"Innovation for the country's development: A challenge for research universities", was the topic of the international symposium held on April 8th and 9th at Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina in Lima, Peru. Renown researchers from the USA, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Ecuador will attend the event. UPS President Father Javier Herran, one of the main speakers at the event, and UPS-Quito Vice President Viviana Montalvo will attend on behalf of Universidad Politecnica Salesiana.

The event started with Father Javier Herran's talk titled " Towards an academic community that conducts research and innovates : Universidad Politécnica Salesiana". Father Javier will also be the mediator in a round table discussion on Innovation in Teaching. Viviana Montalvo presented her paper titled "Master degrees of national incidence" and will coordinate the Innovation in university governance".

Here are other main speakers at the event: Isidro Francisco Aguillo, editor of Cybermetrics magazine, first emagazine with CSIC peer revisión and University web rankings and repositories, known as Webometrics; Carlos Fernández Pello from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California; Adolfo Cazorla, Director of the Planning and Management of Sustainable Development Research Group from GESPLAN UPM. 

The symposium included plenary sessions, round tables, and practical case studies; the aim was to demonstrate how innovation can be improved through research universities, and how this contributes to the country's development by providing solutions to problems in society and taking advantage of the talent that societies possess. 

The event was also meant to show people that universities are not only educational institutions, since this represents a limited vision. This event was organized by Universidad Politécnica de Madrid UPM through GESPLAN and Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina de Lima, Perú in collaboration with Berkeley University, USA, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Ecuador, and Universidad de Piura, Perú.

DOWNLOAD THE PROGRAM HERE