2023 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"
17th Edition
The Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín stands out in Colombia for its economic development in the industry, commerce, health, education and science, technology and innovation sectors. In 2009, the Ruta N Corporation was created in Medellín, a decentralized entity of the Mayor's Office whose purpose is to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the inhabitants of the District. Ruta N seeks the transformation of the city towards a knowledge economy, with innovation as the greatest driver, through the articulation of the Science, Technology and Innovation ecosystem.
In this context, as a governance strategy on the part of the Medellín Mayor's Office, the Specialized Innovation Nodes were born, which operate under an open innovation model, whose typology is centered on a free process and public invitation that allows any person or entity propose needs of the District and/or offer solutions based on science, technology and innovation. The project is promoted by the Secretariats of economic development, digital innovation and strategic projects of the Mayor's Office of Medellín and executed by the Ruta N Corporation, and seeks to transform Medellín into a sustainable District.
The Nodes arise from the identification and prioritization of different areas with high growth potential in line with the business dynamics of the District and oriented towards strategic markets; ten Nodes are configured, namely: Agribusiness, Climate Change, Pollution, Education, GovTech, Mobility, Solid Waste, Health, Safety and Public Services. The objectives of this strategy are to energize the innovation ecosystem, promoting participatory work among various actors of the five-fold helix (academia, governance, citizenship, international actors and private companies), and identifying in a participatory manner the District needs that can be resolved from available capacities, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of Medellín.
The Nodes methodology responds to a process of identification, structuring, and prioritization of the District's needs or challenges through citizen participation activities. The prioritized challenges are put out to a public call and a proposal is selected for each Node, presented by various actors of the quintuple helix, which, according to an exhaustive technical evaluation, has the human team and the ideal capacities to solve the challenge. described and implement the proposed solution. To address the challenges that do not receive fresh resources (from the call), we use a direct and sustained collaboration approach over time, which has allowed us to build vibrant communities around specific themes, really listen to the other and appropriate problems that are of all of them enriched from multiple perspectives, applying pilots in the territory; Today we have peasant communities, groups of women, youth, Afro-descendants, people with disabilities and pregnant women, among other historically excluded populations, in an environment of convergence with public actors, startups, companies, academia, citizens and international actors.
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