Odeh Rashed

Technology plays a critical role in transforming societies and economies through enhancing efficiency, connectivity and access to resources and services. The challenge remains of how to harness technologies to achieve sustainable development without causing harm to human and natural capitals. Professor Odeh Al-Jayyousi argues that Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) are underpinned by social choices hence a transition to a sustainable green economy is defined by individuals’ and institutions’ decisions on how to use and apply S&T. In doing so, it is important to examine closely the ways in which social institutions and processes in the Integral Worlds shape the priorities of technologies and the conditions under which its potential benefits can be reaped. He states that in order for technological innovation to provide a guarantee of sustainable economic development, it is necessary that a transfer of technology to developing countries becomes a basic principle of national development policies, and that they, in turn, are open to adopting an explicit long-term application of technological innovation. He presents a conceptual framework for the evolution of Technology and Innovation from a historical and cultural perspective, provides an analysis of the role of innovation and technology in sustainable development and introduces a number of international case studies, which shed light on the social learning processes for knowledge co-creation and innovation culture.