Appropriate technology: the challenge of the second generation

Appropriate technology, defined here as a low-cost technology aimed at helping to meet the most basic needs of the world's poorest people, can only be a viable proposition if its proponents succeed in making the transition from the first to the second generation, i.e. from the small-scale experiments and pilot innovations of today, to the massive application of new devices (hardware) and new forms of organization (software). The main agents in this second generation are national planning institutions, government ministries, established research centres, development agencies, financial institutions and industral corporations. Some of the ways in which this transition can be facilitated are examined, as well as a number of specific issues such as intelligence policies in appropriate technology, the structure of decision-making mechanisms and the linkage between appropriate technology and overall development strategies.