Low tech
Low tech designates simple, accessible and durable technical solutions, and more broadly an approach that seeks to do better with less.
Three principles
- accessibility: simple, affordable tools that can be widely used ;
- usefulness: focus on essential needs ;
- durability: robust, repairable solutions that consume fewer resources.
Link with digital resilience
Cigref and the Institut du Numérique Responsable (INR) published a report in 2026 on using low-tech approaches to strengthen organisational resilience, with foresight support from Futuribles. The English presentation and report discuss maintaining existing systems, examining needs before design and reducing unnecessary software loads.
For an IT department, this means identifying essential services, the skills needed to maintain them and alternatives when normal operation becomes impossible. The INR presentation in French describes options including repair, simpler architectures and continuity plans combining digital and manual processes.
The report explores disruption scenarios for 2035–2040 involving supply chains, energy and water constraints, and climate damage. These are foresight scenarios, not dated predictions. A continuity exercise can test which activities the organisation could still perform if a supplier or network became unavailable. Any fallback process also needs to protect data and remain usable by the people involved.
