High Technology

High technology refers to the applied use of sophisticated knowledge and is commonly associated with scientific and engineering innovations. High-technology industries are characterized by the broad application of innovations to a multiplicity of intermediate and end products as well as both process and product innovations.

This broad application has led to the common characterization of high-technology industries as “enabling” industries. They contribute to innovations in traditional industries and form the technical basis for emerging industries. High-technology firms provide devices and processes that are applied to a range of industrial contexts, including new hi-tech consumer end products (e.g., smart phones, digital cameras) and intermediate products for traditional industries (e.g., geographic information systems [GIS] in automobiles). High-technology industries include biotechnology, nanotechnology, information and communication technologies, and a range ...