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InnovationYear 2 Number 16 | August 6, 2007A way of lifeBy Antonio Zarate  For decades, the development of innovations was a privilege almost exclusively reserved for big businesses, and for universities and research centers with strong financial support. Eventually, time put things in their place. We know today that innovation is a determining factor for the increase of competitiveness and the boosting of economic growth with a long-term vision. Nobody should be left out, and even less due to lack of resources. Along this line, the creation of supports, like the Technological Innovation Fund, is of vital importance. This Fund operates with a $500-million pesos budget devoted to strengthening the quality of productive processes in Mexican SMBs. The purpose of this Fund, made known on July 2, is to strengthen the development of basic sectors of the economy of knowledge, such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, biomedical devices, electronics and telecommunications, information technologies, mechanical engineering, design and advanced manufacturing, chemical engineering, and advanced materials, which are precisely the areas we are giving a boost to through the Monterrey, International City of Knowledge Program (Mtycic). The resources provided by the Federal and State governments will be directed to the development of initiatives proposed by micro, small and medium businesses; universities and higher education institutions, both public and private, in addition to national centers and laboratories. This boost given to innovation is only one of the axles around which sustained economic growth will be generated. On the other hand, we have education, a factor that defines a country's direction. This is why promoting initiatives is essential, like the initiative being developed by the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP-Mexico) in Secondary Schools of Santa Catarina's marginalized areas. All this confirms how transcendent Mtycic is, since it links businesses, academic institutions, and the government to generate innovations in a mindfacturing-based economy. The support given to this program by the IDB is a source of great encouragement because it recognizes our strategy and will allow us to consolidate a long-term action plan to strengthen Nuevo Leon's development.
THEY CATCH THE JOY OF MATH3MAT1C5More than 1,700 Secondary students who live in Santa Catarina's marginalized areas are learning to use technology to understand the logics of Mathematics.If a popularity survey were to be taken, for sure math would not appear among the favorite subjects. But things are beginning to change in three public secondary schools located in Santa Catarina's marginalized sectors. Students are living a new experience there, and they are even becoming addicted to numbers. The secret lies in the use of technology. At least that's what Roberto Buenaventura Cruz-Torres, Luis Manuel Delgado-Morales, y Refugio Herrera-Zapata have detected. They are math teachers who participate in the project known as "Linking the Community with Education through Educational Partnerships" (ENLACE Mexico). This pilot initiative, launched on August 7, 2006, is operating in various shifts at three technical secondary schools (numbers 5, 8, and 31). Delgado-Morales says that the perception of math changes completely when students have access to an advanced calculator that lets them see the result of an operation on a graph. "For us, it meant adapting ourselves to technology. The advantage is that we can see what students do and become aware of how far they can be from finding the answer to a problem," said Herrera-Zapata. Cruz-Torres points out that young people want to test, feel, and touch. Some feel shy when they are in front of this "unknown object," but others begin experimenting with the calculator even before they receive the first instruction. The three teachers agree that this pilot project has meant three times the work regarding training and planning, because the have had to adapt the academic curriculum to technology, which in this case is the TI-Navigator System made by Texas Instruments. However, it has been a worthwhile effort, since more than 1700 students have benefited from it. 
