Introduction

Technology is among the determinants of economic competitiveness. It affects a country's performance in several and complex ways, including the degree of research intensity of the economy, the cumulative nature of technological knowledge, the differentiated patterns of sectoral activities, and the characteristics of the national system of innovation. In this chapter, two related topics are addressed: (i) the similarities and differences between the sectoral strengths and weaknesses of national technological activities; (ii) the presence and specialisation of each country in the fields where innovation is more rapid. These issues are addressed using empirical evidence based on patent data at the sectoral level. The next section considers the importance of the specific aspects of national systems of innovation in the context of the increasing globalisation of technological activities. Section 3 describes the distribution of, and the changes in, the technological activities within the OECD area, using as indicators R&D spending and patenting. In section 4 the similarities and differences among the profiles of technological specialisation of advanced countries are examined, developing a measure of ‘technological distance’. In section 5 the rates of growth of total patents in the USA in each class are considered as an indicator of the pace of innovation and of international competition in new fields; the activities of each country in such classes are then mapped, showing how the pattern of national specialisation relates to the sectoral trends of world innovation.