The South American concept of tecnologia social

Tecnologia social is a South American concept that has evolved in parallel to social innovation, growing out of a decolonial history of political struggles. Three characteristics give special prominence to tecnologia social in the social innovation debate: its decolonizing trajectory, the local/peripheral element assuming the role of the protagonist in the process, and the focus on the material and non-material technologies for social inclusion. Moreover, the notion of tecnologia social is based on the basic principles of a social and solidary economy, in which actors develop grassroots alternatives through cognitive processes – solidary technoscience – differing from those that prevail in conventional technology. This chapter briefly delineates the interfaces between social innovation and tecnologia social, with a view towards introducing this South American concept to a larger audience.