Innovation, technical assistance, and development: The importance of technology users

In both industrialized and developing country situations technology users play a key role in generating successful new products and processes. Both "high-tech" innovation, such as the design of the Boeing 747 aircraft and IBM computer software, and innovative technologies for the rural poor, such as Vietnamese expeller pumps and Bangladeshi hybrid rice strains, owe much to the creativity and skill not of research scientist, but of local housewives, farmers and artisans. New approaches to technical assistance which increase the interaction between R&D institutions and these technology users are needed in order to tap this important innovation resource. The incorporation of such an interactive research strategy into the work of the Sudan Energy Research Council led to highly successful initiatives in the fields of charcoal production, improved charcoal stoves, and agroforestry. (author)

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