The Technological Progress Path Of Backward Countries: A Perspective From The Techno-Economic Paradigm Shifts

The outbreak of the new technological revolution has led to the Shift of techno-economic paradigms,creating a "window of opportunity" for the backward countries to catch up with and surpass the technology.Selecting the right path of technological progress and implementing scientific industrial policies are important guarantees for the backward countries to seize the "window of opportunity" and catch up with technology and economy.Characterized by the commercialization of 5G communication technology,the world has entered the sixth stage of technological revolution.In the face of a new wave of technological revolution,there is still a hot debate in the academic circles as to what path could be employed to promote the technological progress in China.Adhering to the path of suitability technology progress based on comparative advantage,we should rely on our own resource endowment advantages,introduce suitability technology,and promote technological progress in China through "ladder" industrial upgrading;insisting on the technological catching-up path based on competitiveness.Additionally,we should deviate from factor endowment advantages,promote our technological and economic catching-up with the first developing countries through measures such as accumulation of innovation capability and implementation of selective industrial policies.From the perspective of the world's technological revolution cycle and the shift of techno-economic paradigms,this paper constructs a general theoretical framework to catch-up and surpassing of technology in the backward countries.At first the conclusions are concluded from the theoretical derivation and empirical test.That is,it is very likely that the backward countries will fall into the "technology imitation trap" and "technology progress path transformation trap" when they choose the appropriate technological progress path based on the comparative advantage.Choosing a technological catching-up path based on competitiveness is conducive to introducing advanced foreign technologies,absorbing the achievements of technological revolution rapidly,and upgrading the technological level of industries in the backward countries.Moreover,it is also conducive to promoting the transformation of the domestic technological progress path from the import imitation to the independent innovation,improving international technological competitiveness,and realizing the technological and economic catching-up or even surpass of the first developing countries eventually.When the backward countries are moving along the path of technological catching-up,they should follow the stage characteristics and transformation requirements of techno-economic paradigms.In addition,choosing the appropriate mode of technological progress and national interventions will contribute to the changes of the path in technological progress for the backward countries.Firstly,a general theoretical framework for backward countries is built to catch up with and surpass the first developing countries(developed countries).The catching-up path of technology in backward countries is then innovatively puts forward,which is "embedded in technology introduction-technology imitation and gradual innovation-selective innovation supported by the State-enterprise's independent technology innovation".In addition,this paper also elaborates the conditions that the backward countries need to catch up with and surpass technology.Secondly,the concept of "the third window of opportunity" for technological catching-up is put forward for the first time in this paper."The third window of opportunity" is an opportunity to transform the leadership of technological revolution,resulted from the former core country of the industrial revolution.It is difficult to launch the new technological revolution in the old core country of the technological revolution because of the "path lock" of the existing technological and economic paradigm,and the backward countries may realize the technological transcendence to the core country of the old technological revolution by seizing this opportunity.Chacterized by the commercialized application of the 5G technologies in 2019,the world has ushered in the sixth technological revolution.Based on the general theoretical framework of technology catching up with and surpassing the first developing countries,this paper finds that the backward countries are currently in the "third window of opportunity" for technology catching up with and surpassing the first developing countries.Additionally,it is also the "century-long period of opportunity" for China to seize the leadership of the new technological revolution.Therefore,China should aim at leading the core technology areas of the new technological revolution,implement the independent innovation strategy supported by the state,and accelerate the pace of China's acquisition of leadership in the sixth technological revolution.