If technologies were/are so vital for businesses, it must also be evident in-as cumulative effect-on nations to grow!
Here is my take:
Development in countries has traditionally been associated with spurts of new technologies (locally or globally – if they are linked well with the global economy). Researchers have established that growth between the 1780s and 1840s in many countries was mainly driven by technologies related to the textiles industry. Between the 1840s and 1890s, it was steam power and railways. Similarly, electricity and steel were at the centre stage of development between the 1890s and 1940s. Hereafter it was mass production of automobiles and synthetic materials, which have been instrumental in the economic growth in many countries.
Nowadays, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are considered technologies of the new millennia and are seen as the main drivers of growth in the twenty-first century.
Here comes the difference, though and the effects. The difference between these technologies and those of the past is others remained concentrated in only a few countries for quite some time, and this one crisscrossed the globe in comparatively very little time. These technologies have fewer entry barriers.
Taking it further, ICTs are much easier to be exploited for growth by developing countries than other technologies of the past eras, and this has to be a remarkable opportunity.
Working on this hypothesis, can we say that this period compared to any other ‘technology periods’ in the past, will see more countries crossing the line – low income to middle income and middle income to high income?