Igniting the Innovation’s Competencies at Engineering Schools: IoT to the Cloud Labs Network in Mexico

Abstract

Learning and innovation’s skills are increasingly recognized as key factors separating students who are prepared for
more complex environments of life and work in the twenty-first century, and those who are not. The relationship
between the industry and the academia is undoubtedly in Mexico and several countries nowadays a very important
social and institutional phenomenon. Academy and Industry have always been cooperating in a win-win manner. Over
time, this relationship has evolved in many mechanisms where learning skills developed strongly, but at present,
innovation skills are taking more relevance. Efforts like an “IoT to the Cloud Innovation Labs Network” implemented
by the Intel® Guadalajara Design Center in Mexico are contributing to foster the innovation’s competencies and skills
from students and have been having a profound impact at the local ecosystem at each one of the states where these labs
are established. As part of the results, this labs network has been bringing more than 200 innovative projects, in
different areas like smart agriculture, Internet of Things, automation, wearables, smart hearth, and robots, among
others. Additionally, more than 3200 people (students, teachers, individuals from the industry and government) have
been receiving some training coming from this labs network. All the courses and workshops have been deployed in a
train the trainers’ model, bringing a strong, scalable possibility and impact, to the local ecosystems and each one of the
states.