Abstract:
This special issue of the Journal of Entrepreneurship explores the relationship between frugal and appropriate technology, entrepreneurship and sustainability challenges at the community, local, national and global levels. Technology that offers sustainable solutions to entrepreneurial problems with locally developed methods, tools, ideas or practices can be called Appropriate Technology. The idea of appropriate technology, rooted in the mid-twentieth century anti-colonial campaign in India led by Gandhi, rejected the modern mass-production technology in favour of local, indigenous and sustainable technology for the people. Appropriate Technology has evolved over the current century into a global movement as an alternative to capital-intensive and high-tech strategies and, in the process, has transformed innovation and entrepreneurship, especially in the Global South. It has emerged as a viable alternative to the destructive impact of modern technology on culturally rooted traditional modes of small-scale production, emphasising accessibility, frugality and simplicity.
