About the data
Definitions
Data sources
Rapid progress in science and technology is changing the global economy and increasing the importance of knowledge as a factor of production. It is also driving the rapid shifts in comparative advantage between countries. The table shows a few key indicators that provide a very partial picture of the "technological base" in countries: the availability of skilled human resources (the scientists, engineers, and technicians employed in research and development, or R&D), the competitive edge countries enjoy in high-technology exports, and their purchases of technology through royalties and licenses.
An indication of a country's skilled human resources is obtained either from the total stock of scientists, engineers, and technicians or the number of economically active persons with the necessary qualifications to be scientists, engineers, or technicians. Missing data on potential scientists and engineers have been estimated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) using the number of people who have completed education at ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) levels 6 and 7; for technicians, missing data are estimated using the number of people who have completed education at ISCED level 5. These data are normally calculated in terms of full-time equivalent staff. Such data cannot take account of variation in the quality of the training or education received, which is considerable.
R&D expenditures may reflect different tax treatment of such expenditures. And in some countries they may reflect a large and possibly unproductive outlay by governments or state-owned research establishments.
High-technology exports are those produced by the top 10 industries (based on U.S. industries) according to R&D intensity. The rankings used in preparing the data on high-technology exports in the table are based on a methodology developed by Davis (1982). Using input-output techniques, Davis estimated the technology intensity for any given industry in the United States in terms of the R&D expenditures required to produce a certain manufactured good. This methodology takes into account not only the direct R&D investments made by final producers, but also the indirect R&D expenditures made by suppliers of intermediate goods used in producing the final good. Industries classified on the basis of the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) were ranked according to their R&D intensity, with the top 10 SIC groups (three-digit classification) designated as high-technology industries. The industry ranked tenth had an R&D index 30 percent greater than the industry in eleventh place and more than 100 percent greater than the average for the manufacturing sector.
To translate Davis's industry classification into a definition of high-technology trade, Braga and Yeats (1992) used the concordance between the SIC grouping and the SITC (Standard International Trade Classification), revision 1 classification proposed by Hatter (1985). Given the imperfect match between SIC and SITC codes, Hatter estimated high-technology weights (the proportion of U.S. high-technology imports and exports in each SITC group, based on 1975–77 U.S. trade data) as a way to highlight the relative importance of high-technology products in any given SITC grouping. In preparing the data on high-technology trade, Braga and Yeats considered only those SITC groups (at a four-digit level) that presented a high-technology weight greater or equal to 50 percent. Examples of high-technology exports include aircraft, office machinery, scientific instruments, and pharmaceutical goods (see Braga and Yeats 1992).
Note that the appropriateness of this methodology relies on the somewhat unrealistic assumption that the use of the U.S. input-output relations and trade patterns for high-technology production does not introduce a bias in the classification.
Definitions
• Scientists and engineers in research and development are people trained to work in those capacities (usually requires completion of tertiary education) in any field of science who are engaged in professional work in R&D activities (including administrators).
• Technicians in research and development are people engaged in R&D activities who have received vocational or technical training in any branch of knowledge or technology of a specified standard (usually three years beyond the first stage of secondary education).
• Expenditures for research and development are expenditures on any creative, systematic activity undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge (including knowledge of people, culture, and society) and the use of this knowledge to devise new applications. Included are fundamental research, applied research, and experimental development work leading to new devices, products, or processes. Total expenditure for R&D comprises current expenditure, including overhead, and capital expenditure.
• High-technology exports are goods produced by industries (based on U.S. industries) that rank in the top 10 according to R&D expenditures. Manufactured exports are the commodities in the SITC, revision 1, sections 5–9 (chemicals and related products, basic manufactures, manufactured articles, machinery and transport equipment, and other manufactured articles and goods not elsewhere classified), excluding division 68 (nonferrous metals).
• Royalty and license fees are payments and receipts between residents and nonresidents for the authorized use of intangible, nonproduced, nonfinancial assets and proprietary rights (such as patents, copyrights, trademarks, industrial processes, and franchises) and for the use, through licensing agreements, of produced originals of prototypes (such as manuscripts and films).
Data on technical personnel and R&D expenditures are collected by UNESCO from member states, mainly from official replies to UNESCO questionnaires and special surveys, as well as from official reports and publications, supplemented by information from other national and international sources. These data are published in UNESCO's Statistical Yearbook. Information on high-technology exports are from the United Nations COMTRADE database, and data on royalty payments are from the International Monetary Fund's Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook.
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