Appropriate technology

Appropriate technology (AT, 적정기술/適正技術) means a technological choice and application that is so small-scale, labor-intensive, energy-efficient, environmentally sound, and locally controlled that it fits the present condition of its users.

Originally it was an ideological movement (and its manifestations) articulated as "intermediate technology" by the economist Dr. Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher in his influential work, "Small is Beautiful". The nuances of appropriate technology vary between fields and applications. Appropriate technology is most commonly discussed in its relationship to economic development and as an alternative to transfers of capital-intensive technology from industrialized nations to developing countries. However, appropriate technology movements can be found in both developing and developed countries.

Key words
appropriate technology (AT), less developed countries (LDCs), economic development, on-line game

AT Examples
Well-known examples of appropriate technology applications include: LifeStraw (purifying dirty water to edible one), Super MoneyMaker Pump (powerless water pump), bike- and hand-powered water pumps, the universal nut sheller, self-contained solar-powered light bulbs and streetlights, and passive solar building designs. Today appropriate technology is often developed using open source principles, which have led to open-source appropriate technology (OSAT) and thus many of the plans of the technology can be freely found on the Internet.

AT Campaign in Korea
Good Neighbors, an NGO charity organization in Korea, is highly active in encouraging common people to pay attention to the development of appropriate technologies to be used in less developed countries (LDCs) in Asia and Africa. Good Neighbors hosts an annual festival in Korea to promote appropriate technologies and social enterprises taking advantage of such technologies in poor countries.

Good Neighbors is also conducting to distribute G-Savers to Mongolian nomad people, among others. G-Saver is a regenerator developed by Good Neighbors as part of a technology project. The technology aims at improving the lives of people in developing countries in economically and environmentally-friendly ways. In August 2012, Good Neighbors, Global Energy Plus volunteers under GS Caltex and KOICA distributed solar lamps to cambodian villagers who used to live with no light at night, and helped local governments to build and operate solar lamp producing factories.

Other examples are radio developed by Freeplay Energy for use in Africa, which can be charged manually, and a water pump named Super MoneyMaker pulls up underground water when one steps on the pedals without needing electricity. D-Light S250, a solar light and mobile charger, doesn’t need electricity either.

For the development of technology, it takes new ideas from many people rather than cutting-edge scientific theories. As people are linked to every corner of the world through the Internet, smartphones and social networking services, it has become easier to work on this.

AT as On-line Game
AT campaign is attracting attention from on-line game players. Take an example of the World's Premiere Student Technology Competition ‘2012 Imagine Cup’ sponsored by Microsoft, which took place at Sydney, Australia in the early July 2012.

In the mobile game design section, Korea was represented by Gaon Nuri's "Knocking Hope", which is supposed to deal with the so-called Appropriate Technology. Gaon Nuri Team went to the final round to compete with the students from the United States (Drexel Dragons), France (Ecosia), Hungary (Turtle Games), but failed to win the prize. But Gaon Nuri's idea and imagination was good enough to move all the participants of 2012 Imagine Cup.

Gaon Nuri members were inspired to create a game when the World Hope Asia & Africa Foundation (WHAF) Secretary General gave a lecture on appropriate technologies. Their game was developed to help appropriate technologies being used to solve the problems faced by poor communities in Asia and Africa.

Knocking Hope asks the player to manage either a village or a factory. While managing the village the player needs to distribute the appropriate technologies to the village residents to develop the village and resolve their problems. Village people let the player know when they’re happy and interact with the player by appreciating them as their needs are met.

When working in the factory, the player develops the appropriate technologies which can be sold to the villagers. By playing in both modes, the player learns about these technologies while trying to increase the happiness and wealth of the village.

If this game can help people understand that there is a need for technology that is appropriate to the needs of the people involved, then hopefully we will see even more solutions that get it right by solving problems in a realistic fashion.

New Village Project
The Korean New Village Movement (새마을운동), which successfully transformed poor farm villages in the 1960s and 70s, could be a good example for developing countries may follow suit.

In this regard, the Food For New Village (FFNV) Project, organized jointly by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the World Food Plan (WFP) and the Good Neighbors, has been introduced throughout the South East Asia and the South America.