Introduction to Policy Enhancement in Technology

About the Research
In the count’s room, which was full of tobacco smoke, they talked of the war that had been announced in a manifesto, and about the recruiting. None of them had yet seen the manifesto, but they all knew it had appeared. The count sat on the sofa between two guests who were smoking and talking. He neither smoked nor talked, but bending his head first to one side and then to the other watched the smokers with evident pleasure and listened to the conversation of his two neighbors, whom he egged on against each other.One of them was a sallow, clean-shaven civilian with a thin and wrinkled face, already growing old, though he was dressed like a most fashionable young man. He sat with his legs up on the sofa as if quite at home and, having stuck an amber mouthpiece far into his mouth, was inhaling the smoke spasmodically and screwing up his eyes. This was an old bachelor, Shinshín, a cousin of the countess’, a man with “a sharp tongue” as they said in Moscow society. He seemed to be condescending to his companion. The latter, a fresh, rosy officer of the Guards, irreproachably washed, brushed, and buttoned, held his pipe in the middle of his mouth and with red lips gently inhaled the smoke, letting it escape from his handsome mouth in rings. This was Lieutenant Berg, an officer in the Semënov regiment with whom Borís was to travel to join the army, and about whom Natásha had teased her elder sister Véra, speaking of Berg as her “intended.” The count sat between them and listened attentively. His favorite occupation when not playing boston, a card game he was very fond of, was that of listener, especially when he succeeded in setting two loquacious talkers at one another.This can be seen when looking at key innovation inputs (e.g., R&D expenditure, human capital, venture capital, and scientific research) as well as key innovation outputs (e.g., patents, products, and the resulting foreign trade balances). On the input side, other countries have stepped up their investments in science and technology:

• China almost quadrupled its intensity from 0.57 in 1995 to 2.2 in 2019 as can be seen on Slide 7, Figure 1.

• The United States experienced a modest increase over the same period, from 2.4 in 1995 to 3.1 in 2019, and as a benchmark, the 27 countries of the European Union (EU) increased their intensity from 1.57 in 1995 to 2.1 in 2019.

• While China’s  intensity still lags behind South Korea, Japan, and the United States, the country has quickly become the world’s second-largest  spender, with its total expenditure reaching 84 of that of the United States in 2019 in purchasing power terms, up from 26 in 2005 Slide 8, Figure 2.
• China’s total factor productivity at constant national prices was 89.6 larger in 2019 compared to 1980.
• In the United States, total factor productivity was only 29.4 larger in 2019 compared to 1980.
  

Bridging the Gaps

The Emerging Future is Positive
‍Berg smiled joyously. The count, followed by his guests, went into the drawing room.It was just the moment before a big dinner when the assembled guests, expecting the summons to zakúska, * avoid engaging in any long conversation but think it necessary to move about and talk, in order to show that they are not at all impatient for their food. The host and hostess look toward the door, and now and then glance at one another, and the visitors try to guess from these glances who, or what, they are waiting for—some important relation who has not yet arrived, or a dish that is not yet ready.

The count burst out laughing. The other guests seeing that Shinshín was talking came up to listen. Berg, oblivious of irony or indifference, continued to explain how by exchanging into the Guards he had already gained a step on his old comrades of the Cadet Corps; how in wartime the company commander might get killed and he, as senior in the company, might easily succeed to the post; how popular he was with everyone in the regiment, and how satisfied his father was with him. Berg evidently enjoyed narrating all this, and did not seem to suspect that others, too, might have their own interests. But all he said was so prettily sedate, and the naïveté of his youthful egotism was so obvious, that he disarmed his hearers.

Policy and Government Criteria for Effective Decision-Making

The Emerging Future is Positive
Berg smiled joyously. The count, followed by his guests, went into the drawing room.It was just the moment before a big dinner when the assembled guests, expecting the summons to zakúska, * avoid engaging in any long conversation but think it necessary to move about and talk, in order to show that they are not at all impatient for their food. The host and hostess look toward the door, and now and then glance at one another, and the visitors try to guess from these glances who, or what, they are waiting for—some important relation who has not yet arrived, or a dish that is not yet ready.

The count burst out laughing. The other guests seeing that Shinshín was talking came up to listen. Berg, oblivious of irony or indifference, continued to explain how by exchanging into the Guards he had already gained a step on his old comrades of the Cadet Corps; how in wartime the company commander might get killed and he, as senior in the company, might easily succeed to the post; how popular he was with everyone in the regiment, and how satisfied his father was with him. Berg evidently enjoyed narrating all this, and did not seem to suspect that others, too, might have their own interests. But all he said was so prettily sedate, and the naïveté of his youthful egotism was so obvious, that he disarmed his hearers.

References

“2021 AI City Challenge,” AI City Challenge, accessed May 3, 2022, https://www.aicitychallenge.org/2021-ai-city/.

Ashish Arora, Sharon Belenzon, and Andrea Patacconi, “The Decline of Science in Corporate R&D,” Strategic Management Journal 39, no. 1 (2018): pp. 3-32, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2693.

Ashish Arora, Sharon Belenzon, and Lia Sheer, “Knowledge Spillovers and Corporate Investment in Scientific Research,” American Economic Review 111, no. 3 (2021): pp. 871-898, https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20171742.

Ashish Arora et al., “The Changing Structure of American Innovation: Some Cautionary Remarks for Economic Growth,” Innovation Policy and the Economy 20 (2020): pp. 39-93, https://doi.org/10.1086/705638.

Sara Castellanos, “Google Aims for Commercial-Grade Quantum Computer by 2029,” The Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-aims-for-commercial-grade-quantum-computer-by-2029-11621359156.

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