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International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries

ICT4D 2019: Information and Communication Technologies for Development. Strengthening Southern-Driven Cooperation as a Catalyst for ICT4D pp 180–191Cite as

Decolonising Neo-Liberal Innovation: Using the Andean Philosophy of ‘Buen Vivir’ to Reimagine Innovation Hubs

Part of the IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology book series (IFIPAICT,volume 552)

Abstract

Innovation is increasingly portrayed as central to social and economic development. Models of innovation from the global North are often applied uncritically in the global South. Doing so may unwittingly silence indigenous knowledge, ways of knowing, and cultural values. Santos (2014) has argued that this form of epistemic violence is committed when actors from the global North are insufficiently mindful of ‘Epistemologies of the South’. Neither Santos nor the authors of this paper believe that there is nothing of value to be learned from the global North – only that there is as much to be learned from the global South – and everything to be gained from a skillful combination of different ways of knowing. This theoretical paper proposes a future line of research to examine in what ways Epistemologies of the South might inform innovation processes to produce different outcomes. We use the example of innovation hubs and although we might have used the philosophies of Ubuntu from Southern Africa or Swaraj from India, in this paper we use the lens of Buen Vivir (living well) from Andean and Amazonian communities in South America to suggest that another innovation is possible.

Keywords

  • Innovation
  • Epistemologies of the South
  • Decolonising
  • Buen Vivir

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Innovation in included in SDG targets 8.2, 8.3, 9.5, 9b, 17.6 and 17.8.

  2. 2.

    https://globalinnovation.fund/.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Andrea Jimenez

  2. Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

    Tony Roberts

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  1. Andrea Jimenez
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Correspondence to Andrea Jimenez .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Petter Nielsen

  2. University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Honest Christopher Kimaro

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Jimenez, A., Roberts, T. (2019). Decolonising Neo-Liberal Innovation: Using the Andean Philosophy of ‘Buen Vivir’ to Reimagine Innovation Hubs. In: Nielsen, P., Kimaro, H. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies for Development. Strengthening Southern-Driven Cooperation as a Catalyst for ICT4D. ICT4D 2019. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 552. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19115-3_15

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