Changes

Universidad de los Andes is distinguished as the most innovative higher education institution in Chile. Moreover, it has been recognized with several awards for this accomplishment three four years in a row. Nevertheless, the innovation and entrepreneurship concept is mostly promoted and transmitted for by academics than for the students. Even though the institution developed a competition that takes part every year, called “The Challengers”. During this contest, students from business, service administrationmanagement, engineering, and high school students, create different projects and present them in front of a jury. The winners get a finance fund in order to start their prototype project and an all-paid trip to an international destination. At the same time, there is the “Dirección de Innovación UANDES” (Innovation Center) which is the head of I&E at the institution, where you can get assessment and funding for your ideas and projects.

Today at Universidad de los Andes there are two powerful organisms with the function of promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. In the first place, there is the “Centro de Innovación Docente” (“Faculty Innovation Center”), which provides financing and support to teachers that have a project in mind, so they can develop it. As there is this support for teachers they are the ones who participate and live mostly I&E activities at the University. For this reason, these two topics are more promoted around faculty members than students. On the other hand, there is the CIIB (Centro en Innovación e Inteligencia Biomédica) (“Biomedical intelligence and Innovation Center”) where students can carry out projects if they’re coursing a science or health degree. Although students have developed great social projects at the University, these are aimed at helping people rather than innovation itself. Therefore there are projects and students with the ability to create but not necessarily from innovation or entrepreneurship. The University also has the first place in Chilean innovation, but this award has been allocated to the university as an institution. So this means the university by itself is innovative, but not necessarily its students.