Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: International Technology Transfers: Adoption or Imitation

技术创新和商业化是企业竞争优势和国家经济增长的源泉。因此，企业和国家通过各种渠道在前沿技术上竞争和合作。随着地缘政治紧张和国家间不平等的加剧，需要对全球经济中的这种互动进行更多的研究。本研究探讨了国际技术转移的动态，特别关注其两个主要渠道：技术模仿和技术采用。模仿是未经授权复制现有技术而不补偿创新者，而采用是通过许可协议合法获取技术。这两种不同的国际技术转让渠道不仅共存，而且相互影响，影响各国的增长和发展，从而影响全球经济。本研究利用独特的模仿和采用数据，并探讨这两个渠道之间的相互作用。所得结果将提供重要的政策含义。首先，通过记录不同行业如何使用不同的技术转移模式，研究可以为产业政策提供信息，特别是在促进创新方面。其次，它将帮助引领国和跟随国更好地了解两种技术转移渠道的相对成本和收益。第三，通过揭示技术市场上的全球竞争与合作，它将有助于设计更有效、更兼容的制度，包括知识产权制度。这些机构可以更好地满足各国的各种需求，缓解发达国家和发展中国家之间的紧张关系。本项目首先构建统一的内生增长模型，从理论上解释其机制，并评估技术采用和模仿的影响。这个框架理清了起作用的经济力量，并对企业和国家政策的这些动态决策如何塑造其增长轨迹提供了细致入微的理解。接下来，在实证方面，研究人员将利用专利和公司层面的全球专利诉讼和专利许可协议的两个专有数据集，为该领域提供一系列新的事实。通过采取这种直接措施和细致的方法，这项研究可以丰富对广泛的发达国家和发展中国家的技术转让模式的理解，这是当今高度全球化经济的一个关键方面。最后，采用定量分析的方法，对各种假设政策进行现实评估，为最优产业创新补贴和知识产权保护国际协定提供指导。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Innovation and commercialization of technology are the sources of firms’ competitive advantage and countries’ economic growth. Hence, firms and countries compete and cooperate over frontier technologies through various channels. As geopolitical tension and inequality among countries rise, more research on such interactions in the global economy is needed. This research delves into the dynamics of international technology transfer, specifically focusing on its two major channels: technology imitation and technology adoption. Imitation is unauthorized replication of existing technologies without compensating the innovators, while adoption means legal acquisition of technologies through licensing agreements. These two distinct channels of international technology transfer not only coexist but also interact with each other, shaping the growth and development of countries, and consequently the global economy. This study utilizes unique data on imitation and adoption, and investigates the interplay between these two channels. The derived results will provide important policy implications. First, by documenting how different industries use different modes of technology transfer, the research can inform industrial policy, particularly on promoting innovations. Second, it will help both leader and follower countries better understand the relative costs and benefits of the two channels of technology transfer. Third, by shedding light on the global competition and cooperation in the market for technology, it will help devise more efficient and compatible institutions, including intellectual property (IP) systems. Such institutions can better satisfy various needs of countries and reduce tension between developed and developing countries.This project starts by constructing a unified endogenous growth model to theoretically explain the mechanisms and assess the impacts of technology adoption and imitation. This framework disentangles the economic forces at play and offers a nuanced understanding of how these dynamic decisions of firms and countries' policies shape their growth trajectories. Next, on the empirical side, the researchers will utilize two proprietary datasets on global patent litigations and patent licensing agreements at the patent- and firm-levels to offer a set of new facts to the field. By taking such direct measures with a granular approach, this research can enrich the understanding of technology transfer patterns across a broad set of developed and developing countries, a critical aspect in today’s highly globalized economy. Lastly, employing a quantitatively-oriented approach, the research will enable realistic assessment of various hypothetical policies, which provides guidance on the optimal industrial innovation subsidies and international agreements of IP protection.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.