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The Appropriate Technology Collaborative
open-in-new
<h2 id="programs">Programs</h2> <p>ATC has four primary programs: product design, product development, education and business development. </p> <ul><li>Product design: The most crucial stage in developing a successful product for low-income consumers is deciding what to design. In order to listen, learn, comprehend needs, and explain options, ATC works with local populations in low-income regions.</li> <li>Product development: ATC forms collaborative design teams with input from customers, regional engineers, and industry mentors. At colleges and universities as well as the Maker Works site in Ann Arbor, Michigan, ATC develops product prototypes. ATC will prototype the product in the nation where it is to be utilized after a fresh design has been tested in the lab. All stages of the product development process involve local talent.</li> <li>Education: The ATC education program provides opportunities for qualified professional mentors, <a href="/facts/High_school/GjEqd0fa">high school</a>, <a href="/facts/Undergraduate/GVvPMLFN">undergraduate</a>, and <a href="/facts/Graduate_school/e19zs58x">graduate</a> students and World Challenge Design Teams. This program promotes a free flow of information between university students and faculty, design clients and ATC's incubated businesses. Most new products developed by ATC, World Challenge Design Teams, or mentors are disseminated online for free from the ATC Website. <ul><li>Student design teams who work with ATC are invited to prototype and test the designs in one of the ATC's facilities in Guatemala or Nicaragua. Designs are tested and data is collected in ATC client communities.</li> <li>ATC provides an opportunity for student interns, workshop employees and volunteers to participate in the product design and business development process by presenting ATC designs in rural communities, rural clinics, <a href="/facts/School/AxxKew5Y">schools</a>, <a href="/facts/Hospital/WaryeVJd">hospitals</a>, and <a href="/facts/Community_center/Iv32Yk6H">community centers</a>. This outreach demonstrates the affordability, and value of ATC products and increases acceptance in target populations.</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>Social venture business development: In 2012 ATC began working with engineering and entrepreneurial talent in developing countries to create new sustainable businesses that provide income to people living in rural villages and urban slums.</li></ul> <h2 id="gallery">Gallery</h2> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="http://apptechcollaborative.org/">The Appropriate Technology Collaborative Official Website</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"Appropriate Technology Collaborative". www.apptechdesign.org. Archived from the original on December 14, 2007. Retrieved 2022-10-11. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20071214100227/http://www.apptechdesign.org/" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20071214100227/http://www.apptechdesign.org/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>"MLive". June 7, 2016. <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2016/06/ann_arbor-based_nonprofit_wins.html" target="_blank">http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2016/06/ann_arbor-based_nonprofit_wins.html</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Sustainia Top 100, 2016 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161112095712/https://issuu.com/sustainia/docs/sustainia100_2016" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20161112095712/https://issuu.com/sustainia/docs/sustainia100_2016</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Energy Globe 2019[dead link] <a href="https://www.energyglobe.info/guatemala2019?cl=en&id=335083" target="_blank">https://www.energyglobe.info/guatemala2019?cl=en&id=335083</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>