In the Media
Past media coverage about CTI can be found on the In the Media Archives page. For more recent stories, visit the In the Media page.
Appropriate to the People
Mechanical Engineering Magazine
June 2011
"In the early 1960s, when I was a Peace Corps volunteer on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, I had a colleague who, like me, grew up on a farm in Iowa. In St. Lucia, he worked with small farmers in a remote area. He was really out there in the field, more isolated than the rest of us.
When he returned to his hilly, southeast Iowa farm, his father suggested they clear some timber from their bottomland to have more pasture for their cattle. George thought that was a good idea and immediately went to town and bought a machete.
“Gosh darn,” his father told me later, “I thought it was a good idea for George to go to St. Lucia and help those farmers get ahead, but now he comes home and wants to set me back 200 years.”
Sometimes I think technology developed in a first-world country like the United States and taken to Africa would, in fact, set the people who were to use it back at least a bunch of years, if not quite 200.
The question comes up often today, in light of the literally thousands of highly creative, motivated persons from many nations who are doing an astounding amount of work in the area of appropriate technology." Full Article
Banquet highlights food disparities
Minnesota Daily
March 2011
"Deqa Muhidin was expecting a lot more than 4 ounces of rice and a glass of water for dinner when she attended Oxfam America’s Hunger Banquet on the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul campus Friday. She joined more than 200 people for the interactive experience that explored issues like poverty, hunger and women’s rights by placing participants in the very different realities of men and women around the globe...Glenn Corliss, a volunteer with sponsoring organization Compatible Technology International, was one of the lucky few to eat a complete meal that evening. "This illustrates the problem of poverty and food distribution in many ways," he said, motioning to those sitting on the floor and eating rice. "It’s not just the food but the relative discomfort. To be honest I feel privileged and a little shameful." Full Article
Technology Programs for the Poor Seek Recipients
America.gov
February 2011
"Technologies themselves can provide a platform for microentrepreneurship, according to Roger Salway, executive director of Compatible Technology International, a not-for-profit group. For example, the use of an adjustable grinder for different crops designed by his organization for West Africa not only cut the grinding time from between eight and 10 hours to less than one, but also “allows women to educate their children, take care of family’s health needs or earn extra income from additional flour they produce,” he said." Full article
Young Inventors Set Out to Improve Lives
America.gov
February 2011
"In 1993, Englishman Trevor Baylis designed a windup radio that does not need electricity. He hoped his invention would help spread information about AIDS prevention and treatment in Africa’s rural areas. But when he approached manufacturers, they rejected his invention, questioning its commercial value. Eventually, he got the radio into production in South Africa, where a local investment firm decided to fund it." Full article
Malnourished kids to get new diet
Hindustan Times
January 2011
"A centre for nutrition, rehabilitation and research with a new treatment for malnourished children will be set up in Dharavi. LTMG Hospital, Sion, Compatible Technology International (CTI) a US-based non-governmental organisation involved in designing food and water technologies in developing world
and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) have come together to start the centre." Full article
CTI grinders are the focus of "Sales for Social Impact" competition
The Lariat
Center for Sales Innovation
October 2010
The Lariat, Baylor University's student newspaper, features CTI in an article on the Sales for Social Impact challenge. In partnership with The Acara Institute, 3M, and seven U.S. Universities, CTI challenged student teams to develop a sales plan for selling CTI grinders in Uganda.
Big Ideas: Little Packages
National Geographic
November 2010
The "Pepper Eater", a device created by a group of Stanford Engineering Students and being designed and implemented with the help of CTI volunteers, is featured in the November issue of National Geographic. Scroll throught he images to find the Pepper Eater.
Tunining In: Cross-cultural design puts a new spin on human-factors engineering
Mechanical Engineering Magazine
June 2010
The development of CTI's Pearl Millet-Thresher winnower is covered in Mechanical Engineering Magazine's June issue.
Low tech solutions for Haiti Food Sources
All Things Considered, MPR
March 10, 2010
Sam Usem, volunteer with St. Paul-based Compatible Technology International, provides rural Haitian villages with hand grinders. Listen to the interview on MPR.
"Helping feed the world, from Saint Paul"
St. Paul Finance and Commerce
February 8, 2010
The work of Compatible Technology International is profiled in an article (login required) from Saint Paul's Finance and Commerce Paper.
"On threshers, local food, faith, reason and more ..."
Saint Paul Pioneer Press
November 13, 2009
Saint Paul's newspaper, the Pioneer Press, features Compatible Technology International.