INSTITUTIONS 
FOR 
TECHNOLOGY IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Environmentally sound development requires several preconditions: infrastructure, capital, knowledge, systemic change and, above all, the involvement of those who need it the most- the people. One of the essential preconditions in access by the people to the methods, tools and products of modern science and technology.

The poor have many basic needs -food, water, energy shelter, clothing, transport, health care, education and productive employment. Almost all these needs have a close relationship to environmental values, and all have largely been left unmet by past development strategies. The cycle of poverty is made more vicious by the lack of access of the poor to capital, as also technology or know-how, and the riches of the resources base.

With the evolution of societal perceptions and aspirations, technological innovation is becoming increasingly important for the problems of poverty. New products and technologies, many with significant, positive social and environmental spin-offs, are now possible for mass distribution as a result of application of sophisticated scientific and technological knowledge (e.g. biogas, windmills, solar devices, water pumps, bicycle carts, mud block making machines, multi level, multipurpose engines, food storage bins).

There are perhaps 150 million people in India who enjoy the benefits of modern technology-electricity, commercial cooking, fuels, motorized vehicles, radios, televisions, etc. The remaining 700 million people living in over 100 million households have neither the purchasing power not physical access to most of the products of science and technology.

If national development is to be sustainable, the consumption patterns of both the rich and the poor must change rapidly. The pressure on resources which will be needed in the future is aggravated by disparity - through the wasteful and excessive utilization and destruction of the "non-renewable" ones by the affluent and the excessive utilisation and destruction of the "renewable ones" by the poor.

It is only through a development that is more equitable that we can hope to quickly make the demographic transition to a better, more equitable world for all to live in.

Given the size of the rural market, it is surprising that a large number of technology-based products has not been available to it. That there has been a catastrophic failure of the market in rural India is unquestionable: there also exists a vast number of technologies and products which can meet these needs, and yet there is no supply.

One direct attack on both poverty and inappropriate resource use is offered by the widespread application of "appropriate technologies".

Throughout the Third World, there is an evident and pervasive need among both rural and urban poor for a whole variety of technologies ranging from cooking stoves and lamps to producer gas plants and windmills.

Why have these needs not led to a more widespread demand?
Why has the existing technical capacity not led to supply ?

A combination of economic, social, political and cultural - not to mention scientific, technical and institutional - factors have greatly inhibited the supply and demand for appropriate technology.

The interaction of these factors is complex. Any successful effort to overcome these obstacles must, therefore, rest on the evolution of institutions which systematically link technical design to the realities of poverty and underdevelopment; in particular, it must provide a critical mass of activities for innovation, production and marketing to allow a break through beyond the existing level of inaction. Let us now explore a particular organisational model which can meet the criteria for institutional design and performance of an "Independent Sector" organisation. such an organisation must have the capacity to :

think globally and act locally

link R & D to the realities of production and marketing

close the gap between innovation and application

To realise this capacity, the independent sector organisation must synthesize the dialectical elements of three important dimensions in its goals and structure :

1. The private and the public : It should employ the organisational methods and motivational devices of the private sector and have the social and developmental purposes of the public sector.

2. The big and the small : It should combine the responsiveness of the local, small-scale facilities for innovation, manufacturing and marketing with the financial and technical power of a larger backup systems.

3. The old and the new : It should integrally involve those affected by its activities in the innovation process, and derive maximum advantage from both traditional knowledge and modern science.

To fulfill its mission of achieving widespread diffusion of technologies, the organisation should have clearly defined business objectives and developmental goals. It need not necessarily be in the private sector. Where possible or desirable, it may contract any or all of its activities to other bodies, but is success will depend on how effectively it gets each activity completed.

It must select and carry out its activities so as to maximize their positive impact on development - related factors such as :

basic needs, particularly of the poorest

self-reliance and self-determination

participation and involvement

physical and social capital

institutions and infrastructure

energy and material resource use

environmental quality

It stands to reason that any organisation which hopes to achieve even a part of the above range of business and social objectives, many of them potentially conflicting, must be prepared to deivese wholly new methods of programming and functioning. besides continuing research effort to develop, new technologies, its fundamental and high impact innovations must, therefore, lie in organisational design.

The completely autonomous institution will compose a network of local units throughout the country capable of dealing with geographically or topically relevant societal problems. The network should comprise independent national and regional research laboratories with adequate funds and mandate to develop and deliver innovative technology packages for decentralised production of goods and services needed by the poor. its structure and functions and mode of operation and linkages with the economic sectors its deals with will have to be substantially more pragmatic than that of any scientific institution that exists today. In particular, it will employ a "corporate R&D" approach to identify and solve basic societal development problems.

Its capacity to attract the best scientists and strong financial support will be maximised by establishing the right mix of basic and applied research and keeping it free from unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles.

The Commission structure, widely acclaimed to have been successful in the fields of Atomic Energy and Space, might provide one starting point. Another model might be taken form private sector R & D. The final blueprint must, however, include autonomy, linkages with market and production systems, and reward systems designed to attract the best talent.

Taking a systematic view of its mandate and work, such and organization, properly designed, can produce impact on the lives of the poor which is several orders of magnitude higher than that of any existing institution in this field.

The "Independent Sector" can help our nation make the urgent and much needed transition form the rampant graft and greed of today to the craft and creed of a more equitable social order of tomorrow.


by Ashok Khosla

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