High tech
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
High tech refers to "high technology," technology that is at the cutting-edge and the most advanced currently available. The adjective form is hyphenated: high-tech.
There is no specific class of technology which is high-tech - the definition shifts over time, so products hyped as high-tech in the 1960s would now be considered, if not exactly low tech, then at least somewhat primitive. This fuzzy definition has led to marketing departments describing nearly all new products as high-tech.
Because the high-tech sector of the economy develops or uses the most advanced technology known, it is often seen as having the most potential for future growth. This perception has led to high investment in high-tech sectors of the economy. High-tech startup enterprises receive a large portion of venture capital. However, if, as has happened in the past, investment exceeds actual potential, then investors can lose all or most of their investment. High tech is often viewed as high-risk, but offering the opportunity for high profits.
Like Big Science, high technology is a global phenomenon, spanning continents, epitomized by the global communication of the Internet. Thus a multinational corporation might work on a project 24 hours a day, with teams waking and working with the advance of the sun across the globe; such projects might be in software development or in the development of an integrated circuit. The help desks of a multinational corporation might thus employ, successively, teams in Kenya, Brazil, the Philippines, or India, with the only requirement fluency in the mother tongue, be it Spanish, Portuguese or English.
