In the ceremony, visions and reflections were shared on the importance of this unit to promote the innovation ecosystem of the University and its projection in the university environment.
On September 23, with the presence of the Vice-rector for Research and Development, Cristóbal Marín, deans, schools, teachers and students, the inaugural ceremony of Factoría UDP was held, a unit that arises from a joint project between the faculties of Architecture, Art and Design; Economics and Business and Engineering and Sciences of the UDP. During its first three years of operation, it will be financed with public funds from the INES contest of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, after having been the best evaluated initiative among all participating universities.
In the activity, led by the General Director of Innovation and Development, Sebastián Pérez Bannen, various actors of the UDP innovation ecosystem gave their reflections and visions on the relevance of this project to promote the innovation culture of the University, as well as to develop the internal ecosystem and how to promote it towards the public and private sphere: Arturo Torres, Director of Factoría UDP and academic from the Faculty of Architecture, Art and Design; Leonardo Brescia, academic and researcher in R&D at the Faculty of Engineering and Sciences; Andrés Zahler, academic from the Faculty of Economics and Business and expert in public policy on innovation; Verónica Celis (remotely from Germany), Francisca D’Acuña and Santiago Bravo, who are graduates from the UDP, dedicated to entrepreneurship and innovation.
At the beginning of the ceremony Sebastián Pérez, recalled and highlighted that Factoría UDP was the project that obtained the highest score among all the universities that participated in the Innovation in Higher Education Contest (InES) awarded to the UDP: “Thanks to this award, in the first place, with the highest score, is that this project is financed with public funds in its first stage of development, during its first three years or more ”, he pointed out.
For his part, Cristóbal Marín highlighted that Factoría UDP is closely aligned with the strategic planning that the University is working on for the next five-year period – 2022-2026 -, related to growth in the area of innovation. In this regard, the Vice Chancellor highlighted three characteristics of Factoría UDP that directly contribute to this line: a systematic interdisciplinary dialogue; close connection with both undergraduate and postgraduate training spaces and the clear public vocation around its purpose of responding to the problems and challenges of the social, productive and technological environment of the country.
Arturo Torres, Factory Director, along with presenting the unit and the general process of innovation, highlighted the role of the academic body and students in the development of innovative projects, many of which have had a vocation of public service.
In the next block, the academic Leonardo Brescia shared his experience regarding the obstacles to innovation, the failures that entrepreneurs face and the support to overcome these adversities. For their part, the graduates Verónica Celis, founder and CEO of EnlightAID; Francisca D’Acuña and Sebastián Bravo, both winners of the FONDEF VIU 2021 contest, gave their perspective on their motivations to innovate and undertake, publicizing their own projects.
At the end, Andrés Zahler, synthesized the main points made by the panelists, regarding collaboration, trial and error, persistence and resilience in entrepreneurship and innovation processes, how this can be incorporated into academic processes and the challenge of how Universities generate impact in the country from the generation of knowledge.
Relive the entire ceremony here
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