Technology transfer: Technocultures, power and communication - the Australian experience

Given the significance of globalised technology for innova tion in contemporary and future organisations in the Asia- Pacific region, the role of technology transfer is a central variable in current organisational capital. This is critical for Australia, as it has the potential to become much more internationally competitive in high technology industries, particularly those of aerospace, information technology and communications. While there is some political and economic analysis of this phenomenon, little attention has been paid to it by communication and management scholars. This seems surprising given that international technology transfer involves not only the traditional problems of communicating between technocultures (that is, between scientists/engineers and business managers) but also those of intercultural communication (communi cation between people with different national/cultural iden tities).