Some Reflections on the Choice of Appropriate Industrial Technology for Developing Countries

The notion of industrial technologies appropriate for developing countries can be meaningful only in so far as criteria have been spelt out for appraising the adequacy of existing or planned technology for coping with the particular problems of developing countries. But is it really possible to speak of problems common to all developing countries? Indeed, can these problems be defined in isolation from assumptions about the development strategy adopted? It seems clear that the problem of the choice of technology cannot be taken up without first answering the question ‘what kind of development?’.