WISE Latin America, which was created through IDB lab and in collaboration with Inter-American Development Bank, has partnerships with various universities around Latin America, and aims to “strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems in STEM areas” and help more women in the region pursue such avenues.
Since signing a partnership with HUC earlier this year, including with original HUC participants Universidad Austral (IAE Business School) and Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Gabriela Gerón-Piñón, executive director of the university consortium secretariat for WISE Latin America explained how the partnership has already showed extremely promising growth and results.
“We are very happy with the alliances with each of the universities that are part of WISE because they are a key element for the program to generate the impact and knowledge it has in the region,” she said.
“Adding members of the Hemispheric University Consortium this year to extend WISE activities with the participation of the universities of Los Andes in Colombia, Andrés Bello in Chile, University of Miami, and the Pontifical University Católica Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic, has been an affirmation that Latin America has a potential entrepreneurial capital that needs to be supported and promoted,” Gerón-Piñón continued.
Its next phase, marked “Protagonists of the Future”, looks to measure the impact already generated by the program “in the development of the enterprises that went through it”.
“We want to continue generating knowledge about the importance of bringing disruptive innovation through STEM skills, which will be great generators of the engine of the region’s economy,” Gerón-Piñón commented.
As part of its work, WISE Latin America has over 2,600 graduates to date since its inception in 2018 – the same year as the HUC – and runs over 300 mentored projects as part of its initiatives.
“Currently, we have more than 50 regional strategic allies, who make up a support network for the WISE Latin America ecosystem,” general director of WISE Latin America and director of Entrepreneurship Center of IAE Business School, Silvia Torres Carbonell, said.
“As a result of these alliances, for example, 12 contests were held in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, of which more than 858 entrepreneurs from the four countries participated,” she added.
Next year looks to be another big one for WISE Latin America and its integration with universities in the HUC, as Gerón-Piñón explained.
“We are looking forward to the next phase of WISE which has a direct impact in innovation and economy in the region”
“The regional team is currently developing a new project ‘WISE 2.0’ that will seek to promote enterprises in scaling up stages; expand WISE to the rest of Latin America; offer the program in English; and reach the most vulnerable sectors to promote the importance of STEM skills.
“We are looking forward to the next phase of WISE which has a direct impact in innovation and economy in the region.
“Since we have English-speaking institutions in our network, we will be able to offer the program in English in the Caribbean and other countries,” she added.