Uskoković Vuk
Advanced Materials and Nanobiotechnology Laboratory, TardigradeNano LLC, Irvine, CA 92604 USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA 92182 USA.
J Knowl Econ. 2023 Mar 29:1-27. doi: 10.1007/s13132-023-01235-7.
In spite of the global advancements in science and technology, the disparity in the quality of life across the globe continues to increase, particularly so in terms of the access to cutting-edge medical technologies. Opportune transfer of technologies across the rich-poor divide lessens the global economic inequalities and fosters the sustainability of the global economy, but not all technologies are equally transferrable across this gap. Here, a method for quantifying the transferability of technologies has been postulated and preliminarily tested by considering twelve state-of-the-art medical technologies and three comparatively impoverished regions of the world: West Bengal in India, Xinjiang in China, and the former Yugoslav state of Montenegro. The results of the analysis demonstrate that neither the gross economic productivity of the region of interest nor its level of poverty can be the sole determinants of the transferability of technologies. Rather, a complex network of scientific, technological, infrastructural, socioeconomic, and cultural factors defines the extent of transferability of new technologies across the rich-poor divide. The proposed model helps to discern which of these factors represent the most critical hindrances in the transfer of technologies. It is argued that the most dependable technologies to transfer are old and proven ones, but the best ones for ameliorating the rich-poor divide are juvenile technologies in formative stages of their development, which also happen to be employing simplistic ingenuity and resourcefulness in their design. The analysis performed here makes it apparent that models for assessing the social value of technologies should inextricably tie the scientific factors with the socioeconomic and humanistic. Countless technical models of various natures could be devised with this holistic principle in mind.
尽管全球科技取得了进步，但全球生活质量的差距仍在扩大，在获得前沿医疗技术方面尤其如此。跨越贫富差距适时转移技术可减少全球经济不平等，促进全球经济的可持续性，但并非所有技术都能同样顺利地跨越这一差距。在此，通过考虑十二种先进医疗技术和世界上三个相对贫困的地区：印度的西孟加拉邦、中国的新疆以及前南斯拉夫的黑山共和国，提出并初步测试了一种量化技术可转移性的方法。分析结果表明，目标地区的总经济生产力及其贫困程度都不能成为技术可转移性的唯一决定因素。相反，一个由科学、技术、基础设施、社会经济和文化因素构成的复杂网络决定了新技术跨越贫富差距的可转移程度。所提出的模型有助于识别这些因素中哪些是技术转移中最关键的障碍。有人认为，最适合转移的可靠技术是那些老旧且经过验证的技术，但缩小贫富差距的最佳技术是处于发展形成阶段的新兴技术，这些技术在设计上也恰好运用了简单的独创性和机智。此处进行的分析表明，评估技术社会价值的模型应将科学因素与社会经济和人文因素紧密联系起来。基于这一整体原则，可以设计出无数种不同性质的技术模型。
