S+T+ARTS Prize Buen-TEK
Honouring Indigenous Technology and Forgotten Values
+ About the Prize
IMPAKT is pleased to award the S+T+ARTS Prize Buen-TEK for the first time, together with its consortium partners GLUON, HacTe, TBA21, BSC and Sony CSL, as part of the European Union funded project S+T+ARTS Buen-TEK.
The S+T+ARTS Prize Buen-TEK highlights creative practices at the intersection of science, technology, and the arts across South America. With two Grand Prizes of €10.000 each, two Prizes of Distinction of €5.000 each and three Honorable Mentions, the prize recognizes projects that reimagine innovation and technology through indigenous knowledge, ancestral technologies, and the principles of Buen Vivir.
The two Grand Prize winners will be showcased at the IMPAKT Festival in April 2026 in Utrecht (The Netherlands) and will benefit from a dissemination campaign in the S+T+ARTS network in Europe and South America.
The 7 winners’ projects were selected by a jury of 6 high-profile distinguished members from a wide range of fields, based both in Europe and South America. The call was open to artists and collectives from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Uruguay.
As a conceptual and methodological framework, Buen-TEK brings together Indigenous worldviews and technological innovation to articulate alternative futures rooted in care, sustainability, and interdependence. The term is a portmanteau of Buen Vivir and Lo-TEK, two movements that foreground ancestral knowledge as a critical resource for addressing contemporary ecological and social challenges. Buen Vivir is an Indigenous philosophy that promotes harmony between people, nature, and community. Instead of focusing on individual wealth, it emphasizes well-being, sustainability, and interconnectedness. Lo-TEK (Local Traditional Ecological Knowledge) explores how Indigenous cultures have developed sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. From the Inca waru waru agricultural system to other ecological innovations, these local technological solutions inspire new ways of building a more resilient future. By drawing on these knowledge systems, Buen-TEK positions local ecological intelligence as a catalyst for rethinking innovation and shaping more sustainable, plural, and future-oriented modes of living.
Partners
S+T+ARTS Buen-Tek is co-funded by the European Union, under the STARTS – Science, Technology and Arts initiative of DG CNECT (GA no. LC- 03568052). Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or DG CNECT. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.