Postindustrial technology policy

Even without the possibility that reassessment of the nation’s military posture might lead to declines in support for generation of new knowledge in the physical sciences and engineering, the growth of the service economy should suffice to occasion a fresh look at US technology policy. This paper reviews the reasons, with particular attention to services such as health care. It then sketches needs for a postindustrial, post-Cold War US technology policy. Those needs lie heavily in the direction of diffusion and learning.