Accelerating innovation to drive economic growth is the foremost goal for technology-based economic development organizations today. Realizing this goal through programmes is challenged by limited and outdated operating models. The authors outline their 21st Century Innovation Intermediary model, which pairs commercialization with regional…

Information technology (IT) professionals face markedly different kinds of challenges in developing countries from the ones in developed countries. Based on the research literature and our fourteen years of fieldwork in Iringa, Tanzania, we have identified eight groups of technical characteristics of IT work that significantly affect the work of…

A sustainable global future requires (1) rediscovery of spiritual values; (2) sustainable agriculture; (3) energy conservation and solar conversion; (4) recycling economy; (5) economic democracy; (6) stabilizing population; and (4) trade, aid, and investment in support of self-reliance. (SK)

Sustainable livelihoods and environmentally sound technology should not be developed separately. They require that essential ecological services be protected by restricting use of resources and that those who exploit environmental resources be confronted with the future costs of their actions. (SK)

The most developed, progressive, and economically stable countries in the world are those that are technologically advanced. Technological change and the building of human capabilities are interrelated: each requires the development of the other for success and the "rethinking [of] educational systems to meet the new challenges of…

Issues in evaluating appropriate technology for developing countries are discussed. Measures to help incorporate technology assessment in the policy and planning apparatus of development programs are suggested. Preimplementation and postimplementation of technology assessment and the institutionalization of technology assessment are considered.…

At the present time the social sciences implicitly or explicitly start from a normative vision which has a dialectical objective: a reasoning that is at once theoretical and practical, or that is both a political and a scientific discourse. A focus on Jurgen Habermas' theory of communicative action provides possibilities of shifting the frontier…

Three case studies of Third World development illustrate the usefulness of qualitative research methods such as CIPP (Context, Input, Process, Product), oneshot interviews, and grounded theory. Adjusting technology to people and cultures rather than changing people to fit technology is advocated. (SK)

Differences in training in developing countries can be traced to the experiences of colonization, industrialization, and advancing technology. Since decolonization after World War II, developing countries have had to cope with depleted primary resources and unprecedented and unexpectedly rapid industrialization. Industrialization has taken the…

Argues that the underdevelopment of national information sectors is a major factor acting against developing nations and lists a number of problems for which developing nations must provide effective solutions if their respective information sectors are to support national development. An agenda of activities for the 1990s to address this…

Firms in the private sector utilize the resources of educational institutions to keep abreast of new technologies and to update employee training in those technologies, allowing them to remain competitive. Projects in Tennessee, New York and Ohio are examined, and methods of transferring appropriate technology to different communities are…

Argues that the development of science education policy in postapartheid South Africa requires understanding of the links between science- and technology-based development strategies and investment in science education. Analyzes innovations in production technology (post-Fordist production methods and flexible specialization) that may have…

This publication describes the rationale for and processes of a 5-day workshop conducted in 1996 to build an understanding about the complexities of information communication technologies (ICT) and development, in order to assist in the preparation of reports for the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (UNCSTD). The…

Focusing on the future of the Eastern Iowa Community College District (EICCD), this environmental scan examines changes occurring in both local and worldwide populations and workforces; political, societal, and economic environs; and technology. Section I describes the changing population and demographics in the United States, focusing on the…

Based on experience in the field, this training program was developed to help Peace Corps trainers teach appropriate community technology to Peace Corps volunteers and community workers. The 8-week, 104-session training program is organized in six phases that cover the following topics: introduction to training; earthen construction and…