two general
ideas:

1) that the development of technology itself follows a predictable,

traceable path largely beyond cultural or political influence, and

2) that technology in turn has "effects" on societies that are inherent,

rather than socially conditioned or produced because that society
organizes itself to support and further develop a technology once it has
been introduced.

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 Technology Determinism
Hard determinists would view technology as developing independent from social
concerns. They would say that technology creates a set of powerful forces acting to
regulate our social activity and its meaning. According to this view of determinism
we organize ourselves to meet the needs of technology and the outcome of this
organization is beyond our control or we do not have the freedom to make a choice
regarding the outcome.

Soft Determinism is a more passive view of the way technology interacts with
socio-political situations. Soft determinists still subscribe to the fact that technology
is the guiding force in our evolution, but would maintain that we have a chance to
make decisions regarding the outcomes of a situation. This is not to say that free
will exists but it is the possibility for us to roll the dice and see what the outcome is..

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 Technology Determinism

•Technological Paradigm

•Path Dependency

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Technological Paradigms & Trajectories

Technological paradigm
• Sets the rules of the game for innovation
• Defines the field of enquiry
• Forms the technological domain within which
technologies evolve

Technological trajectory
• Development path traced by new technology
• Cumulative, with each step building on previous
ones
• A series of incremental innovations
Copyrights © 2018 Neo Kok Beng
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 Topic 3:

Industrial Revolutions 4.0

&
Emerging Technologies

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 Disruptive technologies:
Advances that will transform life, business,
and the global economy
McKinsy Global Institute
https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/mckinsey%20digital/our%20insights/disruptive%20
technologies/mgi_disruptive_technologies_executive_summary_may2013.pdf

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