1. Promoting Engineering Education and Partnership between the University, Public, and Private Sectors to Stimulate Development in Latin America and the Caribbean Programmatic Approach: Promoting improvements in science and engineering education to foster innovation, entrepreneurship and competitiveness Participating Countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Uruguay

2. Scientific Development and Exchange and Technology Transfer: Science, technology, engineering, innovation, and science education are essential for the integral development of the Member States. FEMCIDI Action Line

3. Establish a culture of continuous quality improvement in science and engineering education, based on best practices and innovative teaching techniques, and including revisions and permanent updates to the curriculums. Stimulate industry innovation and promote the development of MSMEs by encouraging partnerships between the university/public/private sectors in order to improve applied research as well as advanced development and engineering applications. Main Objectives:

4. Engineering education lacks educational models that adapt to new realities and social demands. The changes that broke the orthodox scheme of neoclassical economic theories introduced a new dynamic of development within countries. We are moving towards an economy based on knowledge and powered by innovation It is necessary to encourage an interaction between the sectors of knowledge and those of government and production, creating support for innovation Background and Justification

5. Highly participative with meetings throughout Latin America and the Caribbean that include the academic, government and business sectors Pre-meeting work and work between meetings Free training courses A collective and concentrated construction of a Strategic Plan for Engineering Education and Partnership of the University, Public, and Business Sectors Methodology

6. Government entities that formulate education policy Entities with expertise in the formulation, monitoring, or evaluation of I+D+i policy Universities and Engineering Faculty Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Councils or Professional Associations Professional Engineering Associations Business Associations Research Centers or Technology Development Centers Employers of different branches of Engineering Business owner associations, student associations, etc. Direct Beneficiaries in Latin America and the Caribbean

7. A better understanding of the educational reality in engineering Updates and revisions to the methodologies, content, and approaches used Enable society to have the professionals needed to provide prosperity to the region Indentify the technological innovation needs of businesses and the difficulties in the social adoption of knowledge Promote a transfer of technology and a concordance between the I+D sectors in the Universities and the problems facing the Micro, Small, and Medium businesses Creation of a virtual platform, that serves as a specialized network to allows for the continuity of the described activities Promote leadership roles and a larger participation of women, youth and other marginalized groups in science and engineering Contribution and Impact