IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i17p10978-d905212.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Engagement and Social Impact in Tech-Based Citizen Science Initiatives for Achieving the SDGs: A Systematic Literature Review with a Perspective on Complex Thinking

Author

Listed:
  • Jorge Sanabria-Z

    (Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, Mexico
    School of Architecture, Art and Design, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Zapopan 45201, Mexico)

  • Berenice Alfaro-Ponce

    (Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, Mexico)

  • Omar Israel González Peña

    (Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, Mexico
    Evidence-Based Medicine Research Unit, Children’s Hospital of Mexico Federico Gómez, National Institute of Health, Mexico City 06720, Mexico
    National Institute of Sciences and Innovation for the Formation of the Scientific Community, INDEHUS, Mexico City 14388, Mexico
    School of Engineering and Sciences, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, Mexico)

  • Hugo Terashima-Marín

    (Institute for the Future of Education, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, Mexico
    School of Engineering and Sciences, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, Mexico)

  • José Carlos Ortiz-Bayliss

    (School of Engineering and Sciences, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, Mexico)

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed significant achievements and technological advances in citizen science (CS) projects; nevertheless, significant global challenges are present. Proof of this is in the joint efforts of international organizations to achieve the 2030 SDG agenda in a complex environment. Thus, UNESCO has recognized CS as being among the initiatives that could bridge the Science, Technology, and Innovation gap as a substantial resource, given its power to bring the general public closer together. Although tech-based CS projects keep rising, there is limited knowledge about which type of projects might allow participants to develop higher-order complex thinking skills. To that end, this study describes a systematic literature review (SLR) and analysis of 49 CS projects over the last 5 years concerning the technology utilized, the level of citizen involvement, and the intended social impact. The results of the analysis evidenced: (a) broad implementation in Europe on issues of the built environment, disaster risk, and environmental and animal monitoring; (b) prevalence of helix configurations other than the triple, quadruple, and quintuple helix innovation models; (c) a focus on technological developments to improve living conditions in cities; (d) an opportunity to develop applied native technologies; (e) limited development of participants’ complex thinking, when constrained to low levels of involvement; and (f) an opportunity to develop native technologies and promote a higher level of citizen participation, leading to more significant impact whilst developing complex thinking.

