ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the importance of invention and technology transfer for economic growth. The discussion starts with the clear-cut distinction between innovation and invention introduced by Schumpeter. We also discuss the concept of measuring the effects of innovation using parameters of efficiency of factors of production, employed by R. Solow. We overview how the perception of these determinants of technical change has evolved, and present different views on the role of research-and-development activity in the innovation process and their implications for measuring innovation. The empirical part of the chapter presents a regression analysis of labour productivity, with research-and-development, technology transfer and other characteristics correlated with technical change adopted as explanatory variables. The analysis was carried out both for technologically advanced economies and the less developed ones. It has been observed that in the former group the most important are research-and-development activities, while in the latter the main focus is on technology transfer and features complementary to material investment. In the time of crisis, the leading determining factors can change. Moreover, the roles of the countries can be switched from the catching-up countries to the technology frontier group.
