DEV221: Technology and Development

Development

They are various definitions of development, for the purpose of

this course it may be understood as a process that creates

growth, progress, positive change or the addition of physical,

economic, environmental, social and demographic components.

The purpose of development is a rise in the level and quality of

life of the population, and the creation or expansion of local

regional income and employment opportunities, without

damaging the resources of the environment. Development is

visible and useful, not necessarily immediately, and includes an

aspect of quality change and the creation of conditions for a

continuation of that change.

The international agenda began to focus on development

beginning in the second half of the twentieth century. An

understanding developed that economic growth did not

necessarily lead to a rise in the level and quality of life for

DEV221: Technology and Development

populations all over the world; there was a need to place an

emphasis on specific policies that would channel resources and

enable social and economic mobility for various layers of the

population.

Through the years, professionals and various researchers

developed a number of definitions and emphases for the term

“development.” Amartya Sen, for example, developed the

“capability approach,” which defined development as a tool

enabling people to reach the highest level of their ability, through

granting freedom of action, i.e., freedom of economic, social and

family actions, etc. This approach became a basis for the

measurement of development by the HDI (Human Development

Index), which was developed by the UN Development Program

(UNDP) in 1990. Martha Nussbaum developed the abilities

DEV221: Technology and Development

approach in the field of gender and emphasized the

empowerment of women as a development tool.

In contrast, professionals like Jeffrey Sachs and Paul Collier

focused on mechanisms that prevent or oppress development in

various countries, and cause them to linger in abject poverty for

dozens of years. These are the various poverty traps, including

civil wars, natural resources and poverty itself. The identification

of these traps enables relating to political – economic – social

conditions in a country in an attempt to advance development.

One of the emphases in the work of Jeffrey Sacks is the promotion

of sustainable development, which believes in growth and

development in order to raise the standard of living for citizens of

the world today, through relating to the needs of environmental

resources and the coming generations of the citizens of the world.

Technology
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Technology is the sum of techniques, skills, methods, and

processes used in the production of goods or services or in the

accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation.

Technology can be the knowledge of techniques, processes, and

the like, or it can be embedded in machines to allow for operation

without detailed knowledge of their workings. Systems (e.g.

machines) applying technology by taking an input, changing it

according to the system's use, and then producing an outcome

are referred to as technology systems or technological systems.

The simplest form of technology is the development and use of

basic tools. The prehistoric discovery of how to control fire and

the later Neolithic Revolution increased the available sources of

food, and the invention of the wheel helped humans to travel in

and control their environment. Developments in historic times,

including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have
DEV221: Technology and Development

lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans

to interact freely on a global scale.

Technology has many effects. It has helped develop more

advanced economies (including today's global economy) and has

allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes

produce unwanted by-products known as pollution and deplete

natural resources to the detriment of Earth's environment.

Innovations have always influenced the values of a society and

raised new questions in the ethics of technology. Examples

include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human

productivity, and the challenges of bioethics.

Philosophical debates have arisen over the use of technology,

with disagreements over whether technology improves the

human condition or worsens it. Neo-Luddism, anarcho-primitivism,

and similar reactionary movements criticize the pervasiveness of

technology, arguing that it harms the environment and alienates

DEV221: Technology and Development

people; proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and

techno-progressivism view continued technological progress as

beneficial to society and the human condition.

Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities, both

material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and

physical effort in order to achieve some value. In this usage,

technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to

solve real-world problems. It is a far-reaching term that may

include simple tools, such as a crowbar or wooden spoon, or more

complex machines, such as a space station or particle

accelerator. Tools and machines need not be material; virtual

technology, such as computer software and business methods,

fall under this definition of technology. W. Brian Arthur defines

technology in a similarly broad way as "a means to fulfill a human

purpose.
DEV221: Technology and Development

The word "technology" can also be used to refer to a collection of

techniques. In this context, it is the current state of humanity's

knowledge of how to combine resources to produce desired

products, to solve problems, fulfill needs, or satisfy wants; it

includes technical methods, skills, processes, techniques, tools

and raw materials. When combined with another term, such as

"medical technology" or "space technology," it refers to the state

of the respective field's knowledge and tools. "State-of-the-art

technology" refers to the high technology available to humanity in

any field.

Technology can be viewed as an activity that forms or changes

culture. Additionally, technology is the application of math,

science, and the arts for the benefit of life as it is known. A

modern example is the rise of communication technology, which

has lessened barriers to human interaction and as a result has

helped spawn new subcultures; the rise of cyber culture has at its
DEV221: Technology and Development

basis the development of the Internet and the computer. Not all

technology enhances culture in a creative way; technology can

also help facilitate political oppression and war via tools such as

guns. As a cultural activity, technology predates both science and

engineering, each of which formalize some aspects of

technological endeavor.

The distinction between science, engineering, and technology is

not always clear. Science is systematic knowledge of the physical

or material world gained through observation and

experimentation. Technologies are not usually exclusively

products of science, because they have to satisfy requirements

such as utility, usability, and safety.

