Barnett ( 1953) remarked, "a number of not yet fully identified
cultural, psychological, social, and institutional arrangements must
first exist before people will be moved to obtain, create, use and exploit
technology to their benefit." Mumford ( 1961) noted that the history of
technology will be far more significant when technology is considered
in its dynamic social context. Culture itself, within a system, affects
both the inquisitiveness of the members of the society and their
tolerance for new ideas and therefore the rate of discovery and
innovation ( Hofstede, 1980). Social and cultural differences are often
marked between innovative countries and those that are less
innovative. The traditions of a society and the nature of the market
provide much of the motivation for an entrepreneur-innovator to get a
new venture started. Does the society value the profit motive as well
as the philanthropic motive? Does it tend to reward or to punish
innovative efforts? Hard work, long hours, and dedication to change
and to the establishing of a new venture may or may not be considered
a virtue, depending on the cultural milieu.

The majority of the research on the interaction between culture and
technological innovation has been associated with the classical view
(technology assessment) that the introduction of technological
innovation modifies the cultural attributes of a society. This book
offers examination of the opposite flow: the cultural attributes of a
society in conjunction with the external structural attributes of that
society directly influence the capabilities of that particular society to
generate technological innovations. That is, the particular attributes
of a culture and the underlying structural elements of that society have
a causal relationship as to whether or not innovation is achieved and,
if so, what type of innovation results and the time frame it takes to
achieve it.

This concept is further extended to provide recommendations to
policymakers on how a society (or even regions of a particular country)
can become more innovative or retain whatever innovativeness it
currently has.

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