Social impacts of the development of science, technology and innovation indicators
Fred Gault
#2011-008
This paper examines the social impacts of the development of science,
technology and innovation indicators. The approach deals separately with
the development process and with the use of the indicators that result.
Underlying the discussion is an assumption that indicators are a
technology, a product, which governs behaviour, is modified by users
(outside of the producer community), and develops in response to user
needs. Science and technology indicators are considered separately from
innovation indicators, and the importance of language based on codified
and tacit knowledge is emphasized. The knowledge is codified in manuals,
and the tacit knowledge is held in overlapping communities of practice
that develop the manuals, gather the data, produce the indicators and
use them. Finally, there is a discussion of how this process changes and
renews itself.
JEL Codes: O33, Z13
Key words: Economic and social impacts, innovation indicators, science
and technology indicators, indicators and social constructs
