Presentation of the Programme

ndustrial societies tend to attempt to respond to most problems with technological innovation. This tropism in favour of high-tech prevents us from having a realistic appreciation of these technologies’ limitations, and sometimes of their disadvantages. It seems unlikely that technological innovation will be able to respond to the current scale of social and environmental challenges we are facing. In many cases, in fact, the unthinking spread and massive use of technological objects in itself constitutes the source of our problems. An ecological society will require an appropriate technological regime combining technological democracy and “appropriate” technologies, to use Schumacher’s term: a low-tech system.

Sub-Programmes and Partners Supported

1. Technological Democracy and the Social Control of Technological Innovations

2. The Responsibility of Researchers and Engineers

3. Low-Tech Approaches/Ecological Technologies