Engineering is the goal-oriented process of designing and making

tools and systems to exploit natural phenomena for practical

human means, often (but not always) using results and

techniques from science. The development of technology may

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draw upon many fields of knowledge, including scientific,

engineering, mathematical, linguistic, and historical knowledge,

to achieve some practical result.

Technology is often a consequence of science and engineering,

although technology as a human activity precedes the two fields.

For example, science might study the flow of electrons in

electrical conductors by using already-existing tools and

knowledge. This new-found knowledge may then be used by

engineers to create new tools and machines such as

semiconductors, computers, and other forms of advanced

technology. In this sense, scientists and engineers may both be

considered technologists; the three fields are often considered as

one for the purposes of research and reference.

The exact relations between science and technology, in particular,

have been debated by scientists, historians, and policymakers in

the late 20th century, in part because the debate can inform the
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funding of basic and applied science. In the immediate wake of

World War II, for example, it was widely considered in the United

States that technology was simply "applied science" and that to

fund basic science was to reap technological results in due time.

An articulation of this philosophy could be found explicitly in

Vannevar Bush's treatise on postwar science policy, Science – The

Endless Frontier: "New products, new industries, and more jobs

require continuous additions to knowledge of the laws of nature ...

This essential new knowledge can be obtained only through basic

scientific research. In the late-1960s, however, this view came

under direct attack, leading towards initiatives to fund science for

specific tasks (initiatives resisted by the scientific community).

The issue remains contentious, though most analysts resist the

model that technology is a result of scientific research.

Appropriate technology
DEV221: Technology and Development

The notion of appropriate technology was developed in the 20th

century by thinkers such as E.F. Schumacher and Jacques Ellul to

describe situations where it was not desirable to use very new

technologies or those that required access to some centralized

infrastructure or parts or skills imported from elsewhere. The

ecovillage movement emerged in part due to this concern.

Complex technological systems

Thomas P. Hughes stated that because technology has been

considered as a key way to solve problems, we need to be aware

of its complex and varied characters to use it more efficiently.

What is the difference between a wheel or a compass and cooking

machines such as an oven or a gas stove? Can we consider all of

them, only a part of them, or none of them as technologies?

Technology is often considered too narrowly; according to

Hughes, "Technology is a creative process involving human

DEV221: Technology and Development

ingenuity". This definition's emphasis on creativity avoids

unbounded definitions that may mistakenly include cooking

"technologies," but it also highlights the prominent role of

humans and therefore their responsibilities for the use of complex

technological systems.

Yet, because technology is everywhere and has dramatically

changed landscapes and societies, Hughes argues that engineers,

scientists, and managers have often believed that they can use

technology to shape the world as they want. They have often

supposed that technology is easily controllable and this

assumption has to be thoroughly questioned. For instance,

Evgeny Morozov particularly challenges two concepts: "Internet-

centrism" and "solutionism." Internet-centrism refers to the idea

that our society is convinced that the Internet is one of the most

stable and coherent forces. Solutionism is the ideology that every

social issue can be solved thanks to technology and especially

DEV221: Technology and Development

thanks to the internet. In fact, technology intrinsically contains

uncertainties and limitations. According to Alexis Madrigal's

review of Morozov's theory, to ignore it will lead to "unexpected

consequences that could eventually cause more damage than the

problems they seek to address." Benjamin R. Cohen and Gwen

Ottinger also discussed the multivalent effects of technology.

Therefore, recognition of the limitations of technology, and more

broadly, scientific knowledge, is needed – especially in cases

dealing with environmental justice and health issues. Ottinger

continues this reasoning and argues that the ongoing recognition

of the limitations of scientific knowledge goes hand in hand with

scientists and engineers’ new comprehension of their role. Such

an approach of technology and science "[require] technical

professionals to conceive of their roles in the process differently.

[They have to consider themselves as] collaborators in research

DEV221: Technology and Development

and problem solving rather than simply providers of information

and technical solutions.

Technological change (TC) or technological development, is the

overall process of invention, innovation and diffusion of

technology or processes. In essence, technological change covers

the invention of technologies (including processes) and their

commercialization or release as open source via research and

development (producing emerging technologies), the continual

improvement of technologies (in which they often become less

expensive), and the diffusion of technologies throughout industry

or society (which sometimes involves disruption and

convergence). In short, technological change is based on both

better and more technology.

Technology is considered as a key factor for economic

development. Many authors in the field of technology

management mention this impact on economic development as a

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motivator for their technology oriented study. What is this

relationship between technology and economic development? In

most studies, the relationship between technology and economy

remains implicit.

Technometrics

Technometrics refers to certain aspects of technology

measurement. The main focus for technometrics is therefore the

measurement of technology.

This leads to two insights with regard to development. First, it

allows a better understanding of what technology actually is.

Second, once such understanding is achieved, it helps in looking

at how technology, or components thereof, influence

development. With regard to the technology aspect, it was

determined by the Technology Atlas Team that technology

consists of several components: technoware (object-embodied

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technology), humanware (person-embodied technology),

inforware (documentembodied technology), and orgaware

(institution embodied technology). Ramanathan provides several

viewpoints on technology, used the four components and

developed a definition which encompassed the four components.

