The concept of “inadequacy of technology” may be, on the one hand, an enlightening assessment of the technological condition of underdevelopment and, on the other hand, a helpful “focusing device” for an agenda on innovation systems at the periphery. Furtado’s approach on inadequacy of technology may uncover the social roots of the well know “low-growth trap” of less-developed economies. Celso Furtado explains how inadequacy of technology is related to the polarization “modernization-marginalization” that characterizes economies with immature systems of innovation, as the Brazilian economy. This concept also highlights how difficult it is to overcome the complex interplay among unequal income distribution, localized and blocked technical progress and unsustainable economic growth. To overcome the technological inadequacy a dual institutional building seems to be necessary: the innovation systems might co-evolve with welfare systems.