Is it possible to achieve economic growth in the long run? If so, what is the decisive factor for the long-term growth rate? Which economies will grow faster? What kinds of approaches should decision makers use to encourage decent living conditions? These issues were central to many who wanted growth in the 1950s and 1960s, and they have continued to revive recent interest in long-term economic performance [1]. Furthermore, with the beginning of the twentieth century, as the importance of the knowledge-based economy increased, fundamental changes and new concepts emerged. Hence, the strength of any economy is based on the extent of its technological progress, as the world is today witnessing rapid developments with the emergence of successive new technologies; the latter playing an important role in developing societies and achieving their prosperity [2,3].

Economic growth is the continuous increase in real income in the long term, and increases in income are considered economic growth. Economic development is a structural and radical change in most of the structures of the national economy, unlike growth, which focuses only on the change in the volume of goods and services obtained by the individual represented by an increase in his average income.

Hence, economic growth is an increase in the economy’s ability to produce goods and services during a specified period. It refers to the long-term expansion in the productive potential of the economy to meet the needs of individuals in society. The sustainable economic growth of the country has a positive impact on the national income and the level of employment, which leads to more standards of living. There are many factors that affect economic growth: (1) The amount of physical capital: the availability of more auxiliary tools in production processes leads to more output of goods and services, and accordingly, the output of the individual, in terms of the accumulation of capital, becomes noticeable, to the extent that it was considered at one time, that physical capital is generally the only source of economic growth. For investment opportunities that were not presented before, it is possible for this society to achieve an increase in its production capacity by increasing its balance of real capital. It must reveal, sooner or later, the decrease in the return on capital according to the decrease in its marginal productivity with every increase in the quantity used in the production process. Along this line, one of the most prominent examples of this is the impact of physical capital on the economic growth of the United States. During the current century, that is, despite the significant amounts of marginal capital used in that stage of development in the American economy, the ratio of output to capital has remained proportional to the declining trend and did not deteriorate. Extremely important is that investment opportunities have expanded at the same speed as investment in capital goods. (2) Human resources are one of the most important factors leading to increased economic growth; the quantity and quality of human resources contribute directly to the economy. The quality of human resources depends on a set of characteristics, the most important of which is their ability to innovate and provide education, training, and skills. In the event of a shortage of skilled human resources, this will hinder economic growth. (3) Natural resources are among the factors affecting the economic growth of a country. Natural resources are significant and include all the natural resources that appear on the surface of the earth or within it, such as plants on land, and water resources. Natural resources within the earth include gas, oil, and minerals. Natural resources differ between countries based on their environmental and climatic conditions. (4) Social and political factors are the factors that aim to play an important role in the economic growth of countries. Traditions, customs, and beliefs constitute social factors, while government participation in policy development and implementation constitutes political factors. (5) Technological development is one of the important and influencing factors in economic growth, and includes the application of a set of productive techniques and scientific methods, and technology is defined as the nature and quality of technical tools, dependent on the use of a certain percentage of the workforce. Technology is defined as “a set of knowledge, experiences, and practices.” Technology and the interrelationships between the sub-systems of work, its application, and adoption contributes to satisfying actual or expected economic and social needs [4,5].

In the same context, (6) innovation is one of the factors that affects economic growth; innovation can be defined as “the activity that produces new or significantly improved goods (products or services), processes, marketing methods, or business organizations [6]. This definition focuses on forms of innovation. It may be embodied either in a new or improved product, and it can also be defined as “the successful commercial exploitation of new ideas” and includes all scientific, technological, organizational, and financial activities that lead to the provision of everything new (or improvement) of a product or service [7,8]. Innovation also refers to “the successful exploitation of new ideas” [9]. According to (Sarvan, Atalay, 2013), innovation can be embodied in the following manifestations: creating new products or qualitative improvements in existing products; —carrying out a new industrial process; opening a new market; developing new sources of raw materials or other new inputs; and new forms of industrial organizations [10].

