South American Expert Roundtable : increasing adaptive governance capacity for coping with unintended side effects of digital transformation

This paper presents the main messages of a South American expert roundtable (ERT) on the unintended side effects (unseens) of digital transformation. The input of the ERT comprised 39 propositions from 20 experts representing 11 different perspectives. The two-day ERT discussed the main drivers and challenges as well as vulnerabilities or unseens and provided suggestions for: (i) the mechanisms underlying major unseens; (ii) understanding possible ways in which rebound effects of digital transformation may become the subject of overarching research in three main categories of impact: development factors, society, and individuals; and (iii) a set of potential action domains for transdisciplinary follow-up processes, including a case study in Brazil. A content analysis of the propositions and related mechanisms provided insights in the genesis of unseens by identifying 15 interrelated causal mechanisms related to critical issues/concerns. Additionally, a cluster analysis (CLA) was applied to structure the challenges and critical developments in South America. The discussion elaborated the genesis, dynamics, and impacts of (groups of) unseens such as the digital divide (that affects most countries that are not included in the development of digital business, management, production, etc. tools) or the challenge of restructuring small- and medium-sized enterprises (whose service is digitally substituted by digital devices). We identify specific issues and effects (for most South American countries) such as lack of governmental structure, challenging geographical structures (e.g., inclusion in high-performance transmission power), or the digital readiness of (wide parts) of society. One scientific contribution of the paper is related to the presented methodology that provides insights into the phenomena, the causal chains underlying “wanted/positive” and “unwanted/negative” effects, and the processes and mechanisms of societal changes caused by digitalization

Technological Change and Institutions: A Case Study

The arena of mobile telecommunication in Europe has undergone a technological transition from analogue (first generation) to digital (second generation) technologies. While this transition is immediately attributable to shifts in demand and supply patterns, closer examination reveals that there are numerous other intervening factors that have facilitated this transition. This paper utilizes a conceptual framework for institutional analysis developed in earlier work to identify and discuss some of these factors. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications from this study for an institutional perspective on technological change.economics of technology ;

Beyond the grassroots: Two trajectories of "citizen sciencization" in environmental governance

Grassroots, bottom-up citizen science is a burgeoning form of public engagement with science, in which citizens mobilize scientific data to address local and global concerns. Contrary to top-down citizen science projects in which citizens collect data for experts, these grassroots initiatives typically unfold in do-it-ourselves fashion, thereby challenging formally-sanctioned, expert-centric citizen science approaches. This article illustrates these points through a comparative analysis of two potentially paradigmatic sites for environmental grassroots citizen science: Safecast (radiation pollution; Japan) and CuriousNoses (air pollution; Flanders, Belgium). These cases are selected on the basis of their anchors in local self-organized communities, with each case initiated by citizens instead of by formal institutions. Adopting a relational account of these sites as being shaped through both top-down and bottom-up imperatives, we draw out key features (defining moments, key actors, discourses, devices) in the constitution of these networks as credible, potentially influential actors in affairs of environmental governance. We introduce the notion of “citizen sciencization” as a way of understanding and exploring these processes against the backdrop of changing science-society relationships in Japan and Europe.H2020-MSCA-IF-2018 (Grant No. 836989); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI (Grant No. 16K21476

Gobierno abierto y transparencia: construyendo un marco conceptual

La confusión del término anglosajón open government así como del término transparency han traído consigo ambigüedades y creado falsas expectativas. Además de utilizar ambos conceptos como sinónimos, se han implementado políticas públicas para hacerlos realidad en distintos países latinoamericanos sin tener una dirección precisa o un objetivo claro. Esta investigación busca aportar elementos teóricos que ayuden a delimitar los principales caminos teóricos que se han seguido y proponer un concepto que distinga tanto la transparencia como el gobierno abierto. Para lograrlo se han revisado las principales revistas académicas y artículos de los últimos seis años y se han agrupado en tres corrientes de pensamiento para proponer un concepto sobre gobierno abierto. El objetivo es contribuir a la construcción de una teoría general más sólida, que ayude a entender mejor el gobierno abierto, la transparencia y la rendición de cuentas.La confusión del término anglosajón open government así como del término transparency han traído consigo ambigüedades y creado falsas expectativas. Además de utilizar ambos conceptos como sinónimos, se han implementado políticas públicas para hacerlos realidad en distintos países latinoamericanos sin tener una dirección precisa o un objetivo claro. Esta investigación busca aportar elementos teóricos que ayuden a delimitar los principales caminos teóricos que se han seguido y proponer un concepto que distinga tanto la transparencia como el gobierno abierto. Para lograrlo se han revisado las principales revistas académicas y artículos de los últimos seis años y se han agrupado en tres corrientes de pensamiento para proponer un concepto sobre gobierno abierto. El objetivo es contribuir a la construcción de una teoría general más sólida, que ayude a entender mejor el gobierno abierto, la transparencia y la rendición de cuentas

Public preferences of the Great Lakes Environment : a Lake Michigan pilot study

The Great Lakes watershed is home to over 40 million people, and the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem is vital to the overall economic, societal, and environmental health of the U.S. and Canada. However, environmental issues related to them are sometimes overlooked. Policymakers and the public face the challenges of balancing economic benefits with the need to conserve and/or replenish regional natural resources to ensure long term prosperity. From the literature review, nine critical stressors of ecological services were delineated, which include pollution and contamination, agricultural erosion, non-native species, degraded recreational resources, loss of wetlands habitat, climate change, risk of clean water shortage, vanishing sand dunes, and population overcrowding; this list was validated through a series of stakeholder discussions and focus groups in Grand Rapids. Focus groups were conducted in Grand Rapids to examine the awareness of, concern with, and willingness to expend resources on these stressors. Stressors that the respondents have direct contact with tend to be the most important. The focus group results show that concern related to pollution and contamination is much higher than for any of the other stressors. Low responses to climate change result in recommendations for outreach programs

INNOVATION AND KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER MECHANISMS IN AN “ENGAGED” UNIVERSITY. THE CASE OF THE “FEDERICO II" SAN GIOVANNI HUB (SGH)

What happens when a former industrial area (dismissed for nearly 20 years) is replaced by a knowledge-intensive Hub hosting: a University Campus, research centres and laboratories, firms, and a hybrid form of advanced education programmes in partnership with global-scale companies? The present research aims at defining the scope of such emerging phenomenon occurring in a peripheral suburb in the East area of the city of Naples (Italy), and characterised by the settlement of a knowledge intensive Hub involving innovation, technology and knowledge transfer processes. The main subject of the study is the San Giovanni a Teduccio “Federico II” University Hub, a university campus and research centre hosted by a peripheral urban suburb in the East area of Naples and herein named the San Giovanni Hub (“SGH”) or simply the “Hub”