Economic Inequality and Science, Technology and Innovation Policy: the cases of the United Kingdom and South Africa

Abstract

There is growing evidence that technology-driven economic growth has a signficant role to play in growing inequality in industrialised countries. Examining innovation policies in South Africa (the G20 Country with the highest levels of inequality) and the UK (inequality at the G20 average), we ask whether the role of innovation in driving inequality is being addressed in STI policy, what measures might be neglected, and why innovation and distribution sensitive policies take the form they do. We find that the distributional consequences of innovation do receive attention in innovation policies in the two countries, albeit in different (and sometimes suprising) ways. However, the approaches taken are limited to a focus on the ‘firm’ as the model for technology transfer, with little evidence of moves to share assets. These differences and oversights, we argue, are the result of particular sociotechnical imaginaries shaping the role of science and innovation in national life.