How can we strengthen the culture of innovation at UVG through clubs and student associations, with the help of student experiences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This was the main question posed in the virtual Learning Exchange that took place on October 24, 2023. Eighty people from the UVG community participated, including members of student associations, clubs, candidates for 2024 associations and collaborators. The activity, which was organized by the ASPIRE Project, was moderated by students Elisa Samayoa and Ximena Chavarría, who are developing a proposal for an innovation club at UVG. During the exchange, participants spoke with Megan Lim and Malte Ahrens, who are part of the MIT student association innovation committee.

Participants during the Learning Exchange. Top right: Ximena Chavarria, Bottom right: Elisa Samayoa, leaders of the innovation club proposal. Photo: UVG.

Megan Lim presented success stories, including examples of what has helped her and her leadership team to create and manage the committee. She shared that one of the key principles to follow is the motto, “for students and of students,” Megan mentions – “we know our business first and we are community-based.” In other words, this committee seeks to open up spaces of independence and autonomy to its members so that they know that any individual can have an idea and take on leadership to solve a problem. However, Megan mentioned that it is necessary to create a balance between providing independence and having a leadership team that makes its members feel safe and cared for. To achieve this, she advises recruiting the best people for the leadership team, since she says it all “begins and ends with the leaders” – the leaders will set the culture and direction of the committee in motion.

Finally, virtual meeting participants were given the opportunity to ask questions of the MIT speakers. One particularly  relevant question was “how to recruit members?”, to which Malte responded that some members are recruited and others come naturally thanks to members motivating other people to join. He added that public calls to participate should be announced in creative and original ways to attract more attention.

Participants during the Learning Exchange. Photo: UVG.

At the end of the conversation, Ximena Chavarría from UVG said,“I was very inspired to be able to develop projects like theirs in the future and involve more UVG students to cultivate an innovation ecosystem at UVG in which everyone can participate.” Furthermore, Ximena said that Malte and Megan’s experiences in topics such as recruitment was very helpful, “I find that the most valuable thing about having these learning exchange spaces is all the advice that can be shared.” The UVG students were inspired to pursue the idea for the innovation club from a trip they made to MIT in April that was organized by the ASPIRE Project to help UVG visitors learn about MIT’s innovation ecosystem. Upon getting to know it better, participants were inspired to do something similar at UVG. The proposal at UVG is being led by Rodrigo Aragón, ASPIRE researcher and professor of Mechanical Engineering, David Mejía, specialist from the Project Management Direction (DAP) and UVG students, Ximena Chavarría and Elisa Samayoa. Elisa mentioned that these open spaces for innovation are useful to “realize that one of the greatest strengths we can have at the university is our community.”

UVG student life coordinators Merlin Espina, Ennio Pérez and Alby Aguilar, also participated in this activity. One of the goals of the activity is to create an alliance between the coordinators and the MIT groups to learn about the best practices that can be implemented in the creation and administration of student associations and clubs. Regarding the importance of having spaces to share with MIT students, Merlin stated: “it is positive because it helps us learn about their good practices in relation to the management of student groups and the strengthening of innovation through them, especially because there is no recipe for clubs; it is something we innovate with day by day.”

Learning exchanges offer opportunities for the UVG community and other allies of the ASPIRE Project to learn how innovations, research, ventures or other successful proposals have been developed, and can be used as a reference point for trying new things at UVG. The innovation club proposal is a pilot which aims to strengthen the culture of innovation in the institution and to create opportunities for the free exchange of new ideas and proposals.

About ASPIRE

The Achieving Sustainable Partnerships for Innovation, Research and Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE) Project is a five year, $15 million project funded by USAID and implemented by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG), and the Guatemalan Exporters Association (AGEXPORT) with the goal of creating a world-class, replicable model for how Latin American universities, in collaboration with the private sector, government and local communities, can respond to local and regional development needs.