Technological revolutions and techno-economic paradigms

www.carlotaperez.org This paper locates the notion of technological revolutions in the Neo-Schumpeterian effort to understand innovation and to identify the regulari-ties, continuities and discontinuities in the process of innovation. It looks at the micro- and meso-foundations of the patterns observed in the evolution of technical change and the interrelations with the context that shape the rhythm and direction of innovation. On this basis, it defines technological revolutions, examines their structure and the role that they play in rejuve-nating the whole economy through the application of the accompanying techno-economic paradigm. This over-arching meta-paradigm or shared best practice ‘common sense ’ is in turn defined and analysed in its compo-nents and its impact, including the influence it exercises on institutional and social change. Contents Innovation as the dynamic space for the study of technical change 3 The regularities of technical change: innovation trajectories 4