This extended policy report was prepared for the Misión de Sabios (‘Mission of the Wise’) in Colombia, an expert advisory initiative launched by the Colombian government to provide strategic guidance on science, technology, and innovation (STI), as well as education, knowledge, and human capital development, with the aim of supporting national development and competitiveness.
It lays out how science, technology and innovation (STI) policy can be reconceived to actively contribute to systemic societal transformations, especially in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by integrating a broader understanding of innovation that spans societal actors, grassroots activities and socio‑technical change, not only traditional R&D metrics or firm‑centred approaches.
The report introduces core concepts of TIP, reflects on the knowledge base in a national context and illustrates how transformative innovation thinking can be applied and implemented through examples and policy entry points.
It frames research priorities around understanding how STI can be aligned with transformational change, identifies gaps in current policy knowledge and practice, and provides an empirical base and conceptual grounding for future research.
En español:
Este informe de política ampliado fue preparado para la Misión de Sabios en Colombia, una iniciativa asesora de expertos lanzada por el gobierno colombiano para proporcionar orientación estratégica sobre ciencia, tecnología e innovación (CTeI), así como sobre educación, conocimiento y desarrollo del capital humano, con el objetivo de apoyar el desarrollo nacional y la competitividad.
Plantea cómo la política de ciencia, tecnología e innovación (CTeI) puede ser replanteada para contribuir activamente a transformaciones sistémicas en la sociedad, especialmente en relación con los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS), al integrar una comprensión más amplia de la innovación que abarque actores sociales, actividades de base y cambios sociotécnicos, y no solo métricas tradicionales de I+D o enfoques centrados en las empresas.
El informe introduce los conceptos centrales de la Política de Innovación Transformativa (PIT), reflexiona sobre la base de conocimiento en un contexto nacional e ilustra cómo el pensamiento de innovación transformativa puede aplicarse e implementarse a través de ejemplos y puntos de entrada en la política.
Plantea prioridades de investigación en torno a la comprensión de cómo la CTeI puede alinearse con el cambio transformador, identifica vacíos en el conocimiento y la práctica de las políticas actuales, y proporciona una base empírica y un marco conceptual para investigaciones futuras.
Citation
Schot, J., Ramirez, M., Arroyave, F., Bernal Hernández, P., Marin, M. L., Romero Goyeneche, O. Y. and Alvial Palavicino, C. (2020). Transforming our world: Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals – Proposal for a Colombian science, technology and innovation policy programme of experimentation with a strong regional focus.Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium (TIPC). Available at: https://tipresourcelab.net/resource/transforming-our-world-implementing-the-sustainable-development-goals-proposal-for-a-colombian-science-technology-and-innovation-policy-programme-of-experimentation-with-a-strong-regional-focus/
Reflections on use
Reflections on reorienting STI policy for transformative social and environmental impact
The following blog by Oscar Romero, Utrecht University Centre for Global Challenges, was published on the TIPC website in 2020
Last autumn took me back to my home country, Colombia, to be part of the Mision de Sabios (‘Mission of the Wise’). My PhD supervisor Johan Schot was one of 46 national and international researchers invited to assist the Colombian government in developing public policy around Education and Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). This Mission aimed to address issues, such as human development and equality, which are of pressing concern in Colombia and are also echoed around the world.
Over the last decades, policymakers in Colombia and around the world have focussed on STI as a driver of innovation, job creation and economic growth – but is this really the answer to broader social and environmental challenges? At least in Colombia, recurrent problems such as poverty and malnutrition have not been resolved, and Colombia remains one of the countries with the highest inequality globally. Besides this, we are all now aware of the increasing degradation of vital ecosystems and the possible social and environmental impacts of climate change.
Increasing economic productivity to achieve social goals was also a common theme during this Mission, but Johan made a slightly different suggestion. Based on his historical studies, Johan has contributed to debates around transitions to sustainability by providing frameworks to study social and technological transformation in modern societies and established the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium. His contribution to the Mission was based upon ‘…the growing realisation that environmental and social goals should no longer serve mainly as a static framework of conditions for innovation, something they may help to accomplish.’
In other words, STI policy should prioritise social and environmental goals explicitly, rather than seeing them as enablers of innovation, or pursuing economic growth as an indirect way to achieve them. This implies a new social commitment that enables us to reduce inequality and poverty, and conserve and restore nature – and consequently, a qualitatively different type of economic growth.
