Problem
Inappropriate emphasis on prestige technology
Other Names:
Minimal access to appropriate technology Nature:
Development projects often fail to give priority to alternative technologies best suited to particular needs; rather, they tend to waste resources on more sophisticated systems which eventually prove unsuited to the purposes they were expected to serve. This situation frequently arises as a result of a lack of information: "small" technologies seldom receive widespread promotion, and consequently planners are unaware of alternative options and existing possibilities. Governments may compound the problem by calling unsophisticated alternatives "inferior". Lack of cooperation among projects or among nations also hinders awareness and acceptance of alternative solutions. However, even if an appropriate technological solution is adopted, it may never filter through the bureaucracy to the village level, where it is actually needed; or the villages may never receive adequate instruction in how to implement the solution. Incidence:
Examples of village development projects failing, even though all the equipment was available, are legion, especially in the developing world. Irrigation pumps may be installed while the technical knowledge to keep them operating is lacking, so inoperative pumps are stored in a village while at the same time the farmers ask for irrigation equipment. (This knowledge is potentially available since similar engines in automobiles are commonly kept in running order twenty years past their normal life). Other equipment, supplies, materials and skills needed for construction, health improvement, increasing farm production and small industry are available in the larger regional towns, but techniques are expensive to obtain in both time and money. Water wells have been dug for centuries, but today the idea is so prevalent that the ground is too hard or the water too deep to reach even with modern drilling equipment, that a village goes without water that could be near at hand. Fertilisers and other chemicals available from the government require precision application for effective use. Even though their yields could be increased, the farmers do not have the necessary means for using modern farm technology; technology could greatly improve livestock production, yet husbandry goes on as it has for centuries. Commercial techniques of cooperative buying and selling may be understood by vendors and private farmers, yet they are not practised. Broader Problems:
TechnocracyInappropriate transfer of technologyInappropriate transfer of technology Narrower Problems:
Unenvisioned construction methodsThreatened species of Fulica alaiUse of inappropriate technologiesExcessive use of resources on expensive medical techniques Related Problems:
Inappropriate transport policy Aggravates:
Inadequate equipmentUnderdeveloped potential of community basic resourcesDisplacement of human intelligence by machine intelligenceOveremphasis on self-sufficiency with respect to interdependence Reduced By:
Technological underdevelopmentStrategies:
Providing access to appropriate technologyEnhancing scientific and technological researchEmphasizing prestige technology Subject(s):
Research, Standards → AwardsTechnology → Technology
Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Problem Type:
F: Fuzzy exceptional problems Date of last update
06.03.1997 – 00:00 CET