Exploring Strategies For Utilizing Appropriate Technologies (AT) For ODA (Official Development Assistance) Projects

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to provide appropriate information in response to attempts to assist developing countries by means of Appropriate Technology. Today, OECD members, including Korea, have many appropriate technologies that can be applied to developing countries, and can continue to develop these technologies in the future. However, if appropriate technologies are applied to developing countries, there is a possibility that they will fail. For example, the transfer of proper technology may fail if attempts are made to move to a state-of-the-art technology center without considering the situation of developing countries, or if the local operators cannot maintain and repair the machine in question due to the nature of the technology. This study was conducted from the viewpoint of considering not only the advantages, but also the disadvantages, of Appropriate Technology in transferring it to developing countries. In this perspective, it is necessary to establish what are the most important issues relating to the transfer of Appropriate Technology. To do this, we attempted to derive a group of topics related to Appropriate Technology by analyzing 90 academic papers that have the words “Appropriate Technology” as their title. We employed a text network analysis method, which resulted in 7 subject groups being derived.