发展中国家的经济增长需要有科技能力。在那些科学技术先进的国家，这样的能力指创造全新产品的前沿技术。发展中国家需要更加的广泛的科技能力，包括生产工程、项目执行和累积创新，使得借鉴来的技术能够起作用。本课程亦检验技术获取理论。

观察所得的根据将从两类发展中国家获得；这两类国家分为最先进的（台湾、韩国、印度、中国大陆和巴西）和最落后的（非洲和中东的一些国家）。

评分

分数是基于一份课后完成的期末考试（最后一堂课分发，要求在之后48小时内上交）和一篇长度为15页长且双面书写的论文（要求在正式布置期末考试的那天上交）。鼓励课堂参与。

另外，学生必须在课堂上就某个发展中国家正在努力促进的产业或技术（比如印度的软件产业、台湾的生物工艺产业等）作陈述。论文题目可以和在课堂陈述相同。

The economic growth of developing countries requires the acquisition of technological capabilities. In countries at the world technological frontier, such capabilities refer to cutting edge skills to innovate entirely new products. In developing countries, the requisite technological capabilities are broader, and include production engineering, project execution and incremental innovation to make borrowed technology work. Theories of technology acquisition are examined in this course.

The empirical evidence is taken from two sets of developing countries; the most advanced (Taiwan, Korea, India, China and Brazil) and the least advanced (Africa and Middle Eastern countries).

Grading

Grades are based on a take-home final (handed out the final day of class and due back 48 hours later) and a 15 page double-spaced paper (due the day the final exam is officially scheduled to occur). Classroom participation is encouraged.

In addition, students must make presentations in class on an industry/technology that a developing country is trying to promote (eg., the software industry of India, the biotech industry of Taiwan). Papers may be based on the same topic as the classroom presentation.