Full circle: The diffusion of technology

Abstract This is our third study of the diffusion of technology. The titles of the previous reports clearly indicate the stages of the technologies selected as subjects of their analyses: ‘The diffusion of new technology’ [1,2] first published in 1969, followed in 1983 by ‘The diffusion of mature technologies’ [3,4]. The present paper aims at closing the circle with the analysis of the diffusion of the same technologies in recent years when some of them have been nearing — or indeed have reached — saturation.