Analytical access and a comprehensive systematic assessment of technological readiness as well as the potential sustainability impact is vital to take advantage of the growing potential of innovative technologies for sustainable development. The techDetector offers this systematic assessment above and beyond abstract mega-trend observations.

It is freely accessible and is intended as a guide for international cooperation partners to identify tech trends in their project environment. It builds on GIZ’s long-term experience and networking to create a tool for assessing the level of readiness of technologies and aims to provide inspiration to make use of technological trends.

100 relevant technologies from all sectors in which GIZ operates are displayed on the techDetector’s radar and are clustered in seven topic areas. Every technology is assessed based on two parameters:

1. the basis for assessing the level of readiness of technologies is the Technology Readiness Level (TRL). The TLR is a standard for the level of readiness of technologies that was introduced by NASA.
2. The sustainability impact is determined by an open crowd-sourced survey, which was developed based on the GIZ sustainability dimensions.

Clicking on the individual technologies takes you to a detailed description and future outlook, the level of readiness of the technology, relevant sustainability goals, organisations operating in this area as well as additional sources.

The techDetector is a flexible tool that is regularly refined and updated. The techDetector is currently being expanded and enhanced by a sectoral and thematic layer. The following layers have been developed to date:

• Future of Water and Waste
• Future of Mobility
• Future of Agriculture
• Gender Equality