- Forthcoming papers

Technology and Innovation

List of Articles

Biological inputs constitute one of the main agricultural innovations in response to the crisis associated with the use of chemical products. Microorganisms applied to plant nutrition and pest control thus emerge as key technologies in the transition toward sustainable agriculture. However, their development depends not only on technical aspects but also on the regulatory system that institutionalizes them. This article presents findings from an exploratory study on the production of biological inputs in Argentina and their forms of institutionalization. It analyses the context in which these innovations have emerged, the actors involved, and the system of regulations and public policies that regulate, promote, or constrain their development. Methodologically, the study combines documentary analysis with secondary and quantitative industry data from official sources, along with in-depth interviews and participant observation. The results show that, although biological inputs constitute an established technology in the country, supported by an industrial structure that reveals the presence of local firms, their institutionalization is contradictory, marked by advances and setbacks that condition their consolidation.

Due to the negative impacts associated with intensive use of chemical pesticides, biopesticides are gradually gaining recognition as a sustainable and effective alternative for managing biotic stresses in agriculture. This article provides a global overview of pesticide usage alongside the rising trend of biopesticides, with a special emphasis on Africa. Recent data analysis reveals significant regional disparities: the Americas, Europe, and certain Asian regions lead in both pesticide consumption and the number of registered biopesticide products. Conversely, Africa exhibits relatively low chemical pesticide use, averaging just 0.7 kg/ha in 2023. Meanwhile, several African countries are showing promising advancements in the adoption of biocontrol methods. The article explores the key factors driving these trends and identifies levers to promote the development of biocontrol across the continent.

In Cuba, the aim is to guarantee pork production in large-scale intensive systems by seeking efficient and safe alternatives for consumers and the environment. Prebiotics and probiotics are among the most widely used and harmless options. This research aimed to contribute to the introduction of efficient microorganism (EM) technology in pig farming at the Carnes D’Tres SME through a process of technological innovation. EM produced both inside and outside the province of Ciego de Ávila were evaluated from technical, economic, and logistical perspectives, and the effectiveness of EM as a feed additive in the diet of fattening pigs was assessed. According to the technical, economic and logistical feasibility study, it is cheaper, more practical and safer to purchase RH-Vigía EM in its solid phase and manufacture the liquid and stabilised phases on the farm than to purchase any of the other EM in their stabilised liquid phase. Adding EM to pig feed also had a positive effect, particularly during the initial weeks of fattening. It reduced morbidity, increased the live weight of the group and lowered feed costs per unit of weight gained compared to animals whose diet did not include the bioproduct.

This article offers a critical analysis of how the concept of innovation is used in the French naval defense sector. Drawing on qualitative research conducted among engineers, sailors, and institutional decision-makers, it highlights the ambivalence of the term: at once an instrument of institutional legitimation and a performative category that orients action. Innovation here is embedded in power dynamics, revealing a divide between “top-down” innovations driven by the state and industry, and “bottom-up” innovations emerging from the field. Two visions are thus opposed: one that values technological rupture, complexity, and long-term projection, and another that prioritizes adaptability, simplicity, and practical mastery of equipment. This tension reshapes skills, roles, and professional hierarchies, while raising a central question: who actually holds the power to innovate within the Navy? Although open innovation promotes broad participation, the actual influence of frontline personnel on major strategic orientations remains limited. Far from being a neutral concept, innovation functions as an analyzer of political relations, structuring the dynamics between institutional elites and operational actors. The analysis reveals a growing sense of dispossession of operational know-how in favor of central stakeholders who possess the capacity to envision the future. Innovation thus becomes a lever for redistributing symbolic power in the making of organizational change.

In turbulent and uncertain environments, organizations increasingly rely on temporary structures to enhance their adaptability. This study investigates the role of task forces within the aerospace supply chain in developing the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities. Based on participant observation and interviews with supply chain actors, we identify how task forces, initially conceived as temporary crisis-response tools, evolve into adaptive mechanisms that foster responsiveness, collaboration, and strategic flexibility. Our findings highlight that while task forces can catalyze learning and coordination, their prolonged use may blur their temporary nature and shape emerging dynamic capabilities.

