Tec and University of Cantabria open collaboration hub in Spain

Tecnológico de Monterrey and the University of Cantabria in Spain have announced the creation of Hub Comillas, a space for both institutions to work on joint innovation and research projects.

The space will be on the Comillas Campus of the Spanish university, where both universities will seek to set up educational innovation and entrepreneurship projects above all, as well as in other areas.

“This space will allow us to forge a connection with the community in Europe around research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. It aims to bring about recovery of the economy and social development after the pandemic,” says José Escamilla, Director of Educational Innovation at the Tec.

A hub is a shared space for developing projects that encourages collaborative work and learning to find solutions to common problems.

Objective of Hub Comillas: Mexico-Europe connection for educational innovation

José Escamillas says that the main objective of Hub Comillas will be to forge a connection between Mexico and Europe in areas of educational innovation.

“To attract talent, researchers who are conducting investigations with mainly European partners, but also with the Institute for the Future of Education (IFE) at the Tec,” adds Escamilla.

This director says that the hub could also provide the IFE with the opportunity to access funding it is not currently eligible for.

The site of Hub Comillas will be the Comillas castle at the Comillas Foundation University Center, located 30 kilometers from Santander, the capital of Cantabria.

Hub opening in first quarter of 2022

This hub will commence operations during the first quarter of 2022, with projects that include researcher from both universities.

Escamilla says that the University of Cantabria and Tec de Monterrey have a long-term relationship in the area of entrepreneurship.

“The University of Cantabria has a doctorate on entrepreneurship topics that people from the Tec have studied,” he says.

This project forms part of a European Union initiative that assigns funding for economic recovery in areas such as sustainability and digital transformation.

“They invited us, the Institute for the Future of Education, with the aim of developing digital education.

“There’s a lot of work to be done in education and in using more active teaching and learning methods that are student-centered and use technology,” adds Escamilla.

Areas of work: AI-Data Science, neuroeducation, and Lifelong Learning

There are 3 main areas of work for HUB Comillas: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science applied to adaptive learning, Neuroeducation, and Lifelong Learning.

Escamilla says that interdisciplinary research groups have been created within the projects.

One of these focuses on the study of Complex Thinking, which includes critical thinking and creative thinking. This is formed of 16 professors from the 6 schools at Tec de Monterrey.

These schools are Architecture, Art, and Design; Social Sciences and Government; Humanities and Education; Engineering and Sciences; Medicine and Health Sciences; and Business.

“This group wants to develop tools for professors and students so that they can aspire to this macro-competency of complex thinking,” he says.

Similarly, another group also consisting of 16 professors from the 6 schools at the Tec wants to study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) development, especially for women, as well as including awareness of planetary education and education for the planet’s future and environment, among other topics.

“This hub will allow us to forge a connection with the community in Europe around research, innovation, and entrepreneurship.”

He also says that the area of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in education will make it possible to understand students better and predictively analyze the risks of them missing a semester or school year. 

In this way, professors could teach certain content in a personalized manner to have a greater educational impact.

Escamilla says that the Neuroscience area is looking to apply knowledge about cognitive neuroscience to education.

“To understand better how the brain works and how people learn. This is a joint effort with researchers from Cantabria. For them, it’s important to learn more about the topic of technology development in teaching,” the director said.

He also mentioned that they will be inviting professors and researchers from both Tec de Monterrey and the University of Cantabria to join this project so as to further educational innovation in both countries.

This one of the 7 initiatives from the 2025 Strategic Plan at Tec de Monterrey, which is called Global Tec.

“We have to become a more international institution, not only because of student mobility, but also due to the Tec’s positioning in different global arenas,” said David Garza, Rector and Executive President of the Tec, when this plan was presented.

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