UT planning to build a business innovation center in Mexico

Campus would serve as portal for students, faculty, executives, alumni

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

The governing board of the University of Texas is expected to approve the first step today in a plan to construct a building in Monterrey, Nuevo León, that would serve as a university-sponsored center for business innovation and technology.

The building would be in a science and technology park in the northeastern Mexican state on land that would be donated by the government. It would be the first UT-Austin building outside Texas, said Don Hale, the university's vice president for public affairs.

Officials say the building would serve as a kind of portal between the university and Mexico for faculty members, students and business executives from both countries, as well as for UT alumni living in Mexico.

Faculty members from UT and Mexican educational institutions could meet there to pursue exchange programs and research collaborations, and business executives from both sides of the border could use the site to explore technology commercialization, cross-border initiatives and other opportunities.

UT students pursuing internships, research or studies in Mexico might use the site as a jumping-off point, and it could also serve as a recruiting station for students from Mexico interested in attending the Austin campus.

"This is obviously an experiment for UT-Austin, but we have confidence it will succeed," said Juan Sanchez, the university's vice president for research.

Strengthening research and educational ties with Mexico has been a top priority for UT President William Powers Jr. The university's programs in Latin American culture, history, art and literature have long been highly regarded, but Powers has sought to add technological and business dimensions.

Two years ago, for instance, Powers and Nuevo León Gov. José Natividad González Parás signed an agreement that called for increased collaboration and that envisioned the establishment of a permanent presence for UT in Monterrey.

A number of projects, primarily organized through UT's IC2 Institute, a research unit that specializes in such matters as transferring technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace, are under way. UT conducts a business development program in which some faculty members commute on weekends to Monterrey to teach students working on master's degrees in science and technology commercialization.

The UT System Board of Regents, meeting in Austin today, will stop short of authorizing design or construction of a building in Monterrey. Rather, the regents are expected to approve the formation of a nonprofit civil association called the Center for Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The university needs to create a civil association to qualify for $500,000 that has been offered for construction by the science-funding arm of the Mexican government, according to board records.

Total construction costs for what is expected to be a 10,000-square-foot building are estimated at $1 million.

No money from the State of Texas will be needed to build or operate the innovation and technology center, according to the regents' records. University officials plan to raise money privately and from state and federal sources in Mexico, Sanchez said.

Could the center turn out to be a seedling that would someday grow into a branch campus?

Sanchez brushed off the suggestion, but he didn't exactly rule it out, either: "I wouldn't go that far at this point in time."

Monterrey at a glance

Monterrey is the capital of Nuevo León, a state that covers 24,925 square miles, or about half the size of New York state.

The average temperature in Monterrey is above 80 degrees for an average of 238 days a year.

Monterrey had a population of 1.1 million in 2000; the metro area is the third largest in the country, with 3.3 million residents.

Area universities include: Universidad de Monterrey Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Studies), Universidad Regiomontana and Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (Autonomous University of Nuevo León).

Sources: Weatherbase.com; Mexican National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Computer Science; staff research.

Source: http://www.statesman.com/.../1008utmexico.html

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