Measuring frontier technology adoption in developing countries

Frontier technologies are bringing new opportunities not only for business growth but also for sustainable socio-economic development in multiple ways. We often hear about the current and potential transformation of production through robotics, IoT, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, 3D printing and other advanced digital technologies. However, the technology divide across countries in the world remains large and widening, with developing countries, especially those in Africa, still lagging behind. Measuring the adoption of frontier technologies and better understanding the drivers of and barriers to their adoption by firms in developing countries is, therefore, critical to design policies to help firms and nations to meet the challenges posed by the rapid pace of technological change. To fill this knowledge gap, this chapter presents a framework and some guiding questions for measuring and interpreting the adoption of frontier technologies in business sector firms in developing countries. The chapter also presents preliminary results from a pilot survey in South Africa, which illustrates some of the data that can be collected through a dedicated survey on frontier technology adoption in developing countries.