AI match: Tec creates challenge platform with partner organizations

Are you already a Tec de Monterrey training partner and would like to know how to better connect with professors in order to develop challenges? Did you know it can be done in minutes with the help of artificial intelligence?

We’re talking about the Training Partners Marketplace, a platform that helps companies and professors make an “ideal match” with different academic challenges for student training.

“What we’re looking for are smart connections between Training Partners and academic staff,” said Laurence Bertoux, leader of the Tec’s Platforms Initiative.

One of the key elements of the Tec21 Model is flexible challenge-based learning. Training partners play a fundamental role in this process by supporting Tec students’ skills development.

A training partner is an agent or organization with whom the Tec creates a partnership to carry out challenges that contribute to the training of students and receive a fresh, outside perspective provided by students willing to offer innovative proposals.

Smart connections between companies and academia

The marketplace came about as a smart platform and meeting point for organizations and academia, facilitating the search for challenge-based learning experiences.

It serves three main users: the team from the Tec’s Outreach and Professional Development Center (CVDP), training partners, and Tec21 Model academics, such as deans, directors, and professors.

“We wanted to offer a tool in which both training partners and academic staff can view challenges, as well as which training partner or professor could be ideal based on various criteria,” said Bertoux.

“This platform is part of a strategic project under the 2025 Plan, which is the Platforms Initiative, where we seek to develop new value creation models,” he added.

Lourdes Velasco, Leader of the Training Partners Marketplace, pointed out that work began on this platform over a year ago and its pilot was officially launched in October 2022.

“We began with the School of Architecture, Art, and Design and the School of Business. We’re also adding the School of Engineering and Sciences and are already looking forward to including further schools,” said Velasco.

“The platform currently includes almost 1,000 training partners. There are over 300 documented challenges from the schools on the platform and we are already at almost 500 users,” she added.

“We’re looking for smart connections between training partners and academic staff.” - Laurence Bertoux

How can you use the platform?

This platform is a space where professors and training partners can connect to collaborate on academic challenges, but it is also a gateway for those who do not yet have this connection with the Tec and wish to participate.

Here’s how you can benefit from the Training Partners Marketplace:

• If you are already a training partner

After accessing the platform, you should go to the “Connect me to a challenge” button, where you can share information related to a requirement, problem, or area of interest for your organization.

Next, you must answer a brief questionnaire to determine whether it’s a national, regional, or local problem, as well as which areas of your organization are impacted.

Then, you must write a one-paragraph description of that issue. Finally, you click on the send button.

“Once you click send, that’s when the algorithm comes in, does its job, and returns nine challenges that best match what you’re looking for,” Lourdes explained.

As a training partner, you can send the number of connections you require, with different schools and challenges. The requests are received by the CVDP which distributes them to academics to arrange participation and challenge guidelines.

• If you are not yet a training partner

If you are not yet a training partner and would like to have this connection with Tec de Monterrey, you can apply through the platform.

In the Marketplace menu, you can find the “What is a Training Partner?” option that will direct you to the Tec’s website where you will find information about what being a training partner involves, as well as information about challenges and the Tec21 Model.

When you reach the bottom of this page, you will find the section “I would like to be contacted,” where you can register by providing information about your company or organization, such as your line of business and location, among other information.

Formalization of the agreement is then transferred to the Tec’s Outreach and Professional Development Center.

“When you register on the platform, the CVDP receives a notification and gets in touch to carry out all the procedures for a new training partner,” explained Laurence.

“As a training partner, you can access the platform to raise any questions or carry out a search using the algorithm to help you find a match for challenges,” he added.

• If you are a Tec21 Model professor

In case you have not yet registered, you can enter the platform and search the menu for the “Professor Registration” option, where you should provide your information. You will then receive an email confirming your access to the system.

Once registered, you will be able to view the national training partner catalog, as well as the challenges that have been registered on the platform.

“Professors can view the training partners who have sent a request and also the challenges in search of a training partner.

“They can search using the algorithm that gives them nine results with the highest match percentage,” Velasco said.

Likewise, the platform will provide you with contact information for the CVDP, which maintains relationships with training partners to establish communication.

The benefits of the platform for training partners and academic staff include:

• Access to the national training partner catalog and challenges.
• A streamlined process for matching training partners to academic staff.
• A record of current and past challenges.
• Generation of intelligence that allows you to identify the needs and trends of the industry and society.

Artificial intelligence: the heart of the platform

The project leader said that this tool makes use of artificial intelligence technology, in particular, a smart algorithm that was custom developed for this initiative.

“At the very heart of the platform is this matching algorithm that works in two ways. First, when training partners enter, and we ask them to tell us about an area of interest for their organization that they’d like to connect to academia.

“And the other way round, when academic staff enter and describe the characteristics of a training partner for a challenge. What the algorithm does for both sides is return a result with the highest match percentage,” Velasco explained.

Bertoux pointed out that the technology was developed by Edgar Barroso, a professor and director of the Laboratory for Entrepreneurship and Transformation at the Tec’s School of Government and Public Transformation.

“It’s a smart algorithm that uses ‘natural language,’ which understands the meaning of words and has been trained on all the challenges that have been developed since we started with the Tec21 Model.

“We’ve trained it with real information from the challenges and needs of companies. The more it’s used, the better results it provides and the more it refines feedback. What you will see is feedback that has to do with this match percentage,” he said.

The goal: to achieve 100% of connections

The Platforms Initiative leader said that the goal of the Training Partners Marketplace is to be used as a tool for 100% of connections for challenges, with participation from academics from every school and training partners.

“Then, we’ll have records and data on everything happening between training partners and academia, which means can automatically extract very cool analytics to consult data such as the impact on students or training partners,” said Bertoux.

Laurence pointed out that as a technological development, the project can be seen as an educational innovation product through which industries can be brought closer to academia.

“Although today we’re implementing it with the training partner model, one of the distinguishing features of the Tec21 Model, we see a future for it to be marketed abroad, as SAAS (Software As A Service) for other institutions or companies.

“We’ve seen a lot of interest from companies in having tools for approaching academia,” added Bertoux.

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