If MIT mechanical engineer Carl Bielenberg hadn’t lost his backpack on a visit to Africa in 1976, many subsistence-level farmers and producers may never have acquired the technology to help them grow their businesses and create stability in their communities.

Bielenberg has been working as an Enterprise Works Worldwide inventor for nearly 20 years.

WhatWorks asks him about this twist of fate that ultimately led him to EWW, the opportunities he sees in Africa and the lessons learned by the development community in the past quarter century.

Q. How did you get your start in appropriate technology?
A. While I was looking for my backpack in Cameroon, I ran into some Peace Corps volunteers who were part of a fisheries program. They really needed a machine to help dredge fishponds, and they said, “Wow, a guy like you could really help us.” They helped extend my visa; I worked with them and then found a job working on an agricultural mechanization project. The idea was to come up with technologies based on local needs and opportunities instead of importing technologies from Europe. I was based in a very traditional village in which the organization had built a modern workshop and laboratory -- The benefit was that I could make friends with the farmers and learn what their needs were, and then go into a first-rate facility and build prototypes. Eventually I saved up enough money to start my own workshop where the value of these and other inventions could be tested by their sales. Our products included various seed threshers and shellers, and woodworking and metalworking equipment.

Q. What role can appropriate technology play in developing African economies?
A. Appropriate technologies should be labor saving, should economize scarce resources, or should create new opportunities for entrepreneurship, either in meeting local needs or generating income. Africans have a tremendous entrepreneurial spirit, considerable technical skill, and the willingness and ability to innovate. New technologies are easily learned and applied if they are genuinely useful and help satisfy local expectations. When there is a need and an appropriate technology that addresses the need, then you have an opportunity for entrepreneurship and economic growth.

Identifying appropriate technologies is a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle. You know what the niches are, and you keep your eyes and ears and mind open, and the technologies eventually present themselves. Often they are already in use somewhere in Africa and with great benefit, but are not yet widely known. Sometimes they are available from Asia or from the technological archives of America or Europe. Sometimes, however, no really appropriate technology can be found “off the shelf,” and a solution must be invented.

Q. What lessons have we learned about appropriate technology since the term was coined in the 1970s?
A. I hope we learned that developing appropriate technology is hard work. The field emerged with a tremendous amount of fanfare. People thought that all you needed to do was to send out samples, and people would start copying them, and economic development would automatically flow. Since then, it has become clear that new technologies are rarely spontaneously adopted, that they require technical and social acceptance testing, adaptation, marketing, the development of new processes and skills, and ongoing assistance in helping new entrepreneurs solve problems in their new business ventures.

Q. What is the most rewarding part of working in appropriate technology?
A. Two things – The first is getting to work with dedicated African engineers/inventors, who take my ideas and really make something out of them. Take Mory Thiaw, who is a Senegalese metalworker, trainer, and inventor. He started with EnterpriseWorks’ Senegal program in the 1990s and has been instrumental in the successful introduction of fuel efficient stoves, treadle irrigation pumps, and other technologies developed in Senegal, Mali, Benin, and Burkina Faso. He has developed technologies for cashew processing, and has helped profoundly on our experimental energy technologies. EnterpriseWorks has nearly a dozen African technical experts of Mory’s caliber who make new technologies stick.

The second thing is the amazing way technology and engineering transcend cultural barriers. For example, I could go into a town or village where I don’t speak a word of the local language, and if I have some clear drawings, the people will know what I’m getting at in about 15 minutes. Technicians share a truly universal language.

Q. What are some of your latest projects?
A. I’m working on a village electrification and potable water scheme that shows a great deal of promise and addresses a very pressing need in developing countries. Right now, I’m back in Vermont working on a variety of renewable energy projects such as automated woodchip burning boilers that can be fueled by low-grade wood, which is in abundance in this state. As you can see, appropriate technology can be practiced anywhere.