The role of institutions in shaping technological trajectories: ideas from institutional economics

The purpose of this study is to analyze the interaction between technological innovations and institutional structures and their combined impact on economic trajectories. The article introduces a new analytical method, founded on the development of a classification of approaches to analyzing the relationships between institutions and technologies within the context of institutional and evolutionary economics. This approach enables a deeper understanding of their mechanisms of interaction and fosters economic development. Through theoretical analysis, a review of contemporary literature, comparative analysis, and case studies, the research proposes an analytical method and presents new findings. These include a comparative analysis of the relationship between institutions and technologies, a variational model of the life cycle of general purpose technologies (GPTs), and a critical examination of the role of institutions in the theory of general purpose technologies, the theory of technological structures, and the theory of techno-economic paradigms. Furthermore, it argues for the new concept of techno-economic institutions: institutions that ensure the embeddedness of technologies within the social and economic environment. These results expand the theoretical foundation of institutional and evolutionary economics, offering significant proposals for policy development that utilize the interaction of institutions and technologies to stimulate economic progress. The effectiveness of the new method is validated through thorough analysis and systematization of theoretical and empirical data. The new research outcomes not only supplement existing knowledge in the field of institutional and evolutionary economics but also serve as a foundation for formulating economic development strategies that consider the interaction between institutions and technologies.