Leapfrogging
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Leapfrogging is a theory of development in which developing countries may accelerate development by skipping inferior, less efficient, more expensive or more polluting technologies and industries and move directly to more advanced ones.[1]
An aim of leapfrogging technologies is to promote greater access to resources and other technologies, to those people who would normally not have access.
There are a few ways that leapfrogging can occur, some of which are accidentally (such as when the only systems around for adoption are better than legacy systems elsewhere), situationally (such as the adoption of decentralized communication for a sprawling, rural countryside), or intentionally (such as policies promoting the installation of WiFi and free computers in poor urban areas).[2]
A frequently cited example is countries which move directly from having no telephones to having cellular phones, skipping the stage of landline telephones altogether. Another example is "ecological" leapfrogging, where countries do not repeat the mistakes of highly industrialized countries in creating an energy infrastructure based on fossil fuels, but "jump" directly into the Solar Age.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ J. P. Singh (1999). Leapfrogging development? The political economy of telecommunications restructuring. State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-79-144294-2.
- ^ Cascio, J. "Leapfrog 101" WorldChanging, December 15, 2004.
- ^ http://www.wupperinst.org/globalisation/html/leap.html Wuppertal Institute on Leapfrogging
[edit] External links
- World Changing: Another World Is Here
- ICTs and Leapfrogging Development
- Digital Divide - Leapfrogging
- Leapfrogging Technology
- Seeking Riches From the Poor
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