intermediate technology
compound.compound. technology that is simple, affordable, and matched to the skills and resources of a developing region — usually small-scale and labour-intensive rather than highly automated. It is also called appropriate technology.
compound. A design philosophy, associated with economist E. F. Schumacher, favouring tools and methods that are small-scale, affordable, locally maintainable, and suited to the resources of developing communities — a middle path between traditional methods and large capital-intensive technology. Often used interchangeably with "appropriate technology".
A hand-powered water pump is a classic piece of intermediate technology.
The charity promotes intermediate technology so that villagers can build and repair the equipment themselves.
Rather than importing costly automated machinery, the program championed intermediate technology that local workers could assemble and maintain using materials already available in the region.
Coined by the economist E. F. Schumacher in the 1960s, the term combines the Latin intermedius, meaning 'in between', with the Greek-derived technology. It was intended to denote a level of sophistication situated between primitive tools and the capital-intensive equipment of industrialised nations.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Last updated July 22, 2026