The SEPT Competence Center (SEPT means Small Enterprise Promotion and Training at Leipzig University created 2008 out of a project the network “intelligence for innovation – iN4iN”. It includes member institutions, partner universities and private business development organizations in the area of promotion and development of innovation and entrepreneurship capacities.
The iN4iN LATAM Chapter project plans to create a network (chapter) between Leipzig University and three Latin American partner universities.

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Project Pillars

In the area of education, the project supports the development of graduate training structures at Master level at the partner institutions. A new module about Innovation Management is hereby integrated in the respective Master programs at the partner universities (Master in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Universidad de Rosario in Colombia as well as Master in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy and Management at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia).

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As part of the master’s degree, students participate in a research course, in which the two most promising (innovative) ideas are selected for a one-month research stay in one of the Latin American partner countries.

Furthermore, during the PhD programs of the partner university in Colombia and Peru, PhD students will be given the opportunity for a research visit in one of the partner countries conducting their research activities on the university specific SDG topic. The results will in turn be incorporated into the master’s and diploma programs.

Another aim to accomplish during the project period is to establish a Diploma Course in Innovation Management in order to qualify more students as well as practitioners to take up professional activities fostering local innovation systems in the three partner countries. Topics with a special relevance to sustainability (e.g. process innovation) are an integral part of the course.

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In the area of higher education management, iN4iN LATAM Chapter supports the strategy development and the implementation of University Business Linkages activities, which should form an integrative part of the transfer strategy of a HEI. The partner universities will establish new processes and structures for knowledge and technology transfer towards the business sector strengthening the role of the HEI as a motor for local economic development.

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Participating universities

Universidad del Rosario

We are a university with tradition and innovation. Always contributing to the great issues of the country since 1653. With a solid ethical, humanistic and scientific training, the Rosarista is a professional who contributes to the country from academic and human perspectives, to act for the benefit of society, with a maximum sense of responsibility.

Today, close to celebrating its 370th anniversary, the Universidad del Rosario remains committed to education, seeing in it a transforming engine of society. 

For this reason, and just as it has done with the demands of each generation, it has been at the forefront of the challenges that are being built every day in the country, thus making it one of the best higher education institutions in Colombia and Latin America. Proof of this is its positioning in the most important international rankings, such as QS and THE.

Its educational mission is committed to academic excellence, research and pedagogical innovation, with its global recognition, with the development of the country from the regions, with internationalization, sustainability and with diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Rosarista Graduate is a comprehensive professional, with a global vision and a high international vocation, capable of performing at the national and international level. With high academic skills, whose principle is the development of research in the specific area of knowledge, with an analytical and critical sense of what is happening around them. Our graduates stand out for their abilities to find solutions to global challenges.

Its maxim is always the dialogue between its historical past and its present, making tradition and current events a duo that contributes to the formation of leaders who take ownership of their social reality, contributing to the construction of a better country.

Universidad del Rosario

Universidad Técnica Nacional de Costa Rica

The National Technical University UTN of Costa Rica is a state institution of higher education whose purpose is to meet the needs of technical training required by the country. Its mission is “To contribute to the equity of opportunities and the integral transformation of the country, through academic work, technical, humanistic, inclusive and innovative training, focused on learning”. (Institutional Strategic Development Plan, 2022-2026).

In the fulfillment of this social task, a comprehensive educational proposal based on the sciences of complexity is generated, which involves the recognition of the world as a network of relationships between the different parts of a global whole and in which we all learn constantly.

Our educational model proposes pedagogical strategies and practices focused on learning, as well as a holistic training management in which social skills are complemented with the specific skills and knowledge of the area of work. From this holistic vision, educational practices at UTN must find their origin in critical and creative thinking, in the development of participatory leaders committed to society, whose training is contextualized from interdisciplinary studies, transdisciplinary experiences and projects that facilitate understanding, reflection and innovative responses.
The educational process at the UTN implies, then, in addition to the integration of teaching and learning, the systemic integration of all the actors in said process; To do this, it requires that educational management support and support the learner, offering them new alternatives, possibilities and challenges that stimulate them in their search for information and in the construction of new knowledge, through collaborative learning strategies, inter-learning and self-management of learning. We propose an interdisciplinary and integrative curricular design that, within the framework of flexibility and transformation and, in the achievement of professional profiles that respond to the needs of the productive world and the continuous advance of technology as drivers of social development, values ​​both the knowing how to know and knowing how to do as well as knowing how to be and how to live together; a curriculum that allows the production of knowledge, both in students and teachers. Likewise, curricular management is oriented towards human development and professional and personal skills, within the framework of the knowledge society.

