Strategic Innovation: Conception of Innovation among Social Sciences Researchers in Higher Education in Northwestern México

Researchers in universities are encouraged to produce innovative scientific research and participate in the international scientific community. In Mexico, public policies have intended to promote competitiveness in such social space. However, the lack of funding, researchers, and the polysemic conception of innovation in scientific production, amongst other factors, has scarcely promoted the economic, scientific and social progress in the region. This study (1) analyzes the concept of innovation among researchers in the field of Social Sciences to identify if they share a standard definition of such and if (2) the scholars have the impression that they perform innovations in their scientific production. The study compares researchers’ conceptions from three higher education institutions of the State of Sonora, Mexico. The Northwestern region of Mexico is significant due to its research production in Physics and Social Sciences, which is mainly generated in Higher Education institutions. We conducted semi-structured interviews and analyzed their views about their scientific production over the last five years. We reflect on the different types of relations scholars tie the concept of innovation. The main results show the different conceptions of innovation, especially its fragmentary character among social science researchers and how this inhibits the development of innovation and competitiveness. This result is a virtual space for policymakers to open a formative space for innovation and is an invitation to investigate the innovative or non-innovative character of scientific production in northwestern Mexico.