YachaY is the Quechua word for “knowledge” and represents the project entitled “Intelligent personalization and flexibility systems to improve the quality of Virtual Higher Education in Latin America”.The main objective of YachaY is to create and test a series of intelligent technological solutions for Latin America and the Caribbean, which facilitate the implementation of the educational requirements of the 21st Century of flexibility, customization, credentialing, and inclusion; in synergy with the business framework.The fourth industrial revolution requires changes in the education system that involve empowering students in the definition of their learning paths and acquisition of skills, improve the systems of recognition of qualifications and modernize higher education institutions, through the use of intelligent systems for interaction with students. For this, it is necessary to strengthen the university-business relationship, so we intend to create and implement a series of unified tools for Latin America, in line with those in Europe, for customization, flexibility, credentialing and organizational interaction.YachaY responds to the preferences and needs of today's students. Especially to those who choose virtual training, precisely because they are, in most cases, busy people, integrated into the workplace, seeking to improve their skills through lifelong learning, in a way that is really practical for the development of their professional careers, being able to guide their own learning path.Personalization, flexibility, credentialing; they are key words in 21st century education. An education more inclusive and adapted to the real needs of our increasingly competitive and demanding world.

The development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and specifically Internet of Things (IoT) in Argentina and Uruguay is growing at a relatively slow pace and we found the main reasons being: the lack of cooperation, the scarceness of human resources in the area of interest, and the heterogeneous thus ineffective educational methodology and offer in a state of the art topic. The aim of the project NEON is therefore to modernize the higher education system, to improve and diversify the training of human resources, both in the academic field (students, professors,) and in the industrial sphere (technical staff) and to motivate a broader spectrum of people towards IoT, which nowadays is one of the most innovative and most impactful technology in the ICT field, as it can influence and improve several aspects and processes of our lives. The main goal of the institutions that take part in the project will be the creation of a Network of Competence in IoT. This network of competence will serve as a hub and common knowledge base for both academia and industry in order to foster an improved technological advancement through exchange of knowledge and needs. Specifically, the network of competence will connect universities in Argentina and Uruguay with local industry (and with EU universities) in order to address their needs, offer teaching and training opportunities to both teachers, staff and students, improve the infrastructure through the creation of joint university-academia laboratories and offer internships. All these activities will be related to modernizing the curricula by including the IoT topic, developing new hands-on based education, acquiring digital skills and learning methods to strengthen the relation between HEIs and the wider economic and social environment fostering capacity building, innovation, creativity and employability so that to contribute to local economy growth.

This project intends to give a significant contribution in high education, proposing a specific master programme to form innovative managers, researchers and local developers, but at the same time providing a strict connection with industry and society, in a framework of blended learning approach. Precisely, the main aim is to allow SMEs and other kind of companies or institutions identifying good practices and new behaviours to face innovation challenges. The master degree students shall be capable to deal with innovation in traditional sector products, but also with the most advanced technologies, such as nanotechnology, biotech and ICT most innovative tools, with particular attention to the environmental problems in order to achieve sustainable solutions. Concerning sustainability, competences related to the circular economy will be trained, particularly promoting resource productivity with the aim of reducing wastes and avoid pollution. Industrial products and systems should be designed in order to close the loop, recycling and reusing post-consumer waste to make new products. This innovative approach must be fostered, especially among manufacturing enterprises, and the expected results of the master degree will be well prepared managers and researchers, fundamental in implementing sustainable innovation.Therefore, the programme will create competences for transforming knowledge into added value for society, providing entrepreneurship training to innovative participants, supporting with innovative financing (crowd-sourcing) such new opportunities, and interacting for solving environmental problems with new tools and rationale of the circular economy. In term of future impacts, this project will create capacities in managing technology and innovation in social and productive applications while constructing bridges for overcoming the “Valley of Death”, or the “European Paradox”, in a world of uncertainty, sustainability and complexity.

Climate change (CC) has become a structural phenomenon which will imply severe and irreversible impacts. In this context, tourism has received increased attention as a high-energy and often environmentally destructive sector, significantly contributing to the pollutants that are causing CC. This is particularly true in many LA countries, where tourism is of undisputed importance for employment generation. It is clear that this sector must adapt, as must the research, teaching and training associated with it. HEIs have a role to play in innovating curricula related to tourism, so that it addresses CC needs and proposes dynamic solutions that graduates can bring to market. HEIs also have a role to play in continuous professional development, as most tourism professionals need upskilling to best address the changes in the sector caused by CC. CLIMAR aims to link inter-disciplinary research, innovation & knowledge transfer to HE curricular development and continuous professional training, so as to prepare the tourist sector to best face climate change and to mitigate its impacts. It targets specifically HEI in Colombia, Panama, Argentina and Mexico and has the following specific objectives:i) Support the creation of transnational and multidisciplinary research groups specialized in CC, Circular Economy & Tourism (CC&T), among HEIs from EU and LA and reinforce their capacities to increase regional knowledge on CC&Tii) Promote research-based collaborative teaching in CC&T, via the development of a transversal study module that can be inserted in different courses at the postgraduate leveliii) Enhance university-NGO-industry-public administration knowledge transfer so as to contribute to sustainable development and new employment opportunities, via a professional development course in CC&Tiv) Ensure sustainable academic relations and strategic partnerships among HEIs from EU and LA, based-upon multi-disciplinary approach