Technologies of the Commons

Latin America faces major socio-environmental challenges, including unequal access to basic services, rapid ecosystem degradation and widening social gaps. However, the institutional, financial and technological resources available to address them are always limited. This scarcity, however, is only part of the story. The region also has a long tradition of valuing and using local development knowledge and tools, usually in participatory and open ways.

In recent years, many individuals and communities across the continent have begun addressing these issues through initiatives in frugal innovation, social technologies and citizen science. From community solar energy systems and new methods of citizen participation to participatory environmental monitoring, these initiatives seek to adapt scientific and technological tools to local needs and contexts. More than emergency responses, they often represent highly effective alternatives for producing knowledge, designing solutions and organizing collective action using the resources and capabilities already present in local territories, with the aim of enhancing sustainability and the common good.

Under the theme “Technologies of the Commons”, the Second Latin American Congress on Frugal Innovation, Social Technologies and Citizen Science seeks to build on the inaugural gathering held in Bogotá in 2026 and once again invites researchers, entrepreneurs, community organizations and policymakers. While the first edition helped reveal the breadth and vitality of these practices in the region, this second edition seeks to go a step further: to identify what sustains them over time, what institutional conditions they require and how they can be brought together in shared agendas. More than a space for presentations, we propose the congress as a collective exercise in review and future planning, in which academic, professional and community knowledge come together on equal terms to outline a collaborative work agenda that ensures continuity and increases the impact of this movement.

This second congress seeks to bring together academics, entrepreneurs, industry professionals, NGOs, public policy practitioners and representatives of community organizations in Latin America (or working in the region) who are interested in exploring how Frugal Innovation, Social Technologies and Citizen Science can transform processes, methodologies and models to advance truly transformative action in the region.