Much of Johan’s current research is based on co-creation, multidisciplinarity and mixing methods, so he invited a variety of researchers from different disciplines to contribute to his work for the mission. Matias Ramirez (University of Sussex), who leads the TIPC research in Latin America, played a key role in integrating researchers from Colombia. My own contribution focussed on analysing how the structure of scientific research communities in Colombia might enable or constrain a transformative approach (chapter 3), and we learned from transformative initiatives already happening in Colombia’s regions (chapter 4). For instance, the protection of the Bogotá wetlands by social movements, or the Iza municipality’s polystyrene ban policy in Boyacá to reduce production and use of non-biodegradable materials. Lessons from these initiatives, together with Colombia’s knowledge base and scientific capabilities, could help to implement and embed transformative innovation policy across Colombia.
What next? Discussing our findings with other participants in the Commission allowed us to validate our preliminary conclusions (chapter 3 and 4), while some (such as the Commission for public health, Ciencias de la Vida y Salud) started to use the perspective of transformative innovation in their own Commission report. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation plans to implement the recommendations from the Mission, while TIPC and this ministry plan to undertake a national program in transformative innovation with a strong regional focus. As for me, I can see a puzzle. If the SDGs include ‘traditional’ ideas about innovation which focus mainly on productivity and business as usual (SDG 8) and represent a global framework to address challenges and solutions that are global, but also locally specific… what does that mean for their ability to ‘transform our world’? Lots to think about during the next stages of my PhD.
Reflections on COVID-19 and meeting the SDGS: A proposal for implementing the ‘Mision de Sabios’ report in Colombia using a TIP approach
This blog by Johan Schot, Utrecht University Centre for Global Challenges, and Matias Ramirez, SPRU, was published on the TIPC website in 2020, emphasising the need for system change to confront the COVID-19 medical emergency as TIPC joins forces with universities and institutions that constitute the new TIPC Latin American Hub to put forward a strategy for implementing the Misión de Sabios’ recommendations.
COVID-19 has had a deep impact on the world. An important question is whether lessons are learned and if this crisis will be used to transform the economy and society into more resilient and sustainable directions or if we continue on the previous unsustainable, unequal and uneven trajectory of development. A new Transformative Innovation Policy can contribute to such a transformation because it focuses on wider system change, which not only encompasses the healthcare system but also other systems in areas such as mobility, food, energy, water, education and communication.
A shock like COVID-19 shines a light on the medical and pharmaceutical industry and the need for system change towards preventative investment against future pandemics. This could provide a huge impulse to a large number of experiments that make the world less vulnerable. These experiments could lead the way to a new medical system based on prevention, integrating medical care with social care and taking into account lifestyle issues (for example sugar intake), focusing on “just” investments in drugs and provision of medical care. Such a system would invest in vaccine development but also preventing many children from dying from water pollution and undernourishment.
However, the COVID-19 crisis not only emphasises the weaknesses of our healthcare system; it also shows the connections between healthcare and globalization, large concentrations of people living in urban areas, the need for more local food production, and a provision of digital tools that do not lead to more surveillance but respect human rights, so they can be used safely and democratically to mitigate a pandemic. Hence, the COVID-19 pandemic ruthlessly demonstrates the interconnectedness of systems and the need to consider many different areas and players for enabling transformative change.
This is the background to an extended policy report written by Johan Schot (a member of the Misión de Sabios) and Matias Ramirez, together with a team of TIPC researchers to the Misión de Sabios. This was set up in 2019 and was tasked with developing a new vision and program for a National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy. When the President of Colombia, Ivan Duque, received the report he announced that this would serve as a mandate for MinCiencias, the new Colombian ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). As a contribution to this report, a series of proposals are developed for a new transformative innovation policy in Colombia, based on the work with the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium (TIPC), of which Colombia is a member.
The report proposes a national programme of experimentation, designed and coordinated by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, that connects the missions and different projects working on social and environmental transformations for sustainable human development (p.290 Mision de Sabios Report). A wide range of universities in Colombia is ready to respond to this proposal and work with MinCiencias to implement it. They will join efforts in TIPC’s Latin America Hub which is officially launching soon.
The Hub aims to support the introduction of a national program of transformative innovation. The universities engage in Experimental Policy Engagements with regional stakeholders and, by applying the methodology developed with TIPC members, participate in an international platform for experimenting with transformative change. Inferences drawn from their approach to system change can provide aid in preparing countries for health crises like COVID-19 and a wide range of global challenges as expressed in the UN Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
