Evolving Knowledge for DevelopmentEvolving Knowledge for DevelopmentCreating a path for evolutionary development

Prepared by

Kathia Castro Laszlo, Ph.D. and Alexander Laszlo, Ph.D.Syntony Quest, San Francisco and Mexico

EGADE-ITESM, Mexico

© 2003

Origins of EDGEThe Evolutionary Development Group of EGADE

Kathia & Alexander Laszlo, co-founders of Syntony Quest, are faculty members at EGADE — the Graduate School of Business Administration & Leadership of the Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM) in Mexico.

They founded EDGE (the Evolutionary Development Group of EGADE) in January 2001 as an international, interdisciplinary research group.

EDGE is dedicated to the study of human, social, economic and sustainable development from an evolutionary systems perspective in order to contribute a knowledge-based praxis to support development in Latin America and around the globe.

Beyond economic growth

Traditional Development Approaches

Economic Growth

Quality of Life

Social and Environmental Sustainability

Evolutionary Development

Evolutionary Development is...

Understanding development as a complex dynamic system

Knowledge-based participatory and emancipatory processes of wealth creation

Doing new things, and doing more with less (i.e., ethical social innovation)

Increasing quality of life and standards of living

Creating sustainable economies that protect the natural environment and indigenous cultures

Fostering human and social capital for a global learning society

Technology blending and the develop-ment of appropriate technologies

is not... Progressive and linear

improvement of conditions that tend to be confounded with growth

Devising policy and business strategies without taking into account the general population and the underprivileged

Creating knowledge economies for doing more of the same (i.e., unsustainable socio-economic paths)

Improving only standards of living Technology transfer or

technology imposition

Learning and innovation Key processes of evolutionary development

The main vehicle to catalyze evolutionary development is the concept of

Evolutionary Learning Community (ELC)ELCs are:

Learning environments where people can learn together about the interconnected nature of our world, the ecological impact of our individual and collective choices, and the joy of finding a meaningful way to contribute to a sustainable learning society.

Spaces for knowledge sharing,creation, and innovation with a methodological support for creating sustainable processes and products.

Communities whose core purpose is the development of human and social capital for evolutionary development.

Opportunities for designing learning systems that respond to the needs and challenges of the 21st century.

socially desirable

culturally acceptable

psychologically nurturing

economically sustainable

technologically feasible

operationally viable

environmentally friendly

generationally sensitive

capable of continuous learning

Sustainability CriteriaIn order to be sustainable, any process and product must be:

knowledge

resources

information

individual learning

collective learning

Evolutionaryfamily

Evolutionarycorporation

Evolutionaryneighborhood

Drawing on the learning

environment creates a knowledgebase for evolutionary development

Facilitating evolutionarylearningcreates a local learning ecology

Empowered individuals andgroups catalyze evolutionary

socio-ecological transformation

ELC

ELC

ELC

The process of ELC empowerment

Knowledge Management From an evolutionary perspective

First generation: knowledge sharing – how to distribute

existing organizational knowledge, usually through

technology. (“What is:”standards and benchmarks)

Second generation: knowledge creation – how to

satisfy organizational needs for new knowledge, usually

through processes of learning and value creation. (“What

could be:” innovation)

Third generation: evolutionary knowledge distribution

– to enable evolutionary development (“What should be:”

social ethical innovation)

Des

crip

tive

Pro

spec

tive

Third generation KM

Third generation KM is about the democratization of knowledge, about citizen involvement, and the expansion of the boundaries of what traditionally has been considered education in order to design a sustainable learning society. It is not so much about knowledge and know-how anymore but more about meaning and know-why. It is based on a new way of thinking informed by a planetary ethic and a different way of living from what it is now favored by mass media commercialization.

Next steps for EDGE Further action-research on

Describing and fostering socially and environmentally responsible entrepreneurship.

Developing methodologies for the creation of human, social, and natural capital for evolutionary development.

Designing approaches and programs for participatory and anticipatory processes of third generation knowledge management.

Devising strategies for the creation and distribution of wealth in a knowledge economy.

Integrating learning and innovation in the core processes of education, business, mass media, the arts, health, governance, and community activities.

Documenting cases of ELCs in diverse socio-cultural contexts in order to apply the lessons they provide to the specific realities of developing communities contributing to the emergence of a sustainable learning society.

EDGE research coordinators: Kathia & Alexander Laszlo

Syntony Quest and EGADE-ITESM laszlo@syntonyquest.org

EDGE researchers: Marcia Campos, EGADE-ITESM

marciac@itesm.mx Carlos Romero, EGADE-ITESM

carlos.romero@itesm.mx

EDGE Site:www.communityzero.com/edgesite