Abstract
In this paper the process of knowledge accumulation for a particular technology is studied. Two countries, say the technology follower and the technology frontier, are considered. The frontier’s knowledge growth is determined by its R&D efforts on the technology. The level of knowledge stock for the follower country is augmented by its R&D activities for the technology and absorbing some of the external knowledge through spillover from the frontier. The extent to which the follower is able to exploit the external knowledge depends on technological gap, absorptive capacity, absorption time and degree of spillover. New concepts such as natural and enhanced degree of spillover, background and innovative knowledge and absorption speed are introduced in the present work to deeply explore the process of knowledge spillover. The factors influencing the knowledge development in the long term are simultaneously studied in an integrated structure provided by the System Dynamics approach. This framework shows the responses to the changes and provides the basis for examining the interactions among the variables over time.
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Ehsan Shafiei is currently an expert of Energy-Economics Modeling in Power and Energy Planning Department of Iranian Ministry of Energy. He has previously worked at Sharif Energy Research Institute from 1999 to 2006. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering (Energy & Environment) from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran in 2009. His areas of research interests include Energy Systems Modeling, Innovation Policy and Technology Diffusion, Climate Change and Mitigation, Mathematical Programming, Applications of Optimal Control Theory and System-Dynamics Modeling.
M. Bagher Ghofrani (associate professor) is currently a full time faculty member of the Dept. of Energy Engineering at Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. He has, as educational background, BSc. in Electrical Eng. (Amirkabir University, Tehran, 1968); MSc. in Electrical Energy (ESE, Paris, 1974); MSc. in Nuclear Eng. (INSTN, Saclay, France, 1975) and PhD in Nuclear Eng. (INSTN, Saclay, France, 1978). His academic fields of interests are: Reliability Eng., Nuclear Safety, PSA/PRA, Nuclear Power Plant Technology and Advanced Thermodynamic Cycles.
Yadollah Saboohi is Prof. of Energy Systems Engineering. He is head of Sharif Energy Research Inst. (SERI) and head of Energy Systems Engineering Group at the Dept. of Energy Engineering at Sharif University of Technology in Iran. His research interests include Energy Systems Modeling, Optimization of Energy-Economy-Environment interaction, Mathematical Programming, Climate Change and Mitigation, Energy Technology and R&D Policies and impact of social changes on the energy system.
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Shafiei, E., Ghofrani, MB. & Saboohi, Y. Dynamics of knowledge accumulation in technology follower countries: A system dynamics approach. J. Syst. Sci. Syst. Eng. 18, 312–340 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-009-5110-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-009-5110-5