Elsevier

Technology in Society

Volume 25, Issue 1, January 2003, Pages 43-53
Technology in Society

International technology transfer and distribution of technology capabilities: the case of railway development in Indonesia

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-791X(02)00035-0Get rights and content

Abstract

Technology capabilities include various abilities from project planning to learning. In developing countries, technology transfer is often carried out in order to enhance the local technology capabilities. Through a case study of railway technology transfer to Indonesia, this article endeavours to provide empirical evidence that these capabilities are distributed among local institutions. This distribution is actually a way for developing countries to acquire a complex technological system by combining their various local resources. Since newer technologies tend to be more complex, in the future, more than just accumulating capabilities through technology transfer, the transferees will achieve more by learning in a systemic environment.

Introduction

This paper relates international technology transfer to the development of local technology capabilities. Stages in technology transfer are identified. A particular stress is put on the importance of a feedback stage. Furthermore, based on the literature, types of technology capabilities are linked to each stage. In the literature, technology capabilities have been discussed at three levels: firm level, industrial branch level, and national level [1]. The capabilities discussed in this paper are not at a national level (e.g. [2], [3]) nor they are confined at a firm level (e.g. [4], [5]). This study focuses on a branch/field level. However, this study does not consider the field as being composed by industries with similar business (e.g. [1]). The remarkable point that the authors seek to highlight is a field composed by several actors, with different backgrounds, in which their interactions are essential.

The problem put forward in this paper is when the capabilities needed to master a particular field are distributed among several actors. This is a consequence of the limited resources in developing countries. However, this can be regarded as an opportunity to create a synergy among the local resources. This problem is addressed through a case study of railway development in Indonesia, in particular through technology transfer of electric railcars for urban rail transport in Jakarta.

Railway transportation has a long history in Indonesia. The first railroad in Indonesia was opened in 1868 in Java, during the period of Dutch colonization. By the 1940s the railway network had spread throughout Java and some parts of Sumatera island. The total route length was about 6000 km, most of which still remains today. After independence in 1945, the railway operation came under Indonesian administration. Due to political instability in the country, the state railway struggled to survive for over 20 years.

In the mid 1970s, the government decided to revitalize the railway network. This policy was backed up by the establishment of a rolling stock industry, PT.INKA, in 1981. The government’s aim was to transform this industry from a workshop to a full-scale rolling stock industry through technology transfer. The government played a direct role in the transfer processes. The complexities of the products and the limited resources within PT.INKA required the involvement of other local industries in the transfer process. As a consequence, the technology capabilities resulting from the transfer process were distributed among several local actors. In this regard, this paper endeavours to highlight the technical side in order to understand the inevitability and consequences of this distribution of capabilities.

This paper is organized into six sections. Section 2 presents a model depicting the stages of technology transfer in which each stage is related to types of technology capabilities. Section 3 presents the application of the model in the case study. Section 4 discusses the necessity to distribute the capabilities. Section 5 discusses the finding and relates it with the current world context of technology transfer. The final section presents the conclusion

Section snippets

Model of technology transfer

Technology transfer is one option for a developing country to acquire newer technology. Developing countries may consider technology transfer as a base for developing their technology capability implying that the capability required is beyond adapting the technologies to suit the local situation. However, it is postulated that not every transfer process can be expected to upgrade the technology capability of the receiver. Technology transfer that is limited to transfer of capital goods and

The model in practice

The idea of revitalizing the Indonesian railway, which emerged in 1977, suggested the use of more modern technologies. The establishment of a rolling stock industry, PT.INKA, in 1981 followed up this policy, and subsequently, a series of technology transfers were carried out. In the first ten years, freight wagons and passenger carriages were the main products. In the 1990s, more complicated products, locomotives and electric railcars, were the principal targets of technology transfer.

Only the

Necessity to distribute the capabilities

The electric railcars that PT.KAI has operated since 1976 used very mature technology. They used DC propulsion operating at 1500-V DC and a rheostatic control, which is basically an electromechanical control system. Similar technology has been used since 1910 for the Paris Metro [16] and for the Tokyo suburban services [17].

The choice to acquire technologies for more modern electric railcars was the fruit of feasibility studies led by the Ministry of Communication. This suggestion was reflected

Discussion

Cooper predicted that the direction of technology development would change. Generic technologies would be applied in various fields and would modernize conventional fields such as textile and food industries [19]. In this respect, we found that railway transportation exemplifies a field in which generic technologies, in this case microelectronics and power electronics, find applications. Indeed progresses in these two generic technologies have had a great influence in the progress in rolling

Conclusion

Technology transfer can be used as an option to build technology capabilities in developing countries with an adequate level of technology to be transferred.

In general, the model of technology transfer as a process with a feedback loop that we presented can be traced in these Indonesian transfer processes. However, the evaluation stage, which is the feedback stage, could not be clearly identified.

Transferring complex technologies can encourage developing countries to combine their available

Kartiko Putranto is a researcher in the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) Indonesia. He has been working for the Directorate for Transportation Technology of BPPT since 1994. His current PhD research in the University of Melbourne focuses on technology transfer to developing countries.

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    Kartiko Putranto is a researcher in the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) Indonesia. He has been working for the Directorate for Transportation Technology of BPPT since 1994. His current PhD research in the University of Melbourne focuses on technology transfer to developing countries.

    Don Stewart is Associate Professor and Head of the International House and Principal Fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Melbourne. Previously he held the posts of Assistant Dean of the International Faculty of Engineering and Director of the International Development Technologies Centre, the University of Melbourne.

    Dr. Graham Moore is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Deputy Director of the International Technologies Centre at the University of Melbourne. His research interests include machinery management and agricultural instrumentation. He supervises a number of research works dealing with developing countries, within the International Technologies Centre, the University of Melbourne.

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