KONDRATIEV CYCLES

Ketone peroxides, 198 Ketoximinosilanes, 199 Kinetics and instability, 199 Kjeldahl method, 199 Kondratiev cycles, 199 Krypton compounds, 200... 

The Russian economist, Kondratiev, has analysed the waves in world economic growth from the invention of the steam engine and cotton production to the rise of the chemical and automotive industries in post-war time and the contemporary emergence of the information society. Figure 19.1 illustrates the five cycles that have been identified since the eighteenth century. 

The waves of industrial revolution mentioned in section 18.3 are sometimes referred to as waves of innovation and industrial development. They are also called Kondratiev waves, or K-waves. What matters for the purpose of this ehapter is not the theory of cycles and waves in industrial development, but rather the word Iimo-vation, which is common to all those historical industrial developments. Research and irmovation are directly related to and dependent on the soft skills mentioned in the previous section. Critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration are key to successful R D programs in industrial laboratories. 

Drawing on the work of a Russian economist, Nikolai Kondratiev, Schumpeter developed a model of business cycles, or long waves in which the process of innovation played a central role (cf. Freeman and Lou d 2003). 

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