Today, the French healthcare system faces a dual challenge: an aging population and an increase in chronic diseases, which are putting pressure on a model historically centred on hospitals and curative care. Nonpharmacological strategies (NPS) are emerging as an innovative and necessary response, strengthening prevention, improving quality of life, and reducing medication consumption. Based on the biopsychosocial model, they encompass a variety of actions that require active patient participation and interprofessional coordination. Their integration into recent public policies illustrates a desire to promote more integrative and personalized healthcare. However, their growth must be accompanied by ethical and scientific safeguards to avoid abuses. NMSs are thus establishing themselves as essential levers of preventive and sustainable medicine, capable of addressing today’s major health and societal challenges.

The latitude and longitude geographic coordinates provided by Google Earth are affected by errors that suggest uncertainties in distance and route measurements. This study proposes improvement formulas to make geolocation data more accurate. In an approach that presents formulas for evaluating and improving uncertainties in distances produced by Google Earth, our results demonstrate that the uncertainties and errors in distances contained in measurements from Google Earth are tangible depending on the evaluation of short, long, or medium distances. The probability of errors in the coordinates provided by Google Earth is plus or minus (+/-) 2 meters. The distribution of errors as a function of distance shows that an error of +/- 3 m has only a 0.4% chance of being exceeded. This methodology takes into account the structure of the Earth’s globe: meridians, parallels, poles, the equator, hemispheres, and the Earth’s bumpy structure. These corrections help improve accuracy in applications that use geolocation as a means of optimizing services. Correcting errors from geographic coordinates using formulas that reduce errors would have an impact on geolocation in industries such as goods transportation, precision agriculture, and healthcare. While recognizing that geolocation offers significant benefits by transforming many fields, it raises some important questions regarding individual privacy.

Contrary to a popular belief, improving the ecological situation does not necessarily imply a decrease in GDP. It is first necessary to reassess the importance of the free use values of nature, and to construct a Living Conditions Indicator that takes these use values into account. Then a long-term economic program (2026-2050) is proposed, which allows for an ecological reconversion associated with an improvement in the living conditions of the population (in particular the reduction of working hours). It is based on a strong increase in labor productivity, favored by a strong investment, coupled with moderate economic growth and a drastic reduction of inequalities of all kinds.

This article analyzes the rise of impact investing (II) since the 2010s, presented as a way to reconcile financial performance with social and environmental transformation. Based on the principles of intentionality, additionality, and measurability, II is developing within a field marked by tensions between profitability and extra-financial objectives, standardization and contextualization, transformative ambition and risks of drift (greenwashing, mission drift). The study shows that impact measurement instruments play a performative role: they do not merely assess but actively shape priorities and the allocation of capital. However, this financialization of commons and of living systems raises major ethical and political issues. The article thus underlines the need for inclusive governance that integrates vulnerable stakeholders, as well as for context-based impact metrics. In conclusion, impact investing can only deliver on its transformative promise if it reconfigures its instruments, governance structures, and evaluation frameworks, in order to foster a just, inclusive, and democratic transition rather than aligning with the dominant logics of finance.

More and more public organizations implement participatory approaches such as co-creation to strengthen their relationship with the population and design public policies that meet citizens’ needs. However, some groups remain systematically absent from these processes. First, this article proposes four analytical dimensions to characterize the co-creation of public policies and compare its scope from one initiative to another. It then examines the concept of non-participation and analyzes its underlying causes. Finally, five approaches identified in the literature are presented as potentially enhancing the inclusiveness of co-creation initiatives: outreach, incentives, digital tools, the mobilization of ambassadors, and skills development. Addressed to both researchers and practitioners, the article thus provides concrete avenues for engaging typically “invisible” publics and rethinking the inclusivity of co-creation.

