On Friday, September 9th, professors from the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) interested in participating in the Achieving Sustainable Partnerships for Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE) project, met with ASPIRE staff and AGEXPORT’s representatives from the avocado, cardamom, and snow pea commissions to explore collaboration opportunities through multisectoral research projects.

This meeting was held following ASPIRE’s recent call for concept notes for research projects, directed at UVG professors and researchers interested in generating collaborative solutions in the AGEXPORT’s priority sectors mentioned above, among others.

During this exchange, the representatives of AGEXPORT’s value chain commissions presented the main challenges that afflict their sectors and the opportunities they foresee in addressing these challenges through relevant research. This research will also contribute to improved competitiveness within the value chains.

UVG researchers, Ana Alicia Paz Pierri, Ana Silvia Colmenares, Rolando Cifuentes, Luis Andrés Arévalo, and Igor Alfonso Portillo, experts in areas such as food, agricultural studies, innovation, and sustainability, listened to the perspectives of the private sector in order to strengthen their concept note meant to address the issues presented. The concept notes will be evaluated by an internal ASPIRE project committee which will select the notes and teams that will move forward to the second round of co-creation.

In the co-creation phase, the research teams will change and improve their concept notes, receive training on a variety of research-related topics such as lean research, community and stakeholder engagement, and project management, among others, and develop their final full proposals. Selection of the full proposal(s) to be awarded will be done in coordination with USAID. Awarded projects will receive up to $100,000 for one year from ASPIRE to implement their research project and share results.

Throughout the co-creation and selection processes, ASPIRE will emphasize to participants the value of coming together to develop a final product that addresses the needs of key stakeholders and supports ASPIRE’s goal of creating multisectoral, collaborative, creative spaces that produce solutions to real–world issues.

About the ASPIRE Project

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). The goal of the project is to create a world-class, replicable model for how Latin American universities and their collaborators can respond to local and regional development needs. The project implements a collaborative approach to research, teaching, innovation, entrepreneurship and tech transfer, based on the combination of local assets and knowledge with MIT’s experience in the innovation ecosystem.