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Tech, Innovation Aid Economic Recovery, Sustainable Development

By Victor Sánchez - Red OTT México
President

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By Victor Gabriel Sánchez | Presidente - Tue, 12/14/2021 - 16:52

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The Network of Technological Transfer Offices of Mexico (REDOTTMX) believes that it is important to highlight the benefits of science (and its implementation) in various fields to address the current global health contingency and its negative economic and social outcomes. To advance this idea, from Nov. 8-12, 2021 the Network held its 10th annual congress with the collaboration of the Universidad Autónoma Nacional de México, through the Institute of Chemistry and the Office of Technology Transfer.

REDOTTMX has matured with the support of government institutions, which helped to establish the foundations of the network. Particularly, the Ministry of Economy and the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) were fundamental in the launch and consolidation phases of our organization. The current growth strategy has also considered the participation of private organizations to increase connection points between technology supply and demand through technology transfer offices. For this reason, this year REDOTTMX has established collaborative relationships with business organizations with national reach, such as CANACINTRA and COPARMEX; and with state reach, such as CIAJ in Jalisco, and CDT and DEITAC in Baja California. Also, the Network has strengthened its international collaborations with organizations in South Korea, China, and the Pacific Alliance.

During these first 10 years, members have visited different locations with a strong drive to foster innovation: Guadalajara, Queretaro, Monterrey, Pachuca, Tijuana, Puebla, Mazatlan, Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Mexico City, respectively. The nature of this endeavor has led us to adapt the event in recent years; however, we have continued expanding our knowledge transfer based on four core components: updating, linking, training, and networking.

This last congress, which lasted five days, was broken down into three major themes that hosted about 600 connected participants.

Innovation and economic growth. This block addressed the importance of building sustainable economic ecosystems through the cooperation of the actors that comprise them, as well as the need to promote the roles of the actors that promote the development and growth of organizations. In addition, the innovation commissions of the main business chambers in Mexico addressed the importance of promoting innovation from the industrial sectors to generate high-value regional and sectoral projects.

International collaboration in innovation.  During the second day, government and private sector members talked about the promotion of innovation through collaboration strategies, synergies, and exchange of resources with a long-term vision to develop a culture of intellectual property.  Likewise, examples of collaboration initiatives between the public and private sectors in Mexico were summarized to trigger technological development and technology transfer, such as those carried out by Santander Universidades and by the recent ITESM-UNAM consortium.

The impact of innovation on sustainable development. Finally, the importance of thinking in the long term when thinking about science, technology, and innovation was highlighted from the definition of public policy to the conceptualization of social innovation that considers the positive and negative impacts that this action can develop in future generations.

REDOTTMX has a sustainable commitment to facing the challenges of innovation in these three areas: economic growth, strategic collaborations, and sustainable development. The Network and its members recognize this is a major challenge to tackle due to the current uncertainty in the country, budget limitations, and short-term vision.

As a final thought, here are some statistics from the last congress:

  • 24,372 visits to the congress.
  • 598 visitors.
  • 10 countries reached: Mexico, US, Peru, Belize, Colombia, Ireland, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Chile, South Korea.
  • 1,413 visits to stands (Expo Capacities and Services).
  • 4,675 visits to the conference room.
  • 686 visits to the networking room.
  • 1,089 visits to the poster room (Expo Technologies and Expo Talent).
Photo by:   Victor Sánchez

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