Technology is critical in economic transformation. Together with effciency, technology improves the productivity of all factors of production, releasing resources for an ever-higher level of output. However, technology is not only the scientifc and machine-tool knowledge, and tools and machines. It also encompasses the country-specifc human understanding, skills, education, and training essential for making use of this knowledge, machines, and tools. Thus, technology is specifc to each economy or similar economies. It has different effects on productivity in different economies or even frms since the tools are combined with labor forces in each economy with specifc accumulated skills operating within a larger institutional and organizational framework.
The more rapidly technological knowledge can be adapted and put to work in an economy, the more rapid will be the pace of economic growth. This requires that workers and entrepreneurs have hands-on experience using such ideas in the act of producing. The more such machines and equipment are domestically produced, the more familiar the local workers are to their operations and adoptability to different industrial needs and uses.
Technology and human capital are fundamental complementary inputs affecting the rate of economic growth and the level of per capita income.
Year
Country
Items
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
DR Congo
Exports
126.1
97.3
202.0
568.4
530.0
1,259.4
1,370.5
1,266.0
1,801.7
1,455.1
1,075.8
Imports
742.9
1,115.5
1,696.4
2,477.3
1,703.5
2,224.5
2,807.8
3,586.1
4,110.0
3,580.8
3,101.6
Cote d’Ivoire
2,087.4
2,284.7
2,405.0
3,009.0
2,947.2
3,123.5
3,251.8
3,623.6
5,936.6
4,104.8
3,271.4
Import
1,606.9
1,784.0
1,948.2
2,647.5
1,765.2
2,387.1
1,906.4
2,920.6
4,086.0
2,875.4
3,047.7
Ethiopia
4.1
2.8
4.4
5.1
21.7
24.1
25.0
33.3
30.8
37.7
34.1
26.5
56.4
35.8
29.7
105.5
105.7
104.3
141.3
153.4
169.4
182.4
Kenya
1,144.0
1,201.0
1,446.0
1,612.0
1,573.0
1,673.0
2,038.0
2,121.0
1,989.0
2,029.0
2,390.0
719.0
191.0
1,077.0
1,315.0
1,184.0
1,147.0
1,390.0
1,272.0
1,346.0
1,319.0
1,332.0
Nigeria
3,810.0
4,800.0
5,921.0
7,719.0
5,712.0
7,126.0
8,645.0
10,176. 0
10,170. 0
11,173. 0
9,450.0
1,580.0
1,810.0
2,339.0
2,001.0
2,123.0
2,303.0
2,660.0
2,773.0
2,557.0
2,208.0
South Africa
6,795.0
7,229.0
8,922.0
11,976. 0
10,098. 0
22,781. 0
14,053. 0
26,939. 0
26,691. 0
27,096. 0
23,046, 0
2,013.0
3,260.0
5,298.0
6,657.0
4,693.0
7,641.0
7,356.0
11,467. 0
11,343. 0
12,416. 0
8,447.0
Technological knowledge in use is economy specifc as a result of differences in the capacity of end-users to apply knowledge in the production process. There is need to focus on social investment in specifc human capital and organizational inputs if such knowledge is to be utilized to its full effect. There are gaps among economies and each economy must develop its own relatively unique technological base. Investment in complementary inputs is very important, particularly in education and research and development (R&D), which contribute over time to each country’s specifc capability to effectively make use of the world’s supply of technological knowledge.
Without continuous technological change, economic growth slows and eventually development falters. Rapid economic growth and transformation cannot be achieved without continuous technological investment. The suc cessful introduction of technology into the domestic production process in any country requires a domestic scientifc establishment capable frst of understand ing, adopting, and adapting new, often foreign-created, technological knowl edge to the specifc needs of the domestic economy. Machines and tools often have to be customized to ft local conditions; that is, technology is "borrowed" from the world supply and made to ft the local economy. But borrowing cannot be in perpetuity. Efforts have to be made to indigenize the technology through domestic investment and innovation. This needs the building of substantial domestic eco nomic capability. Neighboring countries, at approximately similar cultural levels of development, have more relevant experiences to share.
Virtually all the manufacturing industries set up in Africa at independence were consumer goods industries. They were capital-intensive, imported from the former colonial powers. This made their operations hinge on availability of foreign exchange; otherwise the plants would operate at very low capacity or even be closed down for want of foreign exchange to import spare parts, raw material, or replacement machinery and equipment. There is no dynamism in such industries. Hence, they cannot be the basis of transforming African economies.