A wealth of scholarly work has contributed to make visible and describe the place of indigenous peoples and knowledge in sustainability transitions. We follow suit, exploring if, and how, indigenous peoples and knowledges take part in the construction of hybrid socio-technical systems, i.e. socio-technical systems where heterogeneous knowledges already coexist and give rise to the emergence of specific and nuanced socio-technical patterns. We address the question: What are the types of interaction between techno-scientific and indigenous/local knowledges in socio-technical configurations aiming at sustainability? Our inquiry focuses on knowledge circulation patterns in hybrid socio-technical systems. Conceptually, we build on epistemic diversity and hybridisation as means to reflect on socio-technical systems. Empirically, we carry on a theory-driven literature review and ground a model on the backdrop of the MLP perspective. Results show that hybrid socio-technical systems present overlapping socio-technical assemblages coexisting in constructive tension. Such tension stems from the manyfold possible directionalities that take place in the social production of hybrid-oriented and non-hybrid-oriented performativity of knowledges. This paradoxical nature implies that each encounter performs a potential tension within the broader web of relations in the system. In terms of sustainability transitions, hybrid socio-technical systems pose particular knowledge governance challenges. Its paradoxical nature risks enabling contradictory, non-viable or illegitimate transition pathways towards sustainability.

This paper studies features of grassroots ecopreneurs’ leadership in their attempt to ignite transformations in production-consumption systems from the bottom up. It builds on a comprehensive approach of change agency based on institutional work, innovation, and learning intermediation literature. The paper describes grassroots ecopreneurs’ interaction strategies to resource business models for sustainability. Empirical data comes from an action research project that consisted of implementing a sustainability experiment in Sur de Bolívar (Colombia). The experiment shows grassroots ecopreneurs’ arrays of activities around making sense, shaping, securing support, nurturing, expanding, and scaling the value proposition, the business infrastructure, the customer interface and the financial model of their ventures. Our findings suggest that leading businesses transition into a more sustainable field requires grassroots ecopreneurs acting as change agents by performing a diverse array of boundary, practice, and knowledge circulation strategies, aiming at securing the societal and environmental impact of their ventures. Change agency manifests in the ways ecopreneurs maneuver to bring about transformations and strive to sustain it. The study contributes to a better understanding of processes of socio-technical change for sustainability in highly diverse institutional contexts, such as (but not exclusively) the developing world. An agency-based approach is proposed as an alternative to a managerial approach.

The paper aims to identify and analyze what types of governance challenges for sustainable regional development in the context of globalization are more frequently found in scholarship regarding Latin America. In order to do so, we carried out a systematic review of scholarly works discussing regional sustainability issues across the region. Analytically, it provides a heuristic multidimensional framework for organizing and typifying the most frequent sustainable regional development governance challenges under study, offering a nuanced and interrelated account of economic, environmental, political, and socio-spatial scientific discussions. According to our findings, scholarship on Latin America shows a bricolage-like scenery where political atomization linked to economic factionalism and fragmentation stand out as frequently analyzed situations. Another frequent topic relates to discussions about political endeavors linked to environmental concerns, connecting incidence strategies with collective environmental conservation approaches.

La colaboración interinstitucional en el Estado surge como efecto de una ola de reforma acuñada como nueva gerencia pública. A pesar de ser un objeto ampliamente estudiado, la colaboración interinstitucional aún plantea una agenda de investigación en desarrollo, en la que los estudios organizacionales tienen un rol de interés. Este artículo persigue un triple objetivo: i) situar la colaboración interinstitucional en el universo de interés de los estudios organizacionales; ii) explicar el contexto de la génesis de la colaboración interinstitucional como parte de debates sobre la organización del Estado; y iii) aportar a la literatura al identificar y describir las prácticas típicas de colaboración interinstitucional a partir de una revisión de literatura con enfoque de desarrollo teórico. Se ofrece un marco analítico basado en prácticas de colaboración y, como tal, un aporte al campo de estudios con una base que ofrece patrones y permitiría el desarrollo de estudios cuantitativos. El resultado arroja como prácticas típicas de colaboración inter-institucional i) la agregación de acciones sectoriales, ii) la consulta mutua, iii) la conformación de unidades, y iv) la conformación de comités y subcomités. La discusión elabora una lectura reflexiva de la tipología en tanto marco analítico para la indagación y la acción. A modo de cierre, el texto discute los factores habilitantes que aportan mayor operacionalidad a los mecanismos de colaboración interinstitucional según la literatura.

¿Cómo pueden ser más provechosas las relaciones entre fuentes heterogéneas de conocimiento –entre ellas el científico– para la construcción de paz? Tras un breve estado del arte para nutrir la discusión, el artículo aborda la pregunta construyendo sobre el concepto de diversidad epistémica. Se propone una heurística analítica comprensiva, fundamentada en ejercicios académicos previos, que categoriza: 1) niveles de gestión y aprovechamiento del conocimiento, 2) tipos y naturaleza del conocimiento en juego y 3) productos de conocimiento para la paz. Este texto describe y discute los artículos que hacen parte del presente dossier a la luz de tales referentes y sitúa algunos puntos de interés para una agenda de investigación: 1) expandir la reflexión sobre el conocimiento sobre o para la paz; 2) profundizar en los fenómenos de interacción entre la ciencia y otros tipos de conocimiento, lo que toca diversos repertorios, campos y niveles de interacción y modos de encuentro; y 3) retroalimentar el acervo teórico disponible en torno a la gobernanza de conocimientos heterogéneos en contextos transformativos, con especial atención a la teoría y prácticas de política pública en ciencia, tecnología e innovación.

As other technological promises, bioeconomy has raised expectations as a burgeoning field for the economy. Policy work in Colombia claims that such current focus on ‘bio’ should be profited by the country given its regional mega-diverse potential. Yet, the question remains to what extent such arrangements are shared regionally, in a country exhibiting variegated multi-cultural drivers and differentiated bio-potential. This paper tackles this question, assessing national policy documents and regional oil and mining royalties investment in the period 2012–2019. Conceptually, we build on the notions of integration and convergence to read regional funding and niche development as evidence of multi-level expectations. We combine content analysis, descriptive analysis and social network analysis to assess expectations at the macro, meso and micro levels. Results show that there is not a consistent regional translation of the discourse on bioeconomy, showing dispersed views about how to render bioeconomy real. Higher education institutions and regional governments play a central role in keeping the network together; however, the lead has been taken by regional governments.