Criteria for Selecting Appropriate Technologies under Different Cultural, Technical and Social Conditions

Book excerpt: Criteria for Selecting Appropriate Technologies under Different Cultural, Technical and Social Conditions covers the Proceedings of the IFAC symposium held in Bari-Italy on May 21-23, 1979. The book starts by presenting general introductory survey papers, including topics on the problem of appropriate technology, the redirection of technology, industrialization in developing countries, and proper technology transfer, and technical papers on general criteria. The text also tackles papers about the application of the social cost-benefit analysis to the problem of choosing among alternative production processes; economic evaluation of alternative techniques; and some social consequences of technology development in Europe. Case studies on microelectronics and survey and technical papers on infrastructure planning are also described. The book further deals with papers on human, social and educational factors that impact technological transfer and innovation, as well as the dynamics of technology transfer under different cultural, technical, and social conditions. The text is invaluable to engineers.