Using of Design Thinking to Promote Local Innovation: The Experience of the Municipality of Mosquera - Cundinamarca

The municipality of Mosquera, in Cundinamarca, Colombia, changed its agricultural-rural vocation to an industrial-urban vocation during the last two decades, which generated significant gaps in terms of innovation and business dynamics. To address this problem, both in the Development Plan “Juntos hacia el Futuro 2020-20232” and in Municipal Decree 363 of 2021, innovation programs and functions were included, in whose execution it was decided to apply design thinking methodologies to facilitate the participation of public officials, business, academic and social sectors in designing solutions to various challenges in the municipality. This case study aims to describe how design thinking has been applied to address the aforementioned gaps, and at the same time, reflect on whether the resulting actions have been consistent with the users’ interests and their needs. The findings indicate that the application of design thinking made it easier to address problems and design creative and innovative solutions from various points of view, demonstrating its usefulness to promote collaboration in initiatives that promote local innovation and business dynamics in the municipality