Composite Index for Technological Capability Monitoring: Investigating Technological Capability Situation of Iran and 69 Countries

According to the importance of technological capability in economic growth and enhancing welfare of countries, the subject of technological capability evaluation is marked particularly over recent years. Various international models related to technological capability evaluation have been designed and introduced. Regarding to inherent specifications of these indices which have got some defects, in this study it is tried to introduce a composite index in this field considering existent experiences for evaluating technological capabilities of countries more precisely in various aspects. Also it is tried that a more applicable index for various countries especially developing ones which have got an unbalanced development mostly is designed by provision of the logical weights resulting from the application of factor analysis. In this study, 17 indicators were selected among 37 valid international indicators in the field of technological capability. In the following, these indicators were put in 3 aspects on the basis of factor analysis and then specific weights were assigned to these aspects and indicators. Finally, based on these indicators in the 3 aspects, the index of World Technological Capability Monitoring was established and introduces. Technological capability levels of 69 countries along with Iran were investigated. In this evaluation, in spite of acceptable situation in aspects of technology development infrastructure and innovation capability, Iran faces serious problems in the aspect of investment quality. At last it should be mentioned that composite index for technological capability monitoring adds new abilities to other international indexes in case of technology capability evaluation. Keywords: Technological Capability, World Technological Capability Monitoring, Composite index