Since the First Industrial Revolution, technology has been a basic motor for economic growth. The management of technology as a resource for economic development and wealth generation is a recent phenomenon. The lessons from the utilization of technology over the past two decades are clear. Those who manage technology creatively and innovatively will reap the benefits of sustained economic growth. They can also play an important leadership role in dealing with new issues regarding competition and cooperation. Technological change will be one of the most important sources for a change in the economy. Therefore technology plays a vital role in economic growth. .
In the past decade tecnology had brought a transformation in economic structure. Since 1974, this structure has become increasingly dependent for economic growth on information technology innovations, coupled with job creation through small business establishments. An information economy consists of education, research & development, media & communications, information services (legal, engineering, architectural, accounting and auditing, computer & data processing, medical, financial services, insurance, real estate, wholesale, and governmental services), and information technology manufacturing (robotics, CAD/CAM, numerical controls, printing, computer equipment and software, radio and television, telephone and telegraph, electronic components, instruments for measuring, photographic equipment, medical instruments and supplies, and athletic equipment). .
More than high technology is involved in an information economy. The largest sectors in rank order are health and medical services, banking and credit, insurance, education, telephone and telegraph, research and development, and advertising. Information technology manufacturing's largest industrial sectors in rank order are computers and software, electronic components, radio and television, photographic equipment, and telephone and telegraph.