Outside of China, despite rapid economicgrowth in many low and middle income countries, there hasbeen little progress in meeting the MDG1 target of halvingthe incidence of global poverty by 2014. Part of theexplanation for this weak poverty-reducing performance hasbeen the historic trajectory of innovation. During the 20thCentury, most of global innovation had its origins in thenorth, producing products for high income consumers,developing technologies which excluded poor producers andtechnologies which were energy intensive and polluting. Thisinnovation trajectory gave rise to the not-for-profitAppropriate Technology movement after the 1970s. But many ofthe technologies which they it were inefficient and werescorned by both producers and consumers. However a series ofdisruptive factors the growth of low income consumers in thecontext of global economic slowdown, the development ofradical technologies (such as mobile telephony and renewablepower), the development of capabilities in low incomeeconomies and the emergence of new types of innovationactors have begun to transform the potential of AT tosupport pro-poor growth. Whilst this new vintage of ATs willbe largely market-driven (since it provides the potentialfor profitable production), there are important dimensionsin which this market-driven process can be supported by policy.
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