Transfer and Management of Rural Technology

Lecture Module – 1

TECHNOLOGY
 Technology

 Technology may be defined as the practice, description and

terminology of any or all the applied sciences which have
commercial value.

 A body of systematically organized knowledge and

materials applicable to local production problems to help
boost the present level of productivity and /or extend the
existing range of production.
 Phases of Technology
 An Emerging Technology is an innovative technology that
currently is undergoing bench scale testing, in which a small
version of the technology is tested in a laboratory.

 An Innovative Technology is a technology that has been

field-tested and applied in the field, but lacks a long history
of full-scale use. Information about its cost and how well it
works may be insufficient to support prediction of its
performance under a wide variety of operating conditions.

 An Established Technology is a technology for which cost

and performance information is readily available. Only after
a technology has been used at many different sites and the
results fully documented is that technology considered
established.
 Appropriate Technology
Appropriate Technology may be defined as the
technology which is suited to the economic and social
conditions and level of civilization of a given population
in specific zone or area.
There are 2 major aspects in it –
Suitabilility: suitable for the circumstance or purpose,
appropriate, fitting, adapted to, having a tendency to
behave as specified.

Sustainable: capable of being maintained at a steady

level without exhausting natural resources or causing
severe ecological damage.
Objectives of Appropriate Technology Development
 Use of local resources for mass employment generation

 Identification, design, fabrication and transfer of

appropriate technologies

 Application of affordable technology only in conformity

with the available skill and capacity of native people

 Promotion of a situation that will assure sustainability of

the resources and the friendliness of environment
 Criteria for Appropriate Technology

i) Require only small amount of capital

ii) Emphasize the use of locally available materials, in
order to lower costs and reduce supply problems
iii) Are relatively labour-intensive but more productive
than many traditional technologies
iv) Are small enough in scale to be affordable to
individual families or small group of families
v) Can be understood, controlled and maintained by
villagers whenever possible, without a high level of
specific training
vi) Can be produced in village or small workshops
 Criteria for Appropriate Technology (contd.)
vii) People should work together to bring improvements to
communities

viii) Offer opportunities for local people to become

involved in the modification and innovation process

ix) Are flexible, can be adapted to different places and

changing circumstances

x) Can be used in productive ways without doing harm to

the environment.
 Salient Features of Appropriate Technology
 Simple technology: Technology should be simple so that the common
people can use it

 Low investment: Technology should be of low cost and be affordable

to the user

 Quick return: The technology should be such that there should be the
quick return from the investment

 Utilization of local resources: The raw materials needed should be

locally available

 Less drudgery: Unnecessary excess physical labour are to be avoided

 Household type: Unit should be operable in household environment

 Gender sensitivity: The technology should be such that it can provide

employment to most of the family members particularly women
 Reasoning that underlies the concept of
Appropriate Technology
1. It permits local needs to be met more effectively because
local people are involved in identifying and working to
address these needs; for the same reasons, it is likely to be
in harmony with the local traditions and values

2. It means the development of tools that extend human

labour and skills, rather than machines that replace human
labour and eliminate human skills

3. It represents a comprehensible and controllable scale of

activities, organization and mistakes, at which people
without management training can work together and
understand what they are doing
4. It allows more economical operation by minimizing the
transport of goods in an era of expensive energy,
allowing greater interaction of local industry and
permitting greater use of local resources - both human
and material

5. It helps to reduce economic, social, and political

dependency between individuals, between regions, and
between nations, by recognizing that people can and
will do things for themselves if they can find a way.

6. It helps to establish a self-sustaining and expanding

reservoir of skills in the community which begins from
already existing skills
 The Process of Technological Innovation

CURRENT STATE OF TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE

Technical Search, Research & Adoption

Feasibility Development activity
Recognition

Fusion into Solution Implementation

design concept (Invention) & Use Diffusion
(IDEA)

Potential Demand Information

readily Time
recognition
available
CURRENT STATE OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL UTILIZATION

Recognition Idea Problem Solution Utilization

Formation Solving & Diffusion
 Objectives of Creativity and Innovation
• To offer guidance and assistance to producers and
corporate in terms of intellectual property

• To provide a meeting place for innovators and

entrepreneurs to come together to exchange ideas and
information

• To provide a hands-on learning opportunity to gain

experience in dealing with “real-world” aspects of
intellectual property law practice

• To increase the general awareness of intellectual property

and its increasing importance as we further move to the
era of information.