Based on this work, it is understood that technology is not simply

product technology but includes several other forms of

embodiment. Also, it should be noted that much of this work is

related to a production technology, i.e., the process by which

inputs are transformed into outputs. With regard to the issue of

technology and development, in particular the Technology Atlas

Team and the individual authors involved published a series of

papers that show the role of technology for development.

Measurement issues of technology which were relevant for

national development were discussed by Sharif while problems

and issues for achieving technology induced socioeconomic

DEV221: Technology and Development

progress were presented by the Technology Atlas Team. A further

development of this led to a techno-economic policy analysis

framework, which included measurements at the local level,

industry level, sectoral level, as well as the national level.

This framework is to date probably the most complete,

comprehensive, and detailed

model that explains how a technology at the firm level ultimately

can help technological and economical development at the

national level. A series of papers presented

how the different concepts should be measured. Implementation

of those measurements also took place. Ramanathan provides an

example of how measurements of technology can take place at

the firm level while Bowonder and Miyake provide an example of

measurements at the industry level. Other assessments were

provided by Panda and Ramanathan . These publications also

DEV221: Technology and Development

illustrate how production technology in a developing country

might have lower levels of sophistication compared to an

advanced nation. This is for example because more advanced

technology, e.g., hardware, is not available or because of

differences in technology climate, infrastructure availability, and

the sophistication of humanware.

Technological Competitiveness

Another way of looking at technology and development is by

looking at how technologically competitive countries are. This

would give insight into what different countries do that makes

them competitive. In this field there are at least two interesting

publications that compare the competitiveness of nations: the

IMDs
DEV221: Technology and Development

World Competitiveness Yearbook and the World Economic

Forum's Global Competitiveness Report. For example, the Global

Competitiveness Report (GCR) has a focus on economic

performance and looks at factors that contribute to this

performance.

In particular, the GCR distinguishes 12 pillars of competitiveness:

institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic stability, health and

primary education, higher education and training, goods market

efficiency, labor market efficiency, financial market sophistication,

technological readiness, market size, business sophistication, and

innovation. Technology has an influence in several of these areas

such as through technological readiness and innovation but also

through institutions (property protection which relates to

technology and commercialization), infrastructure (for example

number of telephone lines, which can be viewed as availability of

a specific technology), higher education and training (internet

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access in schools), and business sophistication (production

process sophistication). The GCR further established that different

pillars have a different influence on economic performance based

on the stage the country is in. The GCR distinguishes three

different stages, that is, factor driven economy, efficiency driven

economy, and innovation driven economy. The emphasis in the

factor driven stage is on institutions, infrastructure,

macroeconomic stability, and health and primary education while

in the innovation driven stage the emphasis is on business

sophistication and innovation. . Thus, it can be deduced that the

type of technology which is beneficial for countries depends on its

stage

More specifically focused on technology is the technology

competitiveness ranking

(HTI), determined by the Technology Policy and Assessment

Center at Georgia
DEV221: Technology and Development

Institute of Technology . This ranking is based on four input

variables (national orientation, socioeconomic infrastructure,

technological

infrastructure, and productive capacity) and three output

variables (technological

standing, technological emphasis, and rate of technical change.

More recently only technological standing is used as the sole

output indicator

. The input indicators national propensity for future technology

based competitiveness, output indicators gauge current

competitiveness.

For studies in this literature stream, a first issue of concern is

whether countries are

DEV221: Technology and Development

actually competing with each other and therefore whether a

ranking of competitiveness is even appropriate . Regardless of

this, the

HTI provides valuable insight as it explains how different

technological aspects of

countries can be assessed. Unfortunately, there are similar issues

with the HTI measurements as were described for the techno-

economic policy analysis framework in the previous section. That

is, concepts are deemed and measured but whether they relate to

something real or whether they are abstract theoretical notions

has yet to be determined. For example, the premise of the HTI

indicators is that there are input indicators which say something

about future performance. In particular, Our input indicator set

purports to anticipate high tech competitiveness on the order of

15 years ahead"
DEV221: Technology and Development

Economic Geography

When looking for explanations of location economic success,

technology is one of the main explanatory variables. Technology

is central to regional change, positive and negative, and to

economic change, job-creating and job-destroying. It is the most

obvious cause and erect of the cumulative wealth of rich nations.

Technology also promises, more than any other phenomenon, to

bring poor nations out of poverty". Two of the main issues are job

creation and productivity improvement. For example, studies

have been conducted to determine whether location has an

influence on productivity and whether for example agglomeration

economies provide advantages

On the one hand technology can lead to productivity

improvements which can lead to improved economic

performance. On the other hand, productivity improvements may

also lead to job losses. Yet, technology also has the potential for
DEV221: Technology and Development

the creation of new jobs. This connects with a wide range of

literature on entrepreneurship and establishing new companies

(and thus jobs) and what government organizations can do to

promote this process (technology-based economic development),

as well as the role of universities in this process.

First, technological progress has at least two effects: productivity

improvement and creation of new jobs. Productivity improvement

leads to better economic performance but it can also lead to job

reduction. Whether an economy overall gains is thus not clear. Job

creation based on technology is a complicated issue. The

research shows that universities can play a role and that

geographic factors can play a role as well. There may be

agglomeration economies influencing attractiveness of location

and benefits of location to deploy certain technologies.

