Would shortening a species lifespan increase the speed of technological advances?
So I am creating an Elven sub-species (working name is <PERSON>), these are elves that split off from the rest of the Elven society some time in the past. The reason for the split being that they wanted to focus on technology and machinery, and so communicated and collaborated with Dwarven societies (something the rest of the Elves didn't like). Over the course of a couple of millennia these Techno Elves managed to get to roughly modern level of technology, maybe near future. In the last millennia Humans had started taking huge leaps in technology and were close to catching up to the Techno Elves in terms of science and technology. The Techno Elves were curious about how the Humans had advanced so quickly, and discovered it was due to the shorter lifespan. 693
because of how short lived the Humans were they had huge breakthroughs every couple of decades as brand new scientists brought new view points and ideas to the table. The Techno Elves then decided to take what they new of genetic engineering and try and artificially shorten their own lifespan to try and replicate the Humans.
Timeline
* Techno Elves split from Elves talking and collaboration with Dwarves
* Techno Elves leave the Dwarves due to discovery of plastics, causing falling out with Dwarves
* Techno Elves get to modern/near future levels of technology
* Techno Elves notice Humans advancing in technology at super speed (compared to them)
* Techno Elves genetically engineer themselves to have a lifespan closer to that of humans (resulting in the rest of the elves always viewing them as children since they never really reach the age of majority)
Background
Elves
Elves physically mature the same as Humans, but are not considered adults until ~100, and normally live to between 600 and 1300 years. Don't really interact with other species at all. Traditionally have a good grasp on nature and magic.
Dwarves
Dwarves physically mature the same as Humans, but are not considered adults until ~50, and normally live to between 300 and 700 years. Works a lot with metals and intricate cog based machinery.
Techno Elves
After genetic engineering physically mature slightly faster than humans, and considered adults at ~20, and normally live between 80 and 120 years. Very quickly gets into far future technology (space-time warping for example).
Humans
Basically the same as modern humans, but not aware of the other intelligent species inhabiting the world.
Question
So my main question is: Does the Techno Elves' idea that a short lifespan will increase innovation actually hold up, would them having such a long lifespan have limited the innovation in the beginning? 693