CHAPTER 3
Policy Options for Greater Technology Absorption Chunlin Zhang, Itzhak Goldberg, David Kaplan, and Smita Kuriakose
This book has focused on technology absorption in a number of southern African countries that obtain their technology and ideas from abroad, principally from the industrialized countries. As was clear in chapter 2, although firms in these countries are generally able to identify and gain access to the requisite technologies, they are all faced with constraints that hinder their ability to effectively absorb technology. This chapter accordingly assesses policy options that are open to the governments and the private sector in southern African countries to address these constraints to improve technology absorption among firms. Governments can support technology absorption in a variety of ways (see box 3.1 for a brief history of innovation policies among countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD]). At the most basic level, effective government policies could create an institutional base that establishes openness to trade, improves the business environment for domestic and foreign investment, establishes effective intellectual property rights regimes, and enhances knowledge flows and learning. Beyond those general policies, many governments have also intervened at the industry and firm levels to address market failures.
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