Technologies for Sustainable Development

This background paper examines how the model set forth in the “Conceptual Framework for the Project on Innovation and Access to Technologies for Sustainable Development ” applies to the manufacturing sector. Increasing innovation and access to technology for greater sustainability and equity in the manufacturing sector requires a systemic perspective – manufacturing products and processes include solutions that span the material resources, water, energy, agriculture and health sectors. In fact, manufacturing processes create products essential to each of these sectors. Manufacturing aimed at advancing society toward sustainability needs to be defined in the context of a fair and socially just economic system that meets the needs of all people while maintaining the Earth’s life support systems. The industrial revolution over the past two centuries is responsible for many of our largest environmental challenges, but has also brought unprecedented improvements in the quality of life for a huge proportion of the world’s population. The products of the manufacturing sector are required both for their direct benefits, but also because the production of goods is one of the major drivers of economic livelihoods. Production and consumption are fundamental human activities, and a sustainable future will require a better understanding of the kinds of technological changes and the transformation in the industrial syste