Rethink, Retool, Reboot: Technology as if people and planet mattered(Open Access)

Technology underpins human development. We need it to provide the very basics of a minimum standard of life – food, water, shelter, health and education. But a significant proportion of the world’s population do not have these basics today. And whilst a fifth of the world’s population lacks access to technologies fundamental to a basic standard of living, unfettered use of technology by those who have it brings its own problems – including pollution, global warming and threats to the sustainable future of humanity. So why are we so slow to address these issues? Why is it that the drivers of innovation mean we are more likely to see research into a cure for male baldness than a malaria vaccine or into methods for extracting shale gas as opposed to solutions to store renewable energy? We need to rethink the purpose of our technological endeavour and how we provide access to and govern the use of technology today. We need to retool – to change the alignment of our innovation systems to deliver technology that is socially useful and addresses the key challenges of poverty and environmental sustainability. Above all, our relationship with technology needs a reboot. We need a different frame of reference – Technology Justice – to provide a radically different approach to our oversight and governance of the development and use of technology. Rethink, Retool, Reboot addresses vital questions regarding the future of our world and the people living in it. It should be read by academics, students, activists and all those interested in international development and the environment.

Table of Contents:
Prelims [Acronyms| Preface| Introduction Part 1 – Rethink Chapter 1 - Defining Technology and Technology Justice What is Technology? Technology Justice Chapter 2 - Technology Justice and Access to basic services Justice as Fairness The light bulb - will it ever catch on? (Access to energy services) The tap – a technology whose time has finally come? (access to water and sanitation services) Critical yet unavailable – access to Essential Medicines Chapter 3 Technology Justice and Access to knowledge Feeding the world – why the smallholder farmers need more support to access to technical knowledge The digital divide Conclusions - Technology Justice and Access Chapter 4 – Technology justice and use. Justice as compromise Industrialised agriculture and biodiversity loss Energy security and climate change The demise of antibiotics and antimicrobials – a return dark ages for medicine? Technology justice and use Chapter 5 Rethinking Technology Access and Use Part 2 – Retool Chapter 6 – The link between technological innovation and economic development Justice as a fair space for innovation Technological innovation in neo classical economic growth models The innovations systems approach Innovations systems and developing economies – insights and problems Chapter 7 – Technology Justice and Innovation Systems in Practice Justice and the management of risk in technology innovation Justice and the shaping of the purpose of technology innovation Chapter 8: Intellectual property rights: part of the solution or part of the problem? Why patent? Do patents encourage innovation? TRIPs, patents and the negative impacts on developing countries Patents and other asymmetries of power. Alternatives to the existing patent system Where next? Chapter 9: Recognizing the Role of the State in Effective Innovation Systems Venture capital and the valley of death – the case of the energy sector Recognising reality – governments engage in entrepreneurial activity. Changing the narrative – rebalancing expectations of the roles public and private sectors play Chapter 10 – Re-tooling: making technology innovation work for people and planet The need to re-tool Responsible Research and Innovation – an emerging approach to governance? Inclusive innovation – bringing in voices of the marginalised Learning from the open source movement Part 3 - Reboot Chapter 11 – Reimagining technology as if people and planet mattered The need to reboot our relationship with technology Rebooting access – priorities and opportunities for change Rebooting use – priorities and opportunities for change Rebooting innovation – priorities and opportunities for change Technology as if people and planet mattered Back Matter [Epilogue – Is Small Beautiful?| Appendix 1: Failures to adhere to the precautionary principle| Appendix 2 – List of diseases defined as ‘neglected’ in GFINDER 2011| Bibliography]