What is 'appropriate' or 'intermediate' technology?

'Appropriate' or 'intermediate technology' can be defined in different ways. A definition used in our education work with young people is given below. For Practical Action appropriate technology is the means by which Practical Action propagates approaches to managing technical change that are effective in enabling people with few resources to work their own way out of poverty. Technical change drives wider changes in economic, social, cultural and political life. The current era of ‘globalisation’ is strongly driven by progress in technologies such as those of information and communication and the life sciences. The majority of technological innovation occurs in industrialised countries. But the technologies which result are not necessarily affordable, appropriate or accessible for people in developing countries. On the other hand, traditional technologies used by communities in developing countries is frequently inefficient and unproductive, and increasingly threatened by the pace ...  more