Furthermore, the deployment and commercialization of

technology cannot be viewed as a stand-alone situation. Rather,

DEV221: Technology and Development

there may be issues of critical mass and of synergy. For example,

Mokyr, describes how the industrial revolution took place in the

UK (as opposed to other regions) due to specific circumstances

such as for example the presence of certain institutions. Similarly,

Bernstein, argues that economic growth only occurs when four

things are present: property rights, scientific rationalism, capital

markets, and fast and efficient communication. Technology is

therefore not the only factor but is certainly a very important

factor. Also, progress on some technologies (for example

materials) allows progress on other technologies (combustion

engine). In other words, there are some path dependencies.

Although leapfrogging opportunities have been mentioned, in

particular for developing countries, this research would indicate

that this is only possible for technologies with limited path

dependencies or where synergetic technologies are at least in

place. Furthermore,
DEV221: Technology and Development

understanding, for example, the economic development of the UK

and the role of

technology is not sufficient for understanding economic

development and the role of

technology for the current developing nations. This is because

when the UK had its

initial growth, it was advanced compared to most nations in the

world whereas

current developing nations are less advanced than many other

nations in the world.

Thus, it is a different situation. Another main drawback of the

economic geography

related literature is that technology is mainly viewed as a black

box and distinction

DEV221: Technology and Development

of technologies are not made. The connection between

technology characteristics,

location, and economy are not well understood.

Technology Management

Similar to the technometrics literature, the technology

management literature is

more focused on the technology although it has a management

perspective. This

management perspective can also be a policy perspective, i.e.,

managing countries.

An argument is that it isn't just the technology that is important

but that the

management of the technology creates wealth for nations,

companies, and individuals.

DEV221: Technology and Development

Productivity is again a key concept which ultimately leads to

economic development and a high standard of living. Policies

should therefore be encouraged which will support development.

One of the key areas in this research is technology transfer.

Technology transfer is

one of the few means available for nations to obtain technological

capability which they lack, yet this is not an easy task, since effort

and expertise are needed to absorb

technology". There are many different types of technology

transfer . Some types have to do with the innovation and

commercialization process, i.e., moving a product from concept to

the market. Other types are more related to the international

transfer of technology and the absorption by/in another country.

The latter, although identified as an important means for

developing countries to gain technological expertise, is not an

DEV221: Technology and Development

easy matter. Some of the factors which play a role in the transfer

process are the type of information, i.e., coded or tacit and the

size of the technology which influences the duration of the

transfer process. Other factors are related to the deployment and

management of technology in another environment than where it

was created. The local culture for example may have an influence

on the executive use of production technologies. This is

connected with the technometrics literature because a particular

product can be produced by different technologies, i.e.,

differences with regard to level of sophistication of technoware,

humanware, inforware, and orgaware. A (production) technology

and the accompanying set of practices with that technology may

or may not be appropriate for a developing country. Whether the

host environment can absorb the technology, i.e., absorptive

capacity is another important aspect as well as whether imported

DEV221: Technology and Development

technologies lead to productivity improvements . These aspects

connect

with the economic geography literature as discussed earlier.

Important insights based upon the technology management

literature are that

there is a distinction between vertical technology transfer, i.e.,

thecommercialization

process and its associated difficulties etc. versus the horizontal

technology transfer

process where there are two main aspects for success: the

transfer process itself and

the assimilation of the technology in the host environment. The

commercialization

literature is connected with the economic geography literature

through research on
DEV221: Technology and Development

environmental/locational factors that influence commercialization

rates and success.

One insight is that there are issues such as critical mass and

synergistic effects such

as can be seen in the Silicon Valley and Research Triangle Park

regions. Although

some aggregate economic Figures exist to look at impact on a

regional economy, it is

not clear how this is connected with specific technology and how

technological

characteristics play a role. For the horizontal technology transfer,

this is mostly

aimed at production technologies. This literature typically does

consider different
DEV221: Technology and Development

types of technology, such as the forms of embodiment as

mentioned in the technometrics literature, but the economic

impacts overall are not understood, nor are they segregated by

technology embodiment type.

Each of the four literature streams provides different insights with

regard to the

connection between technology and economic development. The

main advantage of

the technometrics literature is a better understanding of

technology and the different types of technology that exist. A

framework exists which connects firm level technologies with

national technology levels but the relationship with economic

figures is less apparent. The technological competitiveness

literature provides a more macro oriented viewpoint based on

economic indicators and in some reports on technological

DEV221: Technology and Development

indicators. Unfortunately, this is based on aggregated

technological figures which don't provide enough insight on how

firm level technologies have an impact nor what kind of policies

should be put in place to lead to success although it does

establish that factor driven economies need to focus on different

things than for example innovation driven economies. The

economic geography literature is also mainly economically

oriented and provides insight into locational factors which erect

commercialization, causes clustering and deals with

agglomeration economics.

Again, the link with technology is relatively weak and how

different technologies

play a role is not established. Lastly, the technology management

literature has a
DEV221: Technology and Development

heavier emphasis on technological elements, in particular the

challenges with the

management of technology and for example technology transfer

and the complications for transferring technology and its

accompanying practices from developed to developing countries.

