Trends in the Measurement and Evaluation of Social Appropriation of Science and Technology in Colombia

Author: Tania Arboleda

Ten years have passed since the National Policy of Social Appropriation of Science and Technology (SAST) was launched in Colombia (COLCIENCIAS, 2005), and another five years since the proper was done with its National Strategy (COLCIENCIAS, 2010) whose purpose is to “broaden the understanding of the dynamics of knowledge production and use, beyond the synergies between academic, productive and government sectors to include the communities and groups of interests of civil society. The notion of SAST is defined in the latter as “a process of understanding and intervention of the relations between technoscience and society which is constructed based upon the active participation of the various social groups that generate knowledge”. The four lines of action of this strategy are: (1) Citizens’ participation in Science, Technology and Innovation policies; (2) communication from the perspective of science, technology and society relationships; (3) knowledge transfer and exchange; knowledge management for social appropriation of science and technology. These policies urge the need to advance processes of monitoring, measuring and evaluation of the SAST initiatives and propose some mechanisms to do it. In this work we examine the presence of processes of monitoring, measuring and evaluation in the development of SAST initiatives and programs in the Colombian contexts, in terms of its actors, approaches and purposes reflected, as well as the underlying understanding of the relationships between science and society. In order to do that we are analysing papers presented in academic and networks events in the Latin American region related to these topics between 2005 and the first semester of 2015. To date we have registered 77 papers related to Colombian SAST initiatives presented in 11 events. At the present moment we are analysing them through a protocol with various categories.