Why weren't industrial production methods more widely/quickly copied outside Europe?

[Fabius Maximus]

This is something I've been wondering about. Even if places like the Middle or Far East didn't have the scientific/social/whatever conditions to industrialise on their own, they should still have been able to at least copy industrial production methods once these had been invented. So why didn't they? Or, at least, why didn't they do so more? Surely the benefits of, e.g., being able to make lots of cheap, high-quality iron and steel would have been apparent, and at least in the early phases of industrialisation, the new innovations could have been adopted without radically changing society. Was it something to do with patent laws stopping inventions being spread widely, did the people of other areas simply not know enough about Europe to realise what was happening, or was there some other reason?

Bonus question: how can we get the rest of the world to industrialise faster? Not necessarily as fast as Europe (including European-derived countries, like the US), but fast enough to remain competitive and not get completely rolled over during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

 

[cincpac overboard]

I think widespread literacy is key to supporting an industrial revolution. A population with a strong knowledge base and an inclination to critical thinking is more likely to 'tinker' with tools and techniques to improve production. It was the constant incremental improvement over 170 year period by these tinkerers that produced James Watt's practical steam engine. I don't think simply copying tools and methods would be enough; people have to be ready and able to keep improving things to keep up with foreign competition.

Of course this didn't mean that a particular country couldn't engage in a crash course in industrialization, but I think that its true that Great Britain had a head start by virtue of being an island nation. Not having to maintain a large army to defend land borders means more resources for the factories, mines, and railroads one needs for a robust development program. Japan also had the same advantage.

 

[Fabius Maximus]

I think widespread literacy is key to supporting an industrial revolution. A population with a strong knowledge base and an inclination to critical thinking is more likely to 'tinker' with tools and techniques to improve production. It was the constant incremental improvement over 170 year period by these tinkerer that produced James Watt's practice steam engine. I don't think simply copying tools and methods would be enough; people have to be ready and able to keep improving things to keep up with foreign competition.

But even if, say, China or the Ottoman Empire aren't inventing industrial machinery and techniques of their own, could they not copy those invented elsewhere? Or does a country need a certain level of literacy to do even that?

 

[Jürgen]

Because it’s hard to copy and easier to simply buy.

I’m reminded of a story from the late 18th century, the Danish royal shipyard in Copenhagen bought a British steam engine to in a crane, they when tried for a decade to build copies of it to expand the shipyard, only for these copies to keep breaking down and they finally gave up and simply bought more from the UK. Most industrial production demand a lot support industries around them and access to high quality materials.

 

[cincpac overboard]

But even if, say, China or the Ottoman Empire aren't inventing industrial machinery and techniques of their own, could they not copy those invented elsewhere? Or does a country need a certain level of literacy to do even that?

Because it’s hard to copy and easier to simply buy.

I’m reminded of a story from the late 18th century, the Danish royal shipyard in Copenhagen bought a British steam engine to in a crane, they when tried for a decade to build copies of it to expand the shipyard, only for these copies to keep breaking down and they finally gave up and simply bought more from the UK. Most industrial production demand a lot support industries around them and access to high quality materials.

Exactly, you're not just copying the machine itself, you're copying the entire supply chain. In the age of steam, Great Britain also had a tremendous advantage in coal reserves. The leaders of a developing nation also have to know just how far behind they are and seek foreign instruction. Japan was 'lucky' in the sense that there was a single traumatic incident, the Commodore Perry expedition, to instill a fear of foreign aggression, combined with a lack of conflict with more industrialized nations. This meant that Great Britain was more willing to teach their techniques to the Japanese than say to the Ottomans, with whom it had fought in the Napoleonic Wars and the Greek War of Independence.

 

[Jiraiyathegallant]

Lack of literacy, lack of common markets, strong local bases that would not want to get destroyed by centralization, skepticism of materialism, preference not to have lifestyles upended, unequal treaties imposed on them.

Does your society have millions of literate people? If so, can they internally trade and migrate fairly freely while lending out huge sums of money? Do you mind if the effects are corporations and lawyers drastically increasing their influence in your society, polluting your ancestral lands while moving commoners hundreds of miles for work?

They have to accept certain changes in lifestyle (that are often prohibited in holy books) are worth increased material living standards, and many of those improvements in material standards don’t become clear for centuries. Nobility, priests, and farmers might have to accept living in a society where bankers, academics, and industrialists outrank them. Peasants might have to move to a dirty capital where they know nobody to get a job in manufacturing.

Actually employing new technology at a rate to fight off Europeans might require destroying their social fabric. Which is why it was often deeply unpopular in Europe. You need serious scale, supporting industries, educational institutions, financial access, mining, legal services, transportation, and other things to make this work.