In this stream, the economic aspects are underrepresented.

It appears therefore that the literature is either more technology

oriented or more

economics oriented but a true integration of the two where

technology is integrated

with economics is missing. Based on these findings, it is proposed

that a more

integrated model should be developed. A starting point for this is

the incomes
DEV221: Technology and Development

generated in a country. This is partially measured by the GNP

which is the sum of all factor incomes earned plus depreciation

plus indirect taxes minus subsidies. Besides the issues of primary

interest, i.e., wages, it also includes rent, interest, and profits.

In order to increase the size of the economy, the GNP needs to go

up. This can be

accomplished through three means. First, more people work and

thus earn income.

Second, the people that work improve their income for example

through productivity improvements. Or, third, some combination.

The impact of technology should be separated on the aspect of

new job creation which creates additional income for the GNP

versus productivity improvements which changes the income

levels earned.
DEV221: Technology and Development

In this latter case it may actually reduce the GNP because

although a portion of

people will earn higher incomes, another portion of the labor force

might get replaced and thus their income reduces the GNP. From

the GCR, it is known that different countries are in different

stages of development and that overall conditions have a

different impact on these countries with regard to economic

development. Furthermore, there are many kinds of technologies

and the differences should be taken into account.

Persistent socioeconomic problems in Third World countries,

despite decades of massive infusion of advanced technology from

the industrial world, continue to elicit questions regarding the

appropriateness of this technology in the Third World. The

concentration of wealth in the hands of the Third World ruling

class, bureaucrats, and the elite-the hallmark of a growth-based

development strategy-makes life a continuous struggle for a great

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mass of the people. Problems of poverty, unemployment,

inequality, and basic needs fulfillment are common facts of life

today in many Third World countries. Worsening socioeconomic

conditions in the Third World have underscored the urgency of

implementing a development path that de-emphasizes growth

and technological monoculture. The technological orientation of

this development paradigm has been variously called

intermediate, progressive, alternative, light-capital, labor-

intensive, indigenous, appropriate, low-cost, community, soft,

radical, liberatory, and convivial technology. However,

appropriate technology, for reasons to be addressed later, has

emerged as the allembracing rubric representing the viewpoints

associated with all the other terms. The purpose of this article is

to discuss appropriate technology as it concerns social and

economic development in the Third World. Detractors and

advocates of appropriate technology have made claims and

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counter claims about its strengths and weaknesses. Not

surprisingly, some of these claims are often imbued with

prejudice, ignorance, or intolerance. The national and

intranational disparities in the level of development of the Third

World are so great that any suggestion of inflexibility in the

technological and socioeconomic development strategy employed

would be grossly unrealistic. Third World development must not

take an either/or stance regarding technology input; it requires

both large- and small scale appropriate technology.

Some Compelling Issues

The conventional development strategy for the Third World is and

has been dominated by economic growth. In the process of its

implementation, industrialization became equated with

development. To this end, industrialization by way of capital

accumulation and technology transfer from the industrial nations

to the Third World were pursued with immense interest. Decades

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of massive importation of advanced technology and the

implementation of large-scale, capital-intensive production

methods in Third World countries have revealed the shortcomings

of such an approach. First of all, the strategy entails the

employment of capital-intensive technology in countries that are

short of capital and endowed with surplus labor. Third World

countries, by opting for capital-intensive production technology in

spite of their shortage of capital, can only afford to create a few

jobs for a small number of people due to a very high capital/labor

ratio. This implies that several Third World countries equip only a

very small proportion of their labor force with the means of

increasing production. In this case, small islands of high

productivity emerge in core urban centers at the expense or

neglect of the periphery involving the more populous segment of

the economy. The result has been the creation of a dual economic

structure (consisting of a prosperous modern sector and an

DEV221: Technology and Development

impoverished traditional sector), worsening unemployment

conditions, and widespread abject poverty in many Third World

countries. According to a 1976 U.S. Agency for International

Development (USAID) proposal to the U.S. Congress, the effects of

capital-intensive technology are not limited to problems of

unemployment in the Third World. “The high capital cost of

modern technology has also contributed to the development of

dual economies small, relatively well-off enclaves of high

productivity and well-paid workers side by side with relative

stagnation among the larger community. There are writers who

attribute growing poverty in the Third World in part to rapid

growth in the modern sector that is sustained with the most

advanced imported technology. This growth in Third World

metropolitan areas is often accompanied with little or no spread

effect to the sectors in the periphery. Commenting on this issue,

Robinson observed that “a growth strategy that takes the form of

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industry-led development, using the technologies that are

appropriate for Western societies, leaves almost untouched in the

rural areas increasing absolute numbers of impoverished and

underemployed workers.

Appropriate technology as a development approach is intended to

address such socioeconomic problems, especially in the rural and

informal sectors. Stewart perhaps put the need for appropriate

technology in perspective in the following statement: The

argument for appropriate technology is not that jobs should be

put before output, but that techniques can be developed which

promote both. Appropriate technology is intended to raise

productivity and incomes outside the advanced technology sector

and so extend the benefits of development throughout the

population. It goes without saying that using appropriate

technology to stimulate production and employment in the

sectors outside the modern sector is such an important objective

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that it ought to be seen as a national imperative. It is

unreasonable not to promote appropriate technology for

development in the traditional and informal sectors in view of the

capital and foreign exchange situation in many Third World

societies. Development in these regions must start with less

complex and expensive techniques and move forward.

