Global technological transformation

The intensified socio-economic globalisation processes under the present neo-liberal regimes are apparently widening the technology gap between the North and the South. This is contradicting the conventional dogma that the South one-day will converge by "catching up" along the same development path as the North. However, the response to this gap syndrome - primarily from micro and small enterprises in the informal sectors in the South - is diversification and innovations that bring about an other technological transformation path than in the North. Presently this perspective is being substantiated on the basis of research projects on Indigenous Systems of Innovation in East Africa (Tanzania and Mozambique) and Central America (Nicaragua and El Salvador). (Jens Müller)