With this system, students work with graphic calculators connected to the teacher's computer through a wireless network. The teacher is able to monitor what each student is doing in real time, and based on that information, he/she can produce individual and group reports. "We have had a positive impact through training and the donation of equipment for students and teachers to take advantage of technology," explained Hector Garza, President of the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP-Mexico), a non-profit organization that has established its national headquarters in Monterrey. The first course was taught in February to a pilot group of principals and teachers. This activity was led by Walter Stroup, a researcher and creator of the TI-Navigator System, and Guadalupe Carmona. They are both professors at the University of Texas at Austin, an institution providing assistance in the development of educational materials that facilitate the integration of technological tools into the teaching process. "The purpose was to show that mathematics and technology are "user friendly" and that they can be easily introduced into public school classrooms to complement the official curriculum. To this day, 158 teachers have been trained," expressed Garza. Each school has one classroom equipped with 32 calculators and one computer for the teacher, representing an investment of approximately $6,000 USD per school. "Collaboration has been promoted among students because they teach one another. The dynamics is totally different from what you experience in a traditional class," explained Garza. The implementation of Educational Partnerships is a five-year project. Most of the work during the first year was to establish partnerships and define their modus operandi.  In this case, the partners are NCCEP-Mexico; Santa Catarina's City Council; Nuevo Leon's government, through the Ministry of Education and the Governor's Office; the National Union of Education Workers; the Monterrey, International City of Knowledge Program; the Youth Institute of Nuevo Leon; UDEM; the UANL's School of Medicine; Axtel; and Caliza (Incasa), an industrial business. This initiative is also supported by the Kellogg Foundation, Texas Instruments, the University of Texas at Austin, The Princeton Review, EarthWalk, Ford Motor Company Fund, IDE Group and TiYM. Other citizens' organizations have also joined, such as Causa.org, Impulsa Nuevo Leon, the Federation of Student Organizations, and the Federation of Youth Organizations in the State of Nuevo Leon (FOJNL). "We do not want to do this work alone and we do not want to impose programs. This is why we want our partners to help us improve the model by customizing it to each community's needs and conditions," expressed Garza. NCCEP-Mexico organizes workshops for parents in order to get the whole family involved. "They have a lot to contribute, have high expectations, and demand improvements," said the specialist in educational partnerships. 
IDB promotes Monterrey as a City of KnowledgeThe Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will support the second stage of the Monterrey, International City of Knowledge Program (Mtycic) with a contribution of $272,400 USD. These funds will be used to develop a Master Plan for the 2008-2015 period. Eduardo Bosque-Andrade, Director of Strategic Planning at the Research and Technology Transfer Institute of Nuevo Leon (I 2T 2), the organism responsible for the operation of the program, explained that the support was approved on June 14, and the funds will be delivered once the corresponding agreements with the Ministry of Finances are signed. "These resources will be provided by the Korean Fund for Technology and Innovation, which is part of the IDB. This is a technical cooperation project that will be carried out through the use of non-refundable funds," he explained. The objective is to develop a Master Plan for the purpose of securing the organizational, human, and economic resources needed to make Mtycic's vision a reality. "It is also important to analyze the potential of this model, since it can be duplicated or adapted to the characteristics of other Latin American cities and countries," said Bosque-Andrade. He mentioned that international consultants with experience in science and technology, public policies, and regional innovation systems will be summoned to participate in this project. Pedro Saenz-Arce, IDB's representative in charge of the project, pointed out that the Master Plan will serve as a road map for the next eight years, since it will define the sequence and rhythm of specific activities for two planning periods. "The first period comprises the next five years, and once an evaluation of the results of the first period is carried out, the second period comprising the remaining three years will begin," he explained. Saenz-Arce pointed out that the Mtycic Program has defined a critical mass of infrastructure and has established the foundations to increase productivity in Nuevo Leon through innovation emerging from the private sector, academic institutions, and the government. The IDB has become involved in order to help in the preparation of a strategy agreed upon by consensus, which will facilitate the creation of a sustainable, regional innovation system.
Hyunghwan Joo, Director of the Korean Fund, mentioned that this initiative has great potential for being reproduced in other regions of Mexico and in other Latin American and Caribbean countries. Bosque-Andrade pointed out that Elsie Echeverri, Bruce Kellison, and Robert Peterson will participate on Mtycic's second stage. They come from the University of Texas at Austin, an institution that collaborates with the I 2T 2 in following up all aspects related to the Master Plan.
FUTURE EVENTSAUGUST 14 AUGUST 29 AUGUST 27-31 OCTOBER 2007-FEBRUARY 2008 [+] Download Innovation PDF (in spanish)  |
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© Copyright Nuevo Leon State Government. The logo and the name “Monterrey, International City of Knowledge” are registered trademarks with the Mexican Institute of Intellectual Property. | ||||||||
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