Technology, resources and geography in a paradigm shift: the case of critical and conflict materials in ICTs

Andreas Diemer, Simona Iammarino, Richard Perkins and Axel Gros

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Critical and conflict materials (CCMs) are providing an important material infrastructure for recent technological shifts. Relying on text analysis of US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) data, this exploratory study examines the technological and geographical linkages between technological paradigms and selected CCMs. Our descriptive analysis finds evidence of a clear association between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and CCM intensity over time, and of a striking resource–technology divide between value-creating and -extracting activities across the Global North and the Global South and their regions. The paper emphasizes the need for a more critical, spatially sensitive approach to studying resource-based technological change to expose its uneven development consequences.

Keywords: critical and conflict materials; paradigm shift; technological demand; geography of technology; geography of resource supply; STICERD; LSE; 2019-2020; Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the Department of Geography & Environment; LSE; FORTE; 2016-07099 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O30 Q34 Q55 R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 13 pages
Date: 2022-04-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-ict, nep-ino, nep-tid and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published in Regional Studies, 15, April, 2022. ISSN: 0034-3404

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