Democratizando la innovación. ¿Qué podemos aprender de la innovación desde abajo?

Adrian SmithProfesor de Tecnología y Sociedad. Science and Policy Research Unit (SPRU) y STEPS Centre. Universidad de Sussex

Democratizing innovation: what can we learn from grassroots innovation?

Adrian Smith(STEPS Centre and SPRU, University of Sussex, UK)

itdUPM Conferencia: Tecnología e Innovación para el Desarrollo 24-25 June 2015, Madrid

STEPS – Social, Technological & Environmental Pathways to Sustainability

[ Global research and policy engagement Centre linking IDS, SPRU, international partners

[ Shared view that, in a complex, dynamic & globalised world, sustainability is acknowledged to be political – a matter for diverse forms of democracy

[ Plural pathways to sustainability fully integrate ecological integrity with social justice

[ Science and technology work as means not ends: for people and the environment

[ Power needs to be built to enable those living in greatest poverty and marginalisation

[ Develop, apply and communicate a ‘pathways approach’ to research that brings together development studies and science and technology studies to understand interactions between social, technological and environmental dynamics in diverse settings

[ Link new theory with practical solutions, policy and political debate by engaging with diverse local and global audiences

www.steps-centre.org

itdUPM conference

[ ¡Esta es una conferencia! A convergence during a process (meetings, working papers, networking, follow-on, continuous reflection and activity …)

[ Working Paper - The role of innovation for a sustainable future

[ Important themes - partnerships, co-production, experimentation, niche spaces, new institutions

[ Key point is need for transformations to innovation itself – its direction, the way it happens, who is involved, how it is resourced, and its consequences

[ Presentation: use STEPS research in grassroots innovation to share some thoughts about transforming (democratising?) innovation

Why grassroots innovation?

[ Networks of activists and community organisations generating novel bottom–up solutions for sustainable development

[ Solutions that respond to the local situation and the interests and values of the communities involved

[ Communities exercise control of both the process and results of innovation

[ Neglected by innovation policy – which is based in combinations of technology-led, state-led, or market-led approaches

Examples

[ Car clubs

[ Wind turbines

[ Refrigeration (zeer pots)

[ Mobile laundering

[ Community currencies

[ Solar home systems

[ Repair Cafés

[ Cycle rickshaw gear-trains

[ Eco-housing neighbourhoods

[ Rainwater harvesting

[ Urban agro-ecology

[ Hackerspaces and Makerspaces

[ Etc etc etc …

• Artefacts (e.g. specific artefacts, such as

water-cooled fridges, or portable milling machines)

• Methodologies (e.g. participatory design, regional network-building, entrepreneurship)

• Actors (e.g. new identities & subjectivities, grassroots entrepreneurs, innovation scouts, developers)

• Infrastructure and facilities (e.g. prototyping workshops, design expertise, databases)

• Networks (e.g. topics like agro-ecology or housing, mentoring programmes, development services, representation, knowledge platforms, skill swapping)

• Concepts and agendas (e.g. for knowledge production, whether commons-based or proprietary, for ways of being and organising, relationships with people and resources)

Insertion of GIM into STI Politics of technique

Mobilisation of GIM to transform STI Politics of structural change

Politics

[ funding

[ supporting

[ networking

[ partnering

[ lobbying[ activism

Intermediary activities

Open participation

Local developmentEnvironmental sustainability

Social goals

How to help grassroots niches grow and spread?

What roles might niches play in transformations?

Perspective Niche purposes Niche developments

Strategic niche management Instrumental improvements in niche solutions (grassroots ingenuity)

• Projects as demonstrations• Knowledge for diffusing solutions• Intermediaries disseminate good

practice• Politics is rational & objectifying

Niche policy advocacy Advocacy that makes niche solutions matter to others, e.g. policy or business or science (grassroots empowerment)

• Projects exemplify narratives• Knowledge argues what matters• Intermediaries lobby• Policy is argumentative &

pragmatic

Critical niches Unsettling and debating innovation norms and challenging power from alternative positions(grassroots critique)

• Projects challenge norms• Knowledge about structures• Intermediaries mobilise critical

reflection• Politics is antagonistic & radical

Conclusions: what can we learn from grassroots innovation?

[ There is a wealth of innovation amongst the grassroots, and it takes various forms

[ Intermediaries play influential roles when they help the development of grassroots niches

[ Does that development inserting grassroots ideas into conventional innovation systems, or is it trying to transform those systems?

[ The dichotomy presented here is a simplification. Complex and dynamic innovation hybrids are evolving and interacting.

[ Always ask, what are the power relations in these interactions? Whose priorities count? Whose knowledge counts? Who controls resources?

[ These are inherently political questions – any transformation in innovation needs to be democratic, though the different theories and forms of democracy is a topic for another presentation!

More information …

[ a.g.smith@sussex.ac.uk

[ @smithadrianpaul

[ www.grassrootsinnovations.org / www.steps-centre.org

[ Fressoli, M., Arond, E., Abrol, D., Smith, A., Ely, A. and R. Dias (2014) When grassroots innovation movements encounter mainstream institutions: implications for models of inclusive innovation, Innovation & Development 4, 2: 277-292

[Smith, A. (2014) Technology networks for socially useful production, Journal of Peer Production issue 5 (online journal: peerproduction.net)

[ Smith, A., Fressoli, M. and H. Thomas (2013) Grassroots innovation movements: challenges and contributions, Journal of Cleaner Production 63: 114-124

¡ GRACIAS !