Paths of technology upgrading in the BRICS economies

•Application of new conceptual framework to assess prospects for long-term technology based growth of emerging economies•Technology upgrading is the three-dimensional process which shows country specific profiles of the BRICS economies.•BRICS exhibit several profiles with trade-offs between intensity, structural change and interaction with the global economy.•The relationship between frontier and behind frontier activities reflects differences between individual economies.•BRICS have improved technology sourcing capabilities, but not organisational capabilities to source technology from abroad.