Technological Innovations in Science and Technology

ATM Machine

Technological change refers to the process by which new products and processes are generated. When new technologies involve a new way of making existing products, the technological change is called process innovation. When they include entirely new products, the change is referred to as product innovation. The invention of assembly-line automobile production by the Ford Motor Company is a widely cited example of the former, while automated teller machines (ATMs) and facsimile machines can be seen as product innovations.

Generally speaking, technological change assists economic growth and general well-being by enabling better utilization of existing resources and by bringing about new and better products. Besides benefits to suppliers or inventors of new technologies via disproportionate profits, new technologies have benefits for consumers (e.g., innovations in health care) and for the society (e.g., better oil-drilling techniques enabling less wastage and a more effective utilization of the oil in the ground). Current technologies also make the development of future technologies easier by generating new ideas and possibilities.

Innovations in Health Care

Changing technologies, however, can have negative consequences for certain sectors or bodies. Examples of negative aspects include pollution (including environmental, noise, and light pollution) associated with production processes, increased unemployment from labor-saving new technologies, and so forth.

This suggests that society must consider the relative costs and benefits of new technologies. Let us also be concern with scientific discoveries and inventions , weigh their value to the individual and society and let us be united to perceive the price of progress and modernity.