Managing Public Service and Technology Innovations for Sustainable Development in Mexico: Energy, Water, Agroforestry, and Biocultural Cases

The objective is to select some Public Services Innovations (PSI) focused on sustainable strategies implemented in Mexico from 2019 to 2022. Eight PSI are highlighted and englobed into four cases of public strategies regarding energy sustainability, water, agroforestry, and biocultural. These cases are analyzed, focusing on their characteristics: diagnosis, solutions, agents involved, impacts on public value, and user value. An in-depth analysis of each innovation’s process and considering the INDICO index (Innovation Diffusion Co-value) measures the capacity of each PSI and its impact on sustainability considering three axes: time, organization, and the behavior of the agents involved. The findings indicate that technical management and innovations have a favorable impact on sustainability. However, if environmental degradation is higher, longer-term approaches and more complex solutions seem necessary. While these may have uncertain consequences, they seem to provide elements to deter agents’ behaviors toward environmental degradation.