Technology transfer and expert migration in nineteenth-century Cuba
Entity
UAM. Departamento de Análisis Económico, Teoría Económica e Historia EconómicaDate
2013Subjects
Plantation economy; Technology transfer; Patents; Trade figures; Transnational expertise; EconomíaRights
© David Pretel and Nadia Fernández de Pinedo, 2013Abstract
During the nineteenth century the Cuban sugar plantation became a highly dynamic space, open to
foreign intervention at many levels. The increasing commercial prospects in the Cuban economy from
the mid-nineteenth century led American, French and British manufacturers of refining equipment to
actively commercialize their innovations in Cuba. Many of these foreign manufacturers of machinery
had branches and agents in Havana. This article seeks to highlight the technological links between
these firms manufacturing machinery and the Cuban plantation economy. Through the study of patent
data and trade figures, it shows that the pattern of technology transfer to Cuba, which emerged during
the nineteenth century, transgressed political boundaries. In addition, this article also considers the
circulation of technical expertise between Cuba and advanced industrial nations, particularly the
United States and the United Kingdom, as well as the role of transnational networks of experts. The
article ends with an examination of the transnational operations in Cuba of the French firm Derosne &
Cail, one of the most innovative engineering firms of the mid-nineteenth century as well as one of the
first European companies to supply advanced technology to the Caribbean sugar industry.
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Google Scholar:Fernández de Pinedo Echevarría, Nadia
-
Pretel, David
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