The university's branch in Guayaquil held the 3rd International Congress on Science, Technology and Innovation for Society (CITIS 2016) whose aim was to encourage the dissemination of knowledge, technologies and innovations that directly impact the improvement of people's quality of life.

The inauguration ceremony was presided by UPS president Father Javier Herran Gomez and the board was made up by Andres Bayolo, vice president of the university's branch in Guayaquil, Jose Juncosa, vice president of the university's branch in Quito, Luis Cabrera, archbishop of Guayaquil, Luis Tobar, UPS general vice president, Patricia Albaraccin, representative of the National Secretariat of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Raquel Ayala, coordinator of research of UPS-Guayaquil. 

Father Herran spoke about the importance of CITIS 2016 for scientific dissemination worldwide. "These events should continue; students and researchers should take control of these events", he said.

The Congress was attended by researchers from Venezuela, Brazil, Italy, Spain, USA, Mexico and Ecuador. The topics were: citizenship, communication, health, religion, education, environment and productivity, which were presented through keynote speeches, presentation of papers, exhibition of scientific posters and a photo exhibition of the first salesian researcher, Father Carlos Crespi.

The keynote speeches were given by Luis Miguel Romero (Universidad de Huelva), Daniel Gamermann (Universidad Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil), Salvador Chávez y Arianna Becerril (Redalyc), Riccardo Barberi (Universitá della Calabria), Luz Mosquera (Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible de Colombia), Franklin Gavilánez (Montgomery College, USA), Eladio Dapena (Programa Prometeo SENESCYT), and Pedro Fernández de Córdova (Universidad Politécnica de Valencia) who presented their research to students and researchers. 

Besides the academic activities, attendees enjoyed a night of culture from Guayaquil with the presentation of the folk dance group "Ayawayra".

In the closing ceremony, UPS president Father Javier Herran presented the topic "The approach of  CITIS' challenges in relation to UPS" and the university's head of research Juan Pablo Salgado presented the topic "Research and university". Both talks highlighted the importance of scientific knowledge that should be generated in the classrooms in order to strengthen research in the university.

"UPS needs to work on research and get students involved", said Father Javier Herran.  This third edition of the congress demonstrated people's concern for human and social aspects through the development of responsible science and technology.