2026-04-05T06:38:06.004422639Zhttps://dspace.library.uu.nl/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.library.uu.nl:1874/4264392026-03-26T18:08:41Zcom_1874_296827col_1874_296828
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
Economic Inequality and Science, Technology and Innovation Policy: the cases of the United Kingdom and South Africa
smallman, M.
Beumer, Koen
economic inequality
innovation policy
distribution
equity
United Kingdom
SouthAfrica
sociotechnical imaginaries
SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
There is growing evidence that technology-driven economic growth has a signficant role to play in growing inequality in industrialised countries. Examining innovation policies in South Africa (the G20 Country with the highest levels of inequality) and the UK (inequality at the G20 average), we ask whether the role of innovation in driving inequality is being addressed in STI policy, what measures might be neglected, and why innovation and distribution sensitive policies take the form they do. We find that the distributional consequences of innovation do receive attention in innovation policies in the two countries, albeit in different (and sometimes suprising) ways. However, the approaches taken are limited to a focus on the ‘firm’ as the model for technology transfer, with little evidence of moves to share assets. These differences and oversights, we argue, are the result of particular sociotechnical imaginaries shaping the role of science and innovation in national life.
SocArXiv
Innovation Studies
Innovation and Sustainability
2022-11-01
/dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/researchoutputtypes/workingpaper/preprint
application/pdf
https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/426439
en