There are several types of innovation, which are usually classified according to the following criteria. Classification of innovation according to the output criterion includes two types: product innovation and process innovation. Innovation is also classified according to market perception criterion, and this classification includes two basic types: continuous innovation and intermittent or discontinuous innovation. Another way innovation is classified is according to the criterion of the size of change (according to degree). According to this criterion, innovation is divided into two types: radical innovation and improvement innovation (gradual—partial). Alternatively, a production method involves the process of achieving and embodying innovation in a tangible form.

Finally, classification of innovation is according to the criteria of specialization into managerial innovation, marketing innovation, and technological innovation.” According to Garcia (2014), ”Technological innovation is a set of technical, industrial and commercial stages that lead to the launch of manufactured and commercial products and the use of new technical processes [11].” Figure 1 shows the types of technological innovation.

Figure 1 clearly shows that technological innovation consists of two types: product innovation, which is either introducing a new product or improving an existing product, and process innovation as the second type, which consists of designing a new process or improving an existing process. The innovative process, where countries today depend on the use of modern technology to remove many of the barriers that make the country more open and developed in terms of speed in completion of work and keeping pace with the times, by focusing on the research and development function in a way that allows it to keep pace with these developments and challenges as well as adapt to them. Countries cannot maintain their level of performance, regardless of their capabilities or capabilities, if they rely on traditional methods in the era of the technological revolution. As such, countries must rely on technological innovation, which is one of the most important pillars for the development of countries where they can reach the required level of performance efficiently and effectively.

Therefore, the pursuit of technological innovation is one of the main driving factors that make developing countries more advanced and ambitious. Sustainable development is a new concept that has emerged on the ground, is concerned with preserving resources for future generations and achieving economic and social growth. Moreover, it is also concerned with preserving the environment. In addition, long-term sustainable economic development is one of the most important goals for each country. Thus, the state can achieve this goal by increasing its production. There are two ways to increase GDP: (1) by increasing the production components that we use in the manufacturing process and (2) by raising the efficiency of the inputs. This could be by improving productivity by producing innovative goods or by introducing new manufacturing methods.

In the context of developing countries, which have gone through a transition from agricultural to industrial societies, whose economies do not focus on knowledge (creativity and dissemination) and use of science and technology compared to developed countries, whose quality of life is lower, the human development index (HDI) and per capita income are relatively low. While the main share of data production (innovation) takes place in developed countries, innovations in the north “strongly believe in radical development. This does not undermine the importance of innovation (and studies analyzing its processes) in developing countries, although innovation in developing countries does not contribute significantly to the frontiers of global knowledge; at least its impact should be vital and effective in the developing country and increase per capita national income [12].

In this respect, technological innovation has played a leading part in economic growth, creating innovative energy opportunities. One of the positive effects of technological innovation is the diversification of energy sources simultaneously and with the same devices, which contributes to reducing pollution. In addition to producing similar alternatives from more effective materials at the cheapest cost and with less pollution, this contributes to the increase in flexibility of the production system and the reduction of production costs. Moreover, the marketing of modern technologies leads to increased accuracy in production by adhering to the specified standards and specifications according to scientific principles that are not harmful to the environment. In addition, maintaining the latent reserves of renewable materials contributes to maintaining the ecological integrity of these resources. It can be said in another way that the innovation of technologies with scientific specifications works to preserve the environment by avoiding environmental pollution to its surroundings. In addition, upgrading societal prosperity aside from technological alterations has been consistent with most artistic research for a long time. Interestingly, invention creates opportunities in developed countries as much so as in less developed countries [13,14]. Therefore, technological innovation may take three forms: cost savings, quality improvements, or expansion in a variety of products, services, and manufacturing methods. Innovation is finding new and better ways to conduct business and bringing new ideas or new types of products and services to the market [15]. Therefore, innovation is carrying out new things in a new way. Innovation transforms and develops the technological qualities and performance characteristics of goods and processes, and changes organizational forms and market strategies, thereby adding dynamic change and efficiency development to the financial system. To try anything different, companies need to learn—if they do not learn, nothing new happens [16,17,18]. As is the case for many developing countries, foreign R&D is a vital technology resource; the share of domestic R&D in Egypt’s GDP is 0.7%, of which only 8% is undertaken by the business sector [19].

2. Theoretical Background