Plants in the environment face constant stresses either biotic or abiotic. These stresses can significantly reduce the productivity of important crops worldwide, with annual crop yield losses ranging from 25% to 50% of the total production. Biotic stress includes herbivores, pests and pathogens. Thus, plants developed a multilayer defence system to prevent the problem of biotic stress which includes the constitutive (SAR) and induced defence system (ISR). The excessive use of synthetic chemicals has detrimental effects on the environment and human health, which discourages pesticide application in the agriculture sector. As a result, researchers worldwide have shifted their focus towards alternative eco-friendly strategies to prevent plant diseases. A variety of biological control agents are available for use. Currently, researchers are exploring the use of beneficial microorganisms as an eco-friendly strategy to control crop diseases. A range of bacterial genera and fungi have demonstrated great potential as biocontrol agents for various plant diseases. Apart from these, to date, researchers in biotechnology exploring the plant Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) and Induced Systemic Resistance (ISR) the role and mode of action against phytopathogens and plant stress. In this paper an effort has been made to describe the new biostimulants and natural elicitors made by biotechnology and nano technology in the last years, as a new insight to the increase of SAR and ISR in plant defence system.

This research presents an innovative digital platform that combines the Haitian kolòn model with communities of practice theory to support projects’ co-design and collaborative learning in maker spaces. Build on a study involving 57 participants and five international maker communities, this platform has been designed to facilitate peer learning and skills development through a distributed mentoring system. Our results show significant improvements in collaborative capabilities and project success rates. The results highlight the co-creation process of a technological solution centered on a community-based, collaborative and inclusive approach. This work contributes to advancing Innovation and skills development in the field of digital fabrication by providing a framework for ‘learning by making together’ that bridges virtual and physical maker spaces.

This article presents the definition of personalized and targeted prevention and care protocols based on science, non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs), proposed by an international multidisciplinary scientific society, the Non-Pharmacological Intervention Society. It defines the scope of these health practices based on a standardized ethical and scientific evaluation framework developed over two years with more than 1000 people. Since 2024, this framework has enabled the creation of a universal heritage of intangible prevention and care protocols in a digital library, the NPIS Registry.

Mindfulness as a non-pharmacological intervention complements conventional medicine in the field of integrative health, as it is both a treatment protocol and a prevention protocol. It allows us to look at the person as a whole and no longer just as a patient suffering only from their disease. Many healthcare facilities are now using it in supportive care, chronic illness and pain, and because of its impact on the efficiency of organizations and the importance placed on care. In recent years, mindfulness has also been integrated into training courses for leadership development in organizations. Its use in the healthcare sector is therefore an important topic, and this article describes the expected impact of these measures.

Malaysia has a wide variety of traditional medicines stemming from its rich ethnic heritage, which have gradually been joined by more or less globalized complementary medicines. The practice of these medicines, which largely consist of manual therapies, is important to investigate their function as substitutes for drug interventions. This article addresses this issue by showing that the therapeutic model proposed by the Malaysian Holistic and Herbal Organization is based on a subtle combination of non-drug practices from T&C medicine, taking into account the various aspects of the disease and the patient, and promoting demedicalization. Conversely, the integrative model developed by the government, which is too reductive in its form, can only partially compensate for the strong medicalization inherent in biomedicine.

The action of “taking care” is one of the oldest gestures made towards others. Beyond health and well-being, it is appropriate to broaden the scope of these practices to the various dimensions of care with the very idea of understanding, in its unities and diversities, a variation of situations passing from acts the most. Punctual to the broadest ethical, political and prospective issues. Thus the implementation of non-medication care strategies allows us to question and wonder how the knowledge and practices of “taking care” can be re-examined in a multicultural world. To do this, it is a question of studying the conditions for applying these strategies so that they become key skills for a more sustainable and united world.

Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror series is a futuristic projection of new technologies whose primary objective is to improve our daily lives. The series examines artificial intelligence, digitalisation, gamification and robotisation of our daily lives, augmented reality and virtual reality. The mirror held up by Charlie Brooker is sometimes blackened, sometimes true to our reality. The series reflects the utopian intentions of the technologies implemented and shows to what extent human use reminds us of the dangers and highlights the dystopian side of all these new technologies when man appropriates or distorts them to serve his own interests. These works of anticipation, by hybridising the fictional and the real, reveal both the dystopian and the mirror aspects, allowing the viewer to engage in both a reflective and self-reflexive process.