The transfer of technology is becoming an important issue in economically oriented literature. It is also an important variable of the majority of economic policies. To assess the relevance of this phenomenon in the recent interdependent world is by no means easy, but it could be a potentially rewarding activity. This paper is an attempt to briefly review the main direction of the international transfer of technology and to describe the prevailing forms and actors. It illustrates the difficulty of measuring the flow of technology and discusses some indicators used. This paper also argues the fact that the importance of technology transfer for industrial policy design will grow and points out some issues deserving further study.