RedTIKAL institutions analyze their role in digital transformation entrepreneurship

UPS, lunes 30 abril 2018
UPS president Javier Herrán
UPS president Javier Herrán

Eight higher education institutions in Spain and Latin America analyzed their role in the digital transformation of society, in the promotion of entrepreneurship, fourth level education and research at the annual meeting of RedTIKAL In the event, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana (UPS) presented its experience in the areas of: university management of research and innovation, postgraduate studies, entrepreneurship and web management.

RedTIKAL is an organization promoted by the School of Industrial Organization (EOI for its acronym in Spanish) to promote the creation and transfer of knowledge between this Spanish foundation and education and research institutions in Latin America. The 2018 meeting was attended by: UPS, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL), EOI, Universidad Nacional Mayor San Marcos (Peru), Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (Domenican Republic), Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Universidad del Externado de Colombia and Universidad Católica de Murcia (Spain). 

The sessions were inaugurated with a speech of the general director of EOI, Adolfo Cazorla, on the role of universities in today's society for its transformation. The event was attended by the Cybermetric director of the Higher Center for Scientific Research of Spain (CSIC) and the Webometrics University editor, Isidro Aguillo, who spoke about good management practices for the optimization of the web presence of the institutions of higher education, and its positioning in world rankings.

UPS presidents Father Javier Herrán, presented the topic "UPS and its strategy since 2013: Towards a Research University", he presented the strategy of change promoted in the institution with the purpose of generating an ecosystem that integrates academia, teaching, innovation, research and works with society. According to him, the model based on the integration of knowledge, action and communication gives a positive result of the development of competencies that professionals must put at the service of community.

The Ecosystem of Cooperative Learning that Investigates and Innovates in UPS, explains the university's head of Research, Juan Pablo Salgado, integrates different agents of the university community such as research groups, Coworking, StartUPS, Research Council, Observatory of Knowledge, among others. The management strategy implemented since 2013 has produced remarkable results, such as the creation of more than 60 research groups, the increase in publications of 916.7% (period 2012-2016) carried out by 179 authors (+ 1178.6% during the 2012-2016 period). 

The presentation of the university's experience was complemented by the Web Editor, Andrea De Santis, who addressed the topic "University and Research on the web: Strategies and actions to improve the presence of the Universidad Politecnica Salesiana". In his speech, De Santis explained how the presence of a university on the web and the visibility of the research carried out are central elements of communication and web management strategy of UPS, which has produced important results in terms of impact of its work in the community.

UPS also shared its experience in the field of academic masters programs, Diego Peñaloza, head of postgraduate programs, presented the new Master in Business Administration (MBA) which started its first edition with almost 90 students in each branch campus in Quito, Cuenca and Guayaquil. The MBA has a focus on Financial Management, Marketing Management and Project Management.

Finally, Paula Salazar, student of Biotechnology Engineering, talked about her experience in the Ecosystem of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Coworking-StartUPS. Paula is currently coordinator of Coworking in Quito and is the CEO of her own company created in with the help of the University. Her product, COMFY is a disposable toilet cover that won the Talent and Innovation Competition of the Americas (TIC Americas 2018 of the Organization of American States, OAS).