Conditions for the formation of the global technology market and its main segments

The world technology market is a system of economic relations in the field of exchange of scientific and technical knowledge, which can be presented both in a materialized and in a non-materialized form.

The subjects of the world technology market are government agencies, research institutes and educational institutions, industrial companies and small innovative firms, as well as individuals – specialists.

The objects of the world technology market are the results of intellectual activity in a materialized (machines, equipment) and non-materialized (information, knowledge, production experience) form.

World experience shows that any significant results in the development of equipment, technologies, vital material goods and services were achieved with the use and materialization of the results of intellectual activity.

The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), adopted in Stockholm in 1967, provides for the following intellectual property:

1) literary, artistic works and scientific works;

2) performing activities of artists, phonograms and radio programs;

3) inventions in all fields of human activity;

4) scientific discoveries;

5) industrial designs;

6) trademarks, service marks, trade names and designations;

7) suppression of unfair competition (a way to protect intellectual property).

New objects of intellectual property, the protection of which is less regulated, are computer programs, integrated circuits, reprography, new developments in the field of broadcasting (satellites, cable distribution), biotechnology.

The formation and development of the world technology market was facilitated by the introduction of patent systems at the turn of the XVIII – XIX centuries, which strengthened the property rights of the creator to the products of his intellectual labor, giving impetus to the expansion of trade in the means of production. In the United States, such a system was introduced in 1787, in France – in 1791, in Russia – in 1812, Spain – in 1820.

Another condition for the formation of the world technology market was the unevenness of the economic development of different countries, and, as a result, the unequal level of development of science and technology in them.

Currently, the global technology market is structured as follows:

market of patents and licenses; market of scientific and technologically capacious products; high-tech capital market; market of scientific and technical specialists.

We will give a practical description of the indicated structural elements of the world technology market.

A patent is a document issued by a state body to an inventor, certifying his authorship and exclusive right to use the invention. It gives the owner the title of ownership of the invention and protects it not only from local, but also from foreign competitors. The patent is valid in the territory of the country where it is issued.

A license is a seller’s permission to use by another person – the buyer – of inventions, technological knowledge, technology, production experience, production secrets, trademarks that are necessary for the production of commercial and other products for a certain period of time for a conditional fee.

In world practice, licensing agreements are increasingly used, providing for the integrated transfer of several patents and related know-how.

“Know-how” is the provision of technical experience and production secrets, including information of a technological, economic, administrative, financial nature, the use of which provides certain competitive advantages.

Usually, the complex transfer of patents and know-how is used in engineering, in the organization of licensed production, the supply of equipment and raw materials.

International trade in licenses is, perhaps, the main form of scientific and technical exchange between countries. It is very profitable.   According to UN experts,  buyers   pay  for  the purchased  licenses 1 – 10% of the cost of sold products produced on the basis of license agreements.

Depending on the role in international licensing trade, it is possible to distinguish: industrialized countries with dominant and predominant export licenses (USA, Great Britain, Switzerland); industrialized countries with predominant imports of licenses (Germany, Japan); developing countries with import-export orientation (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, India, Turkey); developing countries with imports (Thailand, Algeria, Panama) as well as developing countries with episodic licensed trade (least developed countries).

The capacity of the world market for high-tech products is estimated at about 2.3 trillion. Usd. per year. For example, the volume of exports of high-tech products of the United States is 700 billion dollars. per year, Germany – 530, Japan – 400 billion Russia accounts for only 0.3% of the world market of high-tech products.

According to the World Investment Report of the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), foreign direct investment reached $865 billion in 1999, of which $208 billion. invested in developing countries and 23 billion in the former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Foreign direct investment is not the only form of international cooperation in the field of innovation. These also include: licensing; joint venture; mergers and strategic alliances of companies from different countries, often competing with each other. Thus, according to the information and analytical business information agency  Thomson Financial Securities Data, the amount of acquisition and merger transactions concluded in the world in 1999 reached 3.16 trillion. Usd. (in 1998 – 2.6 trillion dollars). For example, one of the largest American conglomerates “Tico” (medical devices, alarm systems, electronics, flow control systems) since 1992 has made more than 200 acquisitions. At the same time, the price of its shares increased 12 times.

As for the market for scientific and technical specialists, in the recipient countries of a highly skilled workforce, this leads to significant savings in resources in the field of education and science; for donor countries like, say, Russia, “brain drain” means annual losses of $50 billion to $60 billion. as a result of the fact that 1/3 of Russian scientists work abroad.