Development Path

Communities, societies, or countries have evolved historically

with the type of technology that reflects their level of

development and factor endowment. For example, the capital

stock of the United States late in the 18th century consisted of

hand pumps, Franklin stoves, wooden plows, and draft animals.

During the reign of Mao Tse-tung, communist China turned to

appropriate technology for rural development after a major

disagreement led to a break up with Russia in 1960. In the

succeeding period of Cultural Revolution, China’s policies on

DEV221: Technology and Development

development centered on the phrase “walking on two legs”. This

entailed the encouragement of technological dualism for the

simultaneous development of large-scale and small-scale

undertakings to promote industrialization nationwide in. While

concentration in the urban areas was on building large-scale,

capital-intensive factories, the focus in the rural areas was on the

development of small-scale industries based on appropriate

technology. According to Perkins, “rural small-scale

industrialization depended in a fundamental way on the prior and

continuing successful development of urban large-scale industry”.

The rural industries, making use of intermediate technology, were

expected to take advantage of the country’s abundant local

resources, including industrial waste or scrap from the large-

scale, city-based factories. But the uniqueness of this new

direction was that it emphasized the decentralization of

production, the reliance on domestic initiatives, and the pursuit of

DEV221: Technology and Development

self-sufficiency. Writers such as Dwight H. Perkins have argued

that China’s encouragement of small-scale industries making use

of appropriate technology in the rural areas created jobs and

enabled China “to avoid some of the worst aspects of the urban-

rural polarization that characterizes so many developing

countries”

n before the 1930s. One of India’s early pioneers and practitioners

of appropriate technology was its moral leader and advocate of

nonviolent resistance Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Gandhi’s

familiarity with the work of Henry David Thoreau of the United

Sates exerted great influence in shaping his philosophy of

development. In fact, a number of writers on appropriate

technology have variously referred to Gandhi as the “father” of

appropriate technology and the “first appropriate technologist”,

knowing full well that the phrase gained common usage only after

Gandhi’s time. As Rybczynski pointed out, “it was Gandhi who,

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before China’s Mao Tse-tung, recognized that the peasants should

be the basis for economic development in Asia”. Gandhi spoke

incessantly of the need for village industries in India, while

maintaining that India’s survival and future were dependent on

the state of the villages where most Indians reside. Underlying

Gandhi’s notion of village industries was his epigrammatic

expression that “the poor of the world cannot be helped by mass

production, [but] only production by the masses”. From Gandhi’s

perspective, any concern with goods requires mass production,

but concern with people necessitates production by the masses.

The Charkha (spinning wheel) was Gandhi’s ideal appropriate

technology device, and he saw in it a symbol of freedom, self-

reliance, and a technical means that was right for India. The idea

of technology discriminately enriching a minority of people at the

expense of the majority or putting masses of people out of work

to increase profit was in Gandhi’s view counterproductive and

DEV221: Technology and Development

unacceptable. However, Gandhi was not uncompromising in his

rejection of large-scale, capital-intensive industrial enterprises.

Modern-sector industrial development, in Gandhi’s view, should

supplement and reinforce the development of small-scale

industries and agriculture in the hinterland. In a quote credited to

Gandhi, he expressed his choice of the development path suited

to the Indian sub-continent:

If I can convert the country to my point of view, the social order of

the future will be based predominantly on the Charkha and all it

implies. It will include everything that promotes the well-being of

the villagers. I do visualize electricity, ship-building, ironworks,

machine-making and the like existing side by side with village

handicrafts. But the order of dependence will be reversed.

Hitherto, the industrialization has been so planned as to destroy

the villages and the village crafts. In the State of the future it will

subserve the villages and their crafts. In his effort to start India in
DEV221: Technology and Development

this development path, Gandhi founded organizations such as the

All India Spinners Association and the All India Village Industries

Association’ (Dunn, 1978). A group known as Gandhian

economists later founded the Appropriate Technology Association

of India, one of the early appropriate technology organizations.

Prominent among the non-Indians who shared Gandhi’s

philosophy was Dr. Ernst Friedrich “Fritz” Schumacher, who later

played a key role in popularizing appropriate technology

worldwide.

