The current environmental, social, political and economic crisis forces the scientific communities to reflect on the role they play in the maintenance of the dominant development model. From the niche construction theory, we propose a need for a shift of paradigm from reductionism and positivism towards a holistic view that takes into account the complexity of the systems being studied and its relations with society. It is no more time to see the object of study distinct from the subject: to explain society as an ecological community, with their different contexts and from a transgenerational point of view, allows a deeper understanding of the problems affecting our time and lets looking for a “sustainable socially justifiable development”. In our case studies we present institutions that consent participatory government, democratization of science and technology and that facilitate open access to scientific and technological knowledge. Understanding scientific knowledge as a common good (interpreted as the common heritage of mankind), governed by the value in use, within a relational structure and qualitatively responsible consumption, allows it to be disseminated in a socially fairest way, with improvements in the citizen's standard of living (particularly in the case of third world countries) and opposing serious and multiple effects of anthropogenic activities.