From transfer to co-creation: a community co-design protocol for smart agriculture in the AgroHub project (Magdalena, Colombia)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59410/PREPRINT-UEA-v2026ep08-1208Keywords:
AIoT, rural communities, methodological protocol, social innovation, technology appropriationAbstract
The adoption of Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) technologies in rural settings faces structural barriers rooted in traditional top-down technology transfer models that overlook the sociocultural rationales and local knowledge of beneficiary communities. A methodological gap persists: empirically validated protocols for community co-creation in agricultural AIoT projects remain scarce in Latin America. This paper presents the design, implementation, and validation of a co-creation protocol grounded in Participatory Action Research (PAR), developed within the AgroHub project (BPIN 2024000100047) in four municipalities of Magdalena, Colombia. The protocol was structured in four sequential and iterative phases —participatory territorial diagnosis, technological co-design, community implementation, and formative evaluation— and applied with 23 community organizations using two validated instruments, the Technology Appropriation Index (TAI) and the Community Participation Index (CPI), together with five intercultural mediation tools and a four-level transfer-to-co-creation gradient model inspired by Arnstein's ladder of participation. The results show sustained gains on both indices and indicate that structured co-creation protocols represent a replicable alternative for social innovation in Latin American rural contexts facing significant digital divides.
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