From Regional Innovation Capacity to Local Social Appropriation: A Multi-Stakeholder Study of Basic Education in Duitama, Colombia

Regional innovation indicators describe territorial capabilities, but they do not show on their own how those capabilities are experienced or used locally. This study examines that relationship in Duitama, Colombia, by analyzing how regional science, technology, and innovation (STI) capacity is reflected in institutional conditions, participation, formalization, and social appropriation. The Departmental Innovation Index for Colombia (IDIC) served as the regional benchmark. A cross-sectional multi-stakeholder design included 1,247 valid responses from primary students (n = 482), secondary students (n = 397), teachers (n = 278), and civil-society leaders (n = 90). The analysis combined reliability assessment, exploratory factor analysis, nonparametric comparisons, effect sizes, multiple-testing correction, and logistic regression. Civil-society respondents rated governmental response, security and justice, road infrastructure, and territorial connectivity less favorably than educational stakeholders. Among teachers, postgraduate education was strongly associated with formal research-system linkage (OR = 5.94, 95% CI 2.83–12.46). Among primary students, prior participation in projects aimed at understanding their environment was associated with higher odds of participating in projects that addressed community needs (OR = 3.46, 95% CI 1.84–6.53). The results suggest that regional innovation capacity is mediated by educational experience, institutional pathways, and stakeholder perceptions rather than transferred automatically from regional indicators to local practice.