Appropriate Technology : If you can’t Sell it don’t Do it
Paul Polak's scathing indictment of
Appropriate Technology:
Sadly, far too many of the tools developed by the appropriate technology movement are far too expensive to be affordable to the customers for whom they are intended.
It bears repeating: the appropriate technology movement died because it was led by well-intentioned tinkerers instead of hard-nosed entrepreneurs designing for the market.
With its passing, thousands of technically effective, often outrageously expensive tools lie gathering dust on the shelf
ATI's Manual Sunflower Oil Press for Africa, $110 to $200+- It did the job but was too expensive, and more affordable presses took over much of the market
along with the pamphlets, articles and books that describe them and large numbers of appropriate technology journals, books, catalogues and more recently web sites.
As far as I know, only a handful of tools designed by the appropriate technology movement ended up in the hands of more than 10,000 people who need them.
More
here
2 comments:
In general, I'm in complete agreement with Paul on this one. The general lack of customer service in development often leads to useless/overly expensive interventions. When people are paying for the technology we have to be sure they actually want it.
But what about design for the sake of innovation? Perhaps there is value in the development of new technologies, not for implementation, but because they might lead to the creation of more appropriate technologies.
Nothing wrong with tinkering; it is something to be encouraged. Great 'inventions', properly studied, were rarely the work of a single genius but rather a network of skilled makers each contributing incremental innovations. Failings of the AT movement include foreign tech solutions developed for a context / culture / market not familiar to the innovator? Much better to invest in local tinkering methinks.
Thanks for your consistently stimulating blog.
Tony Roberts
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