School:Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas

University of Applied Science (UPC) is a private university located in Lima, Peru. UPC was founded in 1994 with the aim of training up-front and innovative leaders with global vision to transform the world.

UPC is recognized for being a university that promotes and seeks growth opportunities in the field of innovation and technology in order to help in the personal and professional growth of its students.

University of Applied Science (UPC) is No. 5 in The Ranking of The Best Universities in Peru, according to "America Económica Magazine". Furthermore, UPC is the only university accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), a prestigious international agency that assesses the quality of universities around the world. Also, the Scimago Ranking, classification of academic and research-related institutions ranked, places us as the third Peruvian university with the most research in the country. In addition, we were recognized for the fourth consecutive year as the No. 1 Peruvian university in Internationalization, according to "América Economía Magazine".

Valor: To be a leader in higher education for its academic excellence and its capacity for innovation. Mission: To train upright and innovative leaders with a global vision to transform Peru.

Promoting student Innovation and Entrepreneurship

UPC has initiatives focused on promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in students:

Inquba Lab: UPC invites entrepreneurial students to submit their innovative ideas for incubation and support. This initiative is designed to help turn visionary concepts into tangible projects, providing guidance, resources, and mentorship for future innovators. Also it's nurturing entrepreneurial spirit helps transforming ideas into successful ventures

Idea Validation: Students who are part of UPC's Apptitud Club come from various university programs, forming a multidisciplinary team. Each session aims to discover innovative solutions to real-world problems that assist participants in enhancing their creative and innovative processes

Entrepreneurial Alumni Fair: Organized by Alumni UPC, this fair is designed to promote the growth of alumni businesses and connect them with other entrepreneurs. It offers workshops and training sessions to strengthen their business proposals.

28H Innovation Marathon: Presented by the Educational Innovation Department, this annual hackathon challenges participants to develop creative solutions to real-world social or academic problems within a continuous 28-hour period.

StartUPC Demo Day: This is a culminating event for the StartUPC incubation program where entrepreneurial teams showcase their ventures. It serves as a platform for teams to pitch their ideas to a public audience, including potential investors and partners.

Furthermore, UPC offers minors in innovation and entrepreneurship, both regular and focused on sustainability,

Encouraging faculty Innovation and Entrepreneurship

UPC slogan is “exígete, innova, UPC” which means “push yourself, innovate, UPC”. UPC looks forward to pursuing innovation and entrepreneurs among students and faculties. On one hand, UPC has of Innovation and Transformation department calls Open Innovation. In Open Innovation they create challenges to that make students generate solutions, products and ventures that impact society such as: Strategy, Sustainable Mobility, Smart Campus and Blockchain.

As well they offer a space in campus called “FabLab” where they encourage students and faculties to create 3D models and prototypes in 1/1 scale.

Another creative space is “Innovation Lab” that transforms prototypes into solutions and they merch with new companies’ ideas to integrate them at UPC. On the other hand, they have “I+D+I Labs” that generate research, papers and patents in our applied science academic laboratories.

Furthermore, UPC has a research incentive competition aimed at all professors, in any modality, both undergraduate and postgraduate, from all faculties of the university. The objective is to select the best research projects that can result in scientific publications accepted by any indexed medium (journal, conference, or book) in Scopus or Web of Science (WOS). This competition tests the university's innovation resources.

Furthermore, there is the Festival of Educational Innovation. This event is a platform for the exchange of knowledge, continuous learning, and the promotion of innovation within the educational field, with a focus on transforming pedagogy and fostering a culture of creativity.

Actively supporting the university technology transfer function

UPC has initiatives focused on supporting the university technology transfer funciton in students:

HyFlex UPC Classrooms: The Hyflex model (also known as bi-modal) is a teaching modality that brings together both in-person and remote students in the same session. This methodology, conceived by Brian Beatty at San Francisco State University, provides students with greater flexibility while maintaining high-quality learning experiences for all students, whether they join the course in person, synchronously online, or even asynchronously.

Global Campus: UPC stands out in Peru and throughout Latin America by incorporating content and resources from prestigious worldwide institutions such as Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Chicago, University of Toronto, Imperial College London, IBM, Meta (Facebook), Google, University of Pennsylvania, among others, into its academic offerings. This is made possible through a strategic partnership with Coursera for Campus, a leading online education platform worldwide. Thanks to this collaboration, UPC enhances its curriculum with digital content and internationally renowned certifications.

App "Mi UPC": "Mi UPC" is a centralized portal offered by UPC that provides students with convenient access to a variety of essential university services and resources. It includes features such as resource reservations, administrative procedures, grade access, payment processing, and virtual support, all within a user-friendly interface. This platform reflects our commitment to academic excellence by offering students the necessary tools to succeed in their studies.

StartUPC Incubation Program: This program is part of the UPC's business accelerator, recognized by the Ministry of Production of Peru. It supports the development of new ventures, providing resources and mentorship to help them become successful companies.

Specialized Program in Digital Innovation with Social Impact: This program from the UPC Graduate School focuses on creating and implementing projects that use digital innovation to solve social problems, providing a clear path for ventures to achieve a positive community impact.

Facilitating university-industry collaboration

UPC has iniciatives to collaborate with companies:

Ready for success Program: This program provides the opportunity to enhance students employability, showing practical tools in face-to-face and virtual teaching to successfully participate in selection processes and give them the possibility of directly contacting the best companies in our country.

Through the program schedule, students will have workshops about LinkedIn, virtual interviews, networking and a meeting with 30 companies to know their job opportunities.

Honorary Professorship Program: This program includes both business trend topics and the training needs of talents that will manage organizations under solid principles and values. The courses are taught by representatives of important national and international companies and entities. In addition, students who decide to participate in this experience of taking this program may be invited to participate in the calls for pre-professional and professional internships offered by some of these companies.

Google Cloud Academy Gen AI: A program managed by the Academic Direction that provides students with the opportunity to gain expertise in generative AI and Google Cloud offerings, preparing them for roles that involve using AI to transform businesses.

Brain hackers: Organized by the UPC Innovation Lab, this program provides students with a hands-on experience in a hackathon format, encouraging the development of tech-related projects and collaboration with mentors.

Engaging with regional and local economic development efforts:

UPC has initiatives for regional and local economic developments:

"Protagonists of Change" : This is a social responsibility program of UPC. In this program, they provide training, recognition, visibility, and training to the innovative spirit of young social entrepreneurs in Peru, who are founders or co-founders of social initiatives that are making an impact in their communities.

Perumin: The UPC Graduate School actively participates in Perumin, a major mining convention in Arequipa. This engagement demonstrates the university's commitment to the mining sector, a key driver of Peru's economy, and helps to strengthen the training of future leaders in this field.

"Creatividad Empresarial" Award: This award ceremony, hosted by UPC, has for many years fostered a culture of continuous innovation by recognizing products, services, processes, and strategies that generate significant value.