Suggested Citation

  • Jorge Sanabria-Z & Berenice Alfaro-Ponce & Omar Israel González Peña & Hugo Terashima-Marín & José Carlos Ortiz-Bayliss, 2022. "Engagement and Social Impact in Tech-Based Citizen Science Initiatives for Achieving the SDGs: A Systematic Literature Review with a Perspective on Complex Thinking," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-22, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:17:p:10978-:d:905212
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/17/10978/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/17/10978/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Graciano Dieck-Assad & Alfonso Ávila-Ortega & Omar Israel González Peña, 2021. "Comparing Competency Assessment in Electronics Engineering Education with and without Industry Training Partner by Challenge-Based Learning Oriented to Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-28, September.
    2. Bryan Campbell, 2010. "Environment And Sustainable Development," CIRANO Papers 2010n-04speciala, CIRANO.
    3. Luciano Barcellos-Paula & Iván De la Vega & Anna María Gil-Lafuente, 2021. "The Quintuple Helix of Innovation Model and the SDGs: Latin-American Countries’ Case and Its Forgotten Effects," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-23, February.
    4. David Campbell & Elias Carayannis & Scheherazade Rehman, 2015. "Quadruple Helix Structures of Quality of Democracy in Innovation Systems: the USA, OECD Countries, and EU Member Countries in Global Comparison," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 6(3), pages 467-493, September.
    5. Aleksandra Krstikj & Juan Sosa Godina & Luciano García Bañuelos & Omar Israel González Peña & Héctor Nahún Quintero Milián & Pedro Daniel Urbina Coronado & Ana Yael Vanoye García, 2022. "Analysis of Competency Assessment of Educational Innovation in Upper Secondary School and Higher Education: A Mapping Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-20, July.
    6. David Moher & Alessandro Liberati & Jennifer Tetzlaff & Douglas G Altman & The PRISMA Group, 2009. "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(7), pages 1-6, July.
    7. Loet Leydesdorff, 2012. "The Triple Helix, Quadruple Helix, …, and an N-Tuple of Helices: Explanatory Models for Analyzing the Knowledge-Based Economy?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 3(1), pages 25-35, March.
    8. Sauermann, Henry & Vohland, Katrin & Antoniou, Vyron & Balázs, Bálint & Göbel, Claudia & Karatzas, Kostas & Mooney, Peter & Perelló, Josep & Ponti, Marisa & Samson, Roeland & Winter, Silvia, 2020. "Citizen science and sustainability transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(5).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Berenice Alfaro-Ponce & Rosa Durán-González & Luisa Morales-Maure & Jorge Sanabria-Z, 2024. "Citizen science as a relevant approach to the challenges of complex thinking development in higher education: mapping and bibliometric analysis," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Gustavo Morán-Soto & Aradaryn Marsh & Omar Israel González Peña & Matthew Sheppard & José Isabel Gómez-Quiñones & Lisa C. Benson, 2022. "Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Sense of Belonging in Higher Education for STEM Students in the United States and Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-19, December.
    3. Maria Soledad Ramirez-Montoya & Hector G. Ceballos & Sandra Martínez-Pérez & Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez, 2023. "Impact of Teaching Workload on Scientific Productivity: Multidimensional Analysis in the Complexity of a Mexican Private University," Publications, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-17, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elias G. Carayannis & David F. J. Campbell, 2021. "Democracy of Climate and Climate for Democracy: the Evolution of Quadruple and Quintuple Helix Innovation Systems," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(4), pages 2050-2082, December.
    2. Yong Kyu Lew & Jeong‐Yang Park, 2021. "The evolution of N‐helix of the regional innovation system: Implications for sustainability," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 453-464, March.
    3. Elias G. Carayannis & David F. J. Campbell & Evangelos Grigoroudis, 2022. "Helix Trilogy: the Triple, Quadruple, and Quintuple Innovation Helices from a Theory, Policy, and Practice Set of Perspectives," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(3), pages 2272-2301, September.
    4. Durán-Romero, Gemma & López, Ana M. & Beliaeva, Tatiana & Ferasso, Marcos & Garonne, Christophe & Jones, Paul, 2020. "Bridging the gap between circular economy and climate change mitigation policies through eco-innovations and Quintuple Helix Model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    5. Xiaoran Zheng & Yuzhuo Cai, 2022. "Transforming Innovation Systems into Innovation Ecosystems: The Role of Public Policy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-26, June.
    6. Loet Leydesdorff & Han Woo Park & Balazs Lengyel, 2014. "A routine for measuring synergy in university–industry–government relations: mutual information as a Triple-Helix and Quadruple-Helix indicator," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(1), pages 27-35, April.
    7. Zafeirios Thomakis & Irene Daskalopoulou, 2022. "Entrepreneurial Views and Rural Entrepreneurial Potential: Evidence from Greece," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(2), pages 1611-1634, June.
    8. Farshad Momeni & Ali Arab Mazar Yazdi & Seyed Mohammad Sajjad Najafi, 2019. "Changing economic systems and institutional dimensions of the Triple Helix model," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Elias G. Carayannis & David F. J. Campbell & Evangelos Grigoroudis, 2021. "Democracy and the Environment: How Political Freedom Is Linked with Environmental Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-15, May.
    10. Noriko Yoda & Kenichi Kuwashima, 2020. "Triple Helix of University–Industry–Government Relations in Japan: Transitions of Collaborations and Interactions," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(3), pages 1120-1144, September.
    11. Oleg RYBALKIN, 2022. "Sustainable development goals progress in the European Union: correlation with EEPSE green economy index," Access Journal, Access Press Publishing House, vol. 3(2), pages 121-135, April.
    12. Macarena Valenzuela-Zubiaur & Héctor Torres-Bustos & Mónica Arroyo-Vázquez & Pablo Ferrer-Gisbert, 2021. "Promotion of Social Innovation through Fab Labs. The Case of ProteinLab UTEM in Chile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    13. Irena Lacka & Lukasz Brzezicki, 2021. "The Efficiency and Productivity Evaluation of National Innovation Systems in Europe," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 3), pages 471-496.
    14. Elias Carayannis & Luc Hens & Polyxeni Nicolopoulou-Stamati, 2017. "TRANS-DISCIPLINARITY AND GROWTH: Nature and Characteristics of Trans-disciplinary Training Programs on the Human-Environment Interphase," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(1), pages 1-22, March.
    15. Elias Carayannis & Evangelos Grigoroudis, 2016. "Quadruple Innovation Helix and Smart Specialization: Knowledge Production and National Competitiveness," Foresight and STI Governance (Foresight-Russia till No. 3/2015), National Research University Higher School of Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 31-42.
    16. Graciano Dieck-Assad & Alfonso Ávila-Ortega & Omar Israel González Peña, 2021. "Comparing Competency Assessment in Electronics Engineering Education with and without Industry Training Partner by Challenge-Based Learning Oriented to Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-28, September.
    17. Shantha Indrajith Hikkaduwa Liyanage & Fulu Godfrey Netswera, 2022. "Greening Universities with Mode 3 and Quintuple Helix Model of Innovation–Production of Knowledge and Innovation in Knowledge-Based Economy, Botswana," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(2), pages 1126-1156, June.
    18. Maria Manuela Natário & João Pedro Couto & Ascensão Maria Braga & Teresa Maria Tiago, 2011. "Dynamics of innovation in European regions," ERSA conference papers ersa11p466, European Regional Science Association.
    19. Weiss, Gerhard & Ludvig, Alice & Živojinović, Ivana, 2020. "Four decades of innovation research in forestry and the forest-based industries – A systematic literature review," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    20. Markus Erbach, 2016. "Facilitating Targeted Open Innovation by Applying Pragmatic Identity Matching," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 7(1), pages 104-125, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:17:p:10978-:d:905212. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.