Phrasal verb "Draw on"

[Bulone]

In fact, traditional practices draw on a continuing wealth of technological ingenuity.

I couldn’t make a sense out of “draw on” in that context. Anyone care to explain?

[Kitosdad]

Draw from would have been self-explanatory.

[Bulone]

Sorry I don’t know what you mean by that. It’s “draw on” not “draw from”.

Edit : I think I’m kind of have a rough idea now but not sure though. Here’s what’s in my mind - Traditional practices are thriving along with technological advancements?.

[Cerberus]

To determine its precise meaning in this sentence, more context would help, such as more text before and after, and what the text is about. “To draw on” has more than one sense.

[Bulone]

^^Ok. Here’s the one beffore

Most people think of the cultures represented in the collection in terms of the absence of advanced technology.

This is the one after -

Limited resources and ecological constraints are often overcome by personal skills that would be regarded as exceptional in the West.

[Cerberus]

Okay, that makes it clear. To draw on something means to make use of a supply of something, such as a skill. This is a bit of a metaphor: a skill is not normally something you can have a supply of, but here it is treated as such.

It might be thought that traditional practices do not make use of / implement technological advances at all; however, primitive cultures do invent new techniques; and we will consider these techniques very clever once we understand them: so clever, that we will think their inventors very intelligent and inventive.