Characteristics of Appropriate Technology

The last definition not only suggests the criteria for technological

appropriateness, it also implies that there is such a thing as

inappropriate technology. Such characteristics have been well

documented by various writers and appropriate, and as a result

will not be treated in depth here. The appropriateness of

technology is not limited only to job creation, using local

DEV221: Technology and Development

resources, and utilizing renewable energy resources but it is also

about being affordable, easy to maintain, compatible with existing

infrastructure, efficient in the use of scarce natural resources,

environmentally benign, and partial to small-scale. To many

people, appropriate technology is always small, simple, cheap,

and labor-intensive. Perhaps Schumacher, more than anybody

else, contributed to that general perception. However, Anderson

made the point that “scale, complexity and expense are not

always positively correlated. It is possible for a large machine to

be both simple and cheap and for a small one to be highly

complex and expensive”. It is not generally acknowledged that

Schumacher expressed a similar idea about the issue of scale. For

example, Schumacher stated: “Whether a given industrial activity

is appropriate to the conditions of a developing district does not

directly depend on ‘scale,’ but on the technology employed”. It is

conceivable that Schumacher’s commitment to smallness of scale

DEV221: Technology and Development

was provisional rather than absolute, and may have had more to

do perhaps with the prevailing idolatry of bigness still evident in

today’s technological society than anything else. “Schumacher

once told friends that, had he lived in a world of small

organizations, he would have written a book called Big Is

Beautiful”

other. As Willoughby pointed out, “the concept of appropriate

technology attempts to discriminate between different

technologies according to their relative suitability for specific

purposes or situations”. Appropriate technology is not about

taking a stand against technology, but about technology being a

heterogeneous collection of social and technical options rather

than a homogeneous phenomenon. From this collection, the best

choices are then made based on the objectives to be

accomplished and possible human and environmental effects. The

notion of appropriate technology suggests that all alternatives

DEV221: Technology and Development

should be researched for “best fit.” The impression that advanced

technology is invariably inappropriate for the Third World is an

exaggerated and misleading interpretation of the intent of

appropriate technology. It is not realistic to suggest that the

development of the Third World should be based almost entirely

on technological monoculture. One must keep in mind that the

primary focus of appropriate technology is in rural and informal

sectors of the Third World. This is in recognition that economic

growth in the past several years has tended to be confined to the

urban modern sector in part because of capital and foreign

exchange shortage. Interestingly, campaigns against appropriate

technology are usually spearheaded not by the poor who stand to

benefit the most from its use, but by the rich and powerful elite

group. The elite of the Third World are not the “poverty-stricken

multitude who lack any real basis of existence, whether in rural or

in urban areas, who have neither the ‘best’ nor the ‘second best’
DEV221: Technology and Development

but go short of even the most essential means of subsistence”.

This is why the case has to be made for diversity in the pool of

technology available for use in the Third World. Since differences

in the level of development and factor endowments do exist

between and within countries, the notion that “one size fits all”

definitely does not apply. Today’s intolerance of pluralism in

global technological development is comparable to a situation

once in the former Soviet Union about footwear production.

According to Ernst F. Schumacher, “we have been like the Soviets

who made 500 million pairs of shoes, all the same size, and said,

‘take it or leave it-this is the only way we know how to do it’”. A

technological diversity approach to Third World development can

satisfy the needs of both the rich and poor of the Third World and

promote participation for the poor in the development process.

Brooks suggested along the same lines that “appropriate

technology and current technology are complementary rather

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than mutually exclusive, and that the potential benefits of both

