Context:

There is a growing concern with the economic consumption and unlimited accumulation model because improvement in some parameters implies that others are negatively affected. There is a need for more intellectual wealth, not only oriented towards the market, but also towards engineering and technology.

Methodology:

To measure natural/environmental, human, intellectual, public/institutional, and private wealth, the basic results of the Índice de desarrollo territorial sustentable (IDTS, spanish acronyms) are used, which is formed by 60 variables. With data from the 2000-2010 period, the relationship between the 5 types of wealth and sustainability is analyzed using principal component analysis.

Results:

At the municipal and departmental levels, the direction of the natural and environmental wealth was found to be opposite direction to the other four. The distance between the different types of wealth ended up being important, and it increases with the IDTS.

Conclusions:

The development model followed by Colombia is negatively affecting the natural and environmental wealth and as so is unsustainable. Neither research nor innovation are making adequate use of the natural resources at municipal level, and autonomous regional corporations may be ineffective against the inadequate use of this wealth. It is imperative to modify this exploitation model and reduce the distance between the five types of wealth. Although it is necessary to adopt and develop engineering and technology adequate to biodiversity and tropical geography, this is not enough; substantial social and institutional innovation are also needed in the face of a complex, uncertain, and dizzying technological reality, which is also inequitable at the social and interregional scale.

Financing:

This project was self-funded.