Technological and social development projects as drivers for local innovation micro-ecosystems
In Argentina, in 2013, the National Technological Scientific System incorporated an instrument, named Technological and Social Development Projects (PDTS, for its acronym in Spanish), to identify activities of technological development that had a social impact.
PDTS arise from a concrete demand from a social actor, formally requesting the intervention of researchers to develop a technological solution to a problem.
The objective of PDTS, the presence of actors and their relationships, create a space where the use and co-production of knowledge surpasses the scope of the original research objective, and can be extrapolated to other objects and issues. That co-produced knowledge adds value and innovation to the solution, characterizing it and making it unique with regards to local originality and identity. This process of co-producing knowledge builds skills in research and development groups, increasing the chance of generating new solutions to new problems, and creating a positive interaction spiral between university R+D and society. These interactions lead to “local innovation micro-ecosystems”.
This paper considers the distinctive characteristics of the PDTS and the knowledge co-production space and examines how the recurrence of these types of projects can generate “local innovation micro-ecosystems” that contribute to the country’s innovation capacity. This study concludes with an example of a “local innovation micro-ecosystem” in the area of Computer Forensics.