will be enhanced when they coexist”. From the foregoing

discussion, it is clear that there is certainly an urgent need to

expand the scope of technology and to integrate appropriate

technology in the development of the Third World. However,

appropriate technology has its critics

Criticisms of Appropriate Technology

Appropriate technology has been the subject of numerous

criticisms despite its obvious advantages. Common among the

criticisms is the claim that appropriate technology is inefficient, a

technology not congenial to growth and improving the standard of

living. Often failed projects based on appropriate technology are

cited as evidence in support of this criticism, as if any technology

enjoys immunity from failure. Rybczynski cited cases of biogas

digesters in India and South Korea that were abandoned either

because they produced insufficient methane or for inadequate

DEV221: Technology and Development

supply of cow dung as evidence of inefficient appropriate

technology. This account only tells part of the story. A

government National Project on Biogas Development in 1981

brought needed relief to many in rural India. For instance, biogas

in Pura, a village in south India, has been meeting the water-

pumping, electric-lighting, cooking, and fertilizer needs of this

village’s 485 inhabitants. According to Sampat, about 2 million

biogas digesters have been installed in India since 1981, “and

although the program has had its share of problems, it has made

substantial progress”. Appropriate technology may not be

efficient from an engineering standpoint, but it is pedantic and

unrealistic to describe any technology that enhances the capacity

to satisfy community goals and aspirations as inefficient. A

related criticism claims that workplace productivity is

compromised with appropriate technology. This argument

implicitly suggests that output per worker is unimportant to

DEV221: Technology and Development

appropriate technology. The fact is that appropriate technologists

understand the important correlation between productivity and

standard of living. On the other hand, it must be realized that

given the endemic unemployment situation in most Third World

societies the maximization of job opportunities is not a matter of

subordinate priority either. It is possible that the effort to

maximize productivity in the urban areas can be pursued

simultaneously with the effort to maximize work opportunities for

the unemployed and underemployed in the traditional and

informal sectors. The issue is not about opting for either

productivity or job creation, but, as mentioned earlier, finding a

good mix of techniques to promote both and to ensure a far-

reaching distribution of the benefits of development. Furthermore,

critics have made arguments of the kind that if appropriate

technology is as effective as some of its advocates claim, it

should have no difficulty displacing the dominant, capital-

DEV221: Technology and Development

intensive technology. These critics advance the notion that the

prevailing technology at any one time is the most efficient

possible for that time. This is probably one of those arguments

based on the assumption of a “free market” and a qualifying

ceteris paribus. It sounds quite presumptuous and too sanguine to

completely rule out the possibility that the dominant technology

may by chance not be the most efficient or effective. However, it

is possible to sustain a wasteful technology through government

intervention, institutional inertia, the actions of vested interest

groups, years of enormous investment, and established position

of the technology, all of which may be prejudicial to the

development of alternatives. Given this possibility, Rosenbrock

surmised that “it is quite conceivable that a worse solution could

be perpetuated indefinitely this way”. One final criticism of

appropriate technology is the claim that it is an inferior

technology and a part of a scheme by Western industrialized

DEV221: Technology and Development

countries to maintain their position of socioeconomic and

technological dominance over the Third World. Whether this

allegation is believable or not depends on one’s perspective.

Perhaps it is worth mentioning here that there is no evidence that

a country which starts with simple technology cannot move into

more complex technology, and there is much evidence that for

countries starting with a simple technology the transition to

industrialization was easier than it was for those that shifted

directly to a complicated case.

logy as defined by its proponents is a technology tailored to serve

the particular needs of a given region or community. This implies

that a painstaking effort is made to secure the “best” alternative

there is for the set of circumstances peculiar to that region or

community. So, “if one wished to have the best technology for

given circumstances it would be absurd to advocate inferior

technology and doubly absurd to call it ‘appropriate’, when,

DEV221: Technology and Development

logically, it would not be the best available”. As many

commentators have already noted, many of these criticisms are

not based on facts and often reflect the prejudices and biases of

the critics. Willoughb put it more succinctly: Many criticisms of

Appropriate Technology are based upon either ignorance of

available empirical evidence, distortion of the claims of leading

protagonists, or reliance upon examples from the literature which

differ from the consensus of the movement but which suit the

biases of the critic

There is a tendency to condemn appropriate technology for all the

wrong reasons and regardless of its true intent and focus. Several

writers have pointed out that many of the criticisms of

appropriate technology have been made in spite of empirical

evidence to the contrary. That said, it must be stated as well that

there is also a tendency on the part of some appropriate

technology advocates to overstate its role and effectiveness.

DEV221: Technology and Development

Unfortunately, this stance sometimes underlies the attitude that

appropriate technology is the only acceptable technological

approach to Third World development. This seemingly intolerant

attitude toward an integrated approach to development problems

in the Third World only works to raise suspicion about the motives

of some appropriate technologists. Jequier did put things in

perspective years ago when he wrote: Appropriate technology is

not, and should not be viewed as a second-best solution.

Conversely, neither should its role be over-estimated: appropriate

technology is not a universal substitute for the conventional

modern technology. Appropriate and modern technologies are

complementary rather than contradictory, and the emphasis

given to the former does not and should not rule out the use of

the latter in those cases where they are particularly well adapted

to local conditions. However, it is interpreted that appropriate

technology must be progressive and not retrogressive. Third

DEV221: Technology and Development

World countries are advancing in socioeconomic and

technological development and must move forward, not

backward, with this progress. Appropriate technology is not

meant to be static or promote stagnation but to change as a

country achieves progress in its level of development. In the end

a new and different kind of appropriate technology with emphasis

on environmental sustainability must take precedence as success

is realized in the eradication of abject poverty and the reduction

of unemployment and inequality. The need for labor-intensive

technology in parts of the Third World in order to adapt to existing

circumstances is understandable, especially in a situation of

scarce capital. However, development must proceed beyond

adaptation to concern itself with changing these circumstances.

Desirable progress is desperately needed in the Third World and

cannot be achieved merely by adapting to present conditions. The

determinants of technological appropriateness must include an

DEV221: Technology and Development

evolutionary capacity factor. In other words, it is essential “to

bring innovators in appropriate technology to think not only in

terms of today’s needs and resources, but also in terms of

building up a system of permanent innovation in appropriate

technology”. A system of permanent innovation in appropriate

technology in the long run should engender domestic capacity to

absorb and generate needed capital and technology. Capital,

internally or externally derived, is a necessary factor and must be

an essential part of any formula for development in the Third

World. Finally, the establishment of several appropriate

technology organizations in recent years is a necessary approach

toward the adoption and diffusion of appropriate technology, but

must not be the only strategy. A commonly cited obstacle to mass

diffusion of appropriate technology is the existing power relations

that favor advanced capital-intensive technology. Unless the

current economic, political, and social structures that promote

DEV221: Technology and Development

large-scale technology are overhauled to ensure a level playing

field, the generation and diffusion of appropriate technology

would remain suboptimal at best. This calls for some policy action

to remove current incentives that are mostly in favor of capital-

intensive technology. Dickson expressed the sentiments of many

when he wrote that technological change must be viewed as a

political process, reinforcing the interests of a dominant class. It

also implies that development of non-alienating, non-exploitative

technology requires more than just a nominal change in the

ownership of the machines we now have. It includes a complete

reshaping of our attitudes towards the function of technology in

society-a simultaneous change, in other words, of both political

and technological consciousness