From this point of view, the UTN Curricular Policy seeks to ensure the academic profile at the Diploma level, by establishing a practical component of 70%. This promotes the design of relevant study programs focused on the training and development of technical skills that facilitate the insertion into the world of work of UTN graduates. In this sense, the guiding axes of curricular management and development within which are relevance, interdisciplinarity, integration, multilingualism, flexibility, equity, among others, seek the development of study programs, which through methodological strategies and Appropriate evaluations integrate, from the design, the entire academic process; That is, throughout their entire training, UTN students are faced with the development and implementation of research and social action work, in accordance with the defined profile, both for the undergraduate, the degree, as well as the university postgraduate degree.

Consequently, learning methodologies oriented to project development, case analysis, simulations and problem-based learning are the basis of the evaluation, self-assessment and co-evaluation process at the UTN.

For its part, the UTN promotes the incorporation of technology as a support resource that enriches the learning processes at all stages of university education.
We propose an educational process that, from all institutional management, cultivates a critical consciousness in the social, cognitive, scientific, ecological, economic, technological, spiritual and political dimensions, which also encourages and contributes to the training of professionals who contemplate in their glimpses , a high sense of responsibility for themselves and with others. Comprehensive training from a philosophical, humanistic and scientific approach is situated as a nuclear element of its educational management and is aimed at creating cognitive circumstances in which learners achieve adequate training for life, which integrates the technical, the human, the innovation and development, with the aim of promoting research, the implementation of new technologies, sustainable development, environmental conservation and entrepreneurship.

From an innovative perspective, then, the UTN academic offer is committed to the development of professional and labor skills. Thus, the academic and professional training is distinguished from other state higher education centers in that the design of all its courses seeks lateral exits at undergraduate levels, with a clear occupational and technical profile that makes it easier for the graduate to find work and their connection. with the productive sectors of the country, which give way to prolific development and institutional academic growth.

Universidad
Técnica Nacional

Leipzig University

Concept

The SEPT MBA in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Development is a program dedicated to conveying theoretical knowledge, application-oriented findings and practice-relevant experience with regard to the management, promotion and development of SMEs.

In almost every country, the most significant part of revenue and employment is generated by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Paradoxically, the attention of most business authors and university programs has been predominantly directed to the big corporations, their particular issues, and insights.

At SEPT, we are convinced that the future of our economies relies on SMEs. For this reason, we have developed a program dedicated to conveying theoretical knowledge, application-oriented findings, and practice-relevant experience concerning the management, promotion, and development of these companies. Particular issues addressed are identifying innovation possibilities inside SMEs, their growth potential, and new concepts for promoting them and generating positive multiplier effects on their business environments.

The two-year study program focuses on economic issues containing different concepts, approaches, and aspects, ranging from supporting small businesses coping with survival to promoting innovative, dynamic enterprises. One particular topic is identifying growth potential and concepts re-evaluating economic and industrial policy.

This approach facilitates qualified training for upcoming professionals and members of institutions who already hold a Bachelor´s degree and have some practical experience in working in/with SMEs. The course enables participants to work as multipliers in decision-making positions, support these companies, and promote innovative entrepreneurs.

The program is conceived in an international atmosphere, as most of the students come from outside Germany, so the whole program is taught in English. SEPT awards credit points under the ECTS system (120 for the entire course).

Currently, we help our Alumni by providing contacts to different German and European Institutions and SME experts. This helps create a network between the graduates, alumni, institutions promoting SMEs, and research institutions.

Universidad Leipzig

Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia

The Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH) with more than 60 years of important history in the academic and scientific fields in Peru and the world, has as its fundamental purpose turning people into agents of scientific, technological, social, and environmental change through education throughout life. It trains professionals with social and ethical commitment who provide comprehensive impact solutions with a solid research base and respect for diversity and the environment, both in terms of undergraduate, postgraduate, specialization, and continuing education.

The UPCH projects into the future to strengthen and expand its contribution to sustainable development and the solution of the main national and global problems. It is committed to democracy, human rights, gender equality, social inclusion, respect for diversity, academic freedom, and the creation of opportunities.

In this way, it consolidates its international prestige and its social connection, establishing itself as a reference for academic research and innovation of high quality and interdisciplinarity, integrating through its international networks and alliances, with high mobility of teachers and students involved in academic programs, and relevant collaborative research.

The UPCH is a node of innovation and development for the advancement of science and technological transfer, which it incorporates into its institutional culture through highly qualified teaching staff, researchers, and administrative staff, as demonstrated by their presence in positions at the top in Peru and Latin America and their global positioning in the THE and QS rankings.

Universidad
Cayetano Heredia

Sustainable Development through Innovation Management

Leipzig University (SEPT Competence Center) as expert in the field of innovation management will have a mentoring role for the partner universities. Knowledge in innovation will be used to support ecological, social and economic transitions and tackle social/economic challenges. Each partner university from Latin America will use this innovation knowledge to address an additional SDG throughout their activities.

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