The sustainability of functionality development of science and technology: Papers and patents of emerging economies

Recent development saw concerted efforts by emerging countries to transform their industrial-based economy to post-industrial knowledge-based economy. The growth of science and technology is necessary to support this economic transformation strategy. Based on the concept of functionality development of a growth model, this study attempts to analyze the dynamism and sustainability of growth in science and technology of selected Asian emerging economies. Using the number of published papers and patents as proxies, bi-logistic growth functions were fitted to examine the prolongation ability of science and technology, and the time at which each functionality development emerges. The perspective of a paradigm shift from industrial to knowledge-based economic development is taken into consideration in the analysis. The estimated prolongation ability of the newly industrialized economies (NIEs) including South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore suggests significant transformation of their innovation system that led to a higher degree of functionality, while developing economies such as China, Malaysia and Thailand show no significant change over the years. The results suggest that the NIEs have succeeded in developing new growth trajectories that are beneficial for the transformation towards a knowledge-based economy.