Assessment of technological appropriateness: The case of Indonesian rural development

It is commonly recognized at the present that technological appropriateness is not an intrinsic quality of any technology, but it derived from the surroundings (technological as well as sociocultural, politicolegal, economic, and environmental) in which it is to be utilized and the specific purpose of its application. On this basis, this paper presents two case studies for the selection of appropriate technologies for rural development in Indonesia. The first case deals with the problem of identifying a “set of appropriate technologies” to be promoted for accelerated rural development. The second case deals with the problem of selecting the “most appropriate one” among available technologies of one kind. The assessment exercises are carried out using existing methodologies and inputs (such as national priorities, assessment factors, and decision weights) from Indonesian nationals. It is shown that the analysis can provide useful guidelines for science and technology policy planning in developing countries.