The UPS Social Tech University Festival was inaugurated with representatives from 6 universities, 37 research projects, 94 people who registered for the hackathon and 64 for the video marathon. UPS President Javier Herrán, UPS Head of Research Juan Pablo Salgado, UPS-Quito Vice President Jose Juncosa, Infodesarrollo president Marlon Sanchez, community involvement director Lola Vasquez and the director of the pastoral department Father Marcelo Farfan, attended the opening ceremony.

Before starting the event, Father Farfan asked everyone for a minute of silence for all the victims of the earthquake that hit the Ecuadorian coast 2 weeks ago. Lola Vasquez gave the opening speech and said "these events are signs of change in academic processes, here is where we encourage collaborative research."

The participating universities were: Escuela Politécnica Nacional (EPN), la Universidad Central del Ecuador (UCE), la Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas (ESPE) from Quito and Latacunga, la Universidad Tecnológica del Norte (UTN), Universidad Tecnológica Equinoccial (UTE) and Universidad Iberoamericana (UI).  

Marlon Sanchez said that Infodesarrollo is made up by 35 organizations that work as a network to bring technology to societies and find solutions to several problems. As a UPS graduate of Management and Leadership, he thanked the university for holding events like these to reinforce knowledge.

For the head of research, "coworking is filled with trust, solidarity and support which will change society and education". UPS president Javier Herran invited students to get together, conduct research projects and discover new paths to building their dreams.

 AGENDA

WATCH  THE INAUGURATION VIDEO