摘要：The revival in US productivity growth since the mid-
1990s is linked to a surge in investment in information
and communication technologies (ICT). Against the
backdrop of a weakening link between productivity
and traditional innovation inputs (e.g. R&D
expenditure), digitization has spurred productivity
through innovations in management techniques,
business models, work processes and human resource
practices. More fundamentally, digitization is
changing the way innovation itself is done, opening
the prospect of a long-term increase in the overall
rate of innovation. Over time, this will dwarf the
benefits from any particular innovation. Digitization
is transforming innovation in four ways: 1) improved
real-time measurement of business activities; 2)
faster and cheaper business experimentation; 3) more
widespread and easier sharing of ideas; and 4) the
ability to replicate innovations more quickly and
more accurately. This mutually reinforcing sequence
amounts to a new kind of R&D, with far-reaching
implications for public policy.
