The Rise of Technocapitalism

The rise of technocapitalism involves the commodification of knowledge in faster and
more diverse ways than at any previous time in human history. This article provides
insights from a macro-analytical perspective on the phenomena that mark the emergence
of technocapitalism as a new form of market capitalism, and their influence on
the commodification of knowledge for invention and innovation. The phenomena in
question involve the rapid accumulation of inventions and of knowledge-sensitive infrastructure.
The rapid reproduction of creativity and a faster diffusion of knowledge,
both of which have been supported by a massification of technical education, are also
important for the emergence of the new era. Their contribution to the commodification
of technological knowledge is most obvious in the pervasive corporatization of invention
and innovation, and even more so in the emergence of continuous invention and
innovation as a standard component of corporate strategy.

Keywords: technocapitalism, knowledge society, commodification, innovation