The Ongoing Technological System

4Formation of the Third Technological System and First Wave of the New Technological System

In the 1970s, wehile the second technological system was suffering a crisis, after a century of major development and transformation, magnified by a major economic crisis and a major energy crisis, a number of technological disruptions occurred. Transforming the technological universe in a radical way¹, a wave of technological breakthroughs also appeared in the 1970s, often after a long period of maturation. These included the development of the microprocessor in 1971, or the early days of mastering genetic biology, along with the discovery of DNA and the first intervention techniques on the genetic chain. These technological breakthroughs constituted the generic technologies that structured the new technological system, by generating new applications, and recomposed conventional technologies such as metallurgy or mechanics, giving rise to new activities, objects, products and services [LAR 83].

This technological change would have transformative, productive, economic, scientific and organizational effects on the technological and economic space on a global scale.

The deployment of the new technological system, which would take place in a first phase of two decades from the mid-1970s until around 1995, will be the subject of this chapter.

4.1. Emergence of new generic technologies

The birth of the new technological system first of all involved the emergence of new generic technologies. ...