Linking Innovation, Sustainability, Development and Social Inclusion in the 21st Century: a view from Latin America

ELISA AROND; IOKIÑE RODRÍGUEZ; VALERIA ARZA; FRANCISCO HERRERA; MYRIAM SÁNCHEZ

México DF

Jornada; ESOCITE 2012; 2012

This paper relates Latin American experiences to ideas proposed by the STEPS Centre?s New Manifesto on Innovation, Sustainability, and Development, following on round table discussions held in Venezuela, Argentina, and Colombia in 2010. It underlines the relevance and synergies of ideas presented by historical and contemporary Latin American researchers in relation to the New Manifesto?s proposed ?3Ds? of direction, distribution, and diversity, as guiding dimensions for linking innovation to environmental sustainability and social justice. The paper discusses some recent changes in science, technology, and innovation (STI) policies and institutions in Latin America, emphasising particularly the challenge of effectively linking STI to social needs. It questions the relative weight of recent efforts to develop a 3D agenda compared to conventional priorities of competitiveness and growth, and highlights some of the obstacles to realising 3D aims. In particular, it underscores persistent social and economic inequalities, issues of institutional and political resistance to change, and the role of power relations (at multiple levels) in determining directions of science, technology, and innovation, and STI policy, as topics worth exploring further in the future.