UTN.BA en Movimiento N.1 (english version)

www.frba.utn.edu.ar/utnbaenmovimiento

Staff Institutional Journal of Buenos Aires Regional School Year I No. 1 June 2014 Writers’ and interviewees’ opinions herein do not necessarily imply correspondence with the editorial criterion of this publication. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior permission is prohibited.

Revista UTN.BA en Movimiento Medrano 951 piso 1 (Deanery) Telephone number 0054 11 4867-7522 Email address: prensa@frba.utn.edu.ar

Executive Editor: Guillermo Oliveto Journal Production: Martín De Bernardi Jimena Romero Luciana Sousa Design Production: Rodrigo Bermúdez Florencia Yamín Contributors to this issue: Silvio Bressan Andrés Bursztyn Agustín Campero Mirian Capelari Juan Carlos De Cabo Patricia Cibeira Juan Di Costa Francisco De Lellis Alejandro Furfaro Marcelo Giura María del Carmen Gutiérrez Ezequiel Montenegro Marcelo Olivero Florencia Pollo Raúl Sack Alejandro Scomparín Eduardo Spittle

Index 03 07 10 12 14 16 20 22 24

Cover article: Six UTN.BA degree programs accredited by the CONEAU

Two UTN graduates lead UTN Buenos Aires for the first time

More Research Work at UTN.BA

UTN.BA and CONICET create Engineering Research and Development Unit

Master’s program jointly administered with Troyes University

Entrepeneurship at UTN.BA

UTN.BA awarded in USA

Campus basement reopening

New Gender Equity Committee

Authorities Dean Ing. Guillermo Oliveto Vice Dean Ing. Andrés Bursztyn General Secretary Juan Manuel Tiribelli Academic Secretary Ing. Marcelo Giura Administrative Secretary Dr. Alejandro Baigüera Student Affairs Secretary Eugenio Luci Science, Technology and Productive Innovation Secretary Lic. Agustín Campero University Extension and Culture Secretary Ing. Javier Ona Academic Affairs Secretary Ing. Juan Di Costa Administrative Under Secretary Ing. Fernando Cura Research Office Under Secretary Lic. Patricia Cibeira Graduate Studies and Research Under Secretary Lic. Mirian Capelari

Technological Transfer Under Secretary Ing. Sebastián Brie Head of the Basic Sciences Department Ing. Carlos Trunzo Head of the Civil Engineering Department Ing. Silvio Bressan Head of the Electrical Engineering Department Ing. Eduardo Spittle Head of the Electronics Engineering Department Ing. Alejandro Furfaro Head of the Industrial Engineering Department Ing. Raúl Sack Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department Ing. Juan Carlos De Cabo Head of the Naval Engineering Department Ing. José Oscar Álvarez Head of the Chemical Engineering Department Ing. María del Carmen Gutiérrez Head of the Information Systems Engineering Departament Ing. Andrés Bursztyn Head of the Textile Engineering Department Ing. Marcelo Olivero

Editorial Eng. Guillermo Oliveto - Dean We have launched the English version of our magazine with a selection of articles which capture the main policies implemented during this administration, namely: strengthening academic quality, promoting research work and transfer, and deepening the relationship with the community through university social responsibility activities.

We acknowledge the importance of being Argentina’s largest School of Engineering. For this reason, we have committed to cooperating and enriching the global debate on Engineering education through academic, research and exchange programs in order to promote regional as well as international integration.

Within a global context requiring engineers capable of facing technological and innovation challenges, we aim at improving human resources training both in terms of quantity and quality with an integral vision which caters not only for academic competence but also for project management and leadership skills, within a sustainability framework.

Eng. Guillermo Oliveto Dean

Six UTN.BA degree programs accredited by the CONEAU In 2013, the National Commission for University Evaluation and Accreditation (CONEAU) accredited the Civil, Electrical, Electronics, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering degree programs at UTN Buenos Aires once again for a maximum period of six years.<0} These degree programs have therefore started their second accreditation cycle.

In turn, the Industrial Engineering program accreditation period has been extended for three more years, thereby completing its first accreditation cycle.

At the end of 2012, the CONEAU (National Commission for University Evaluation and Accreditation) issued the resolutions approving the new six-year accreditation cycle for the Civil, Electrical, Electronics, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering programs at UTN Buenos Aires and the extension of the first accreditation process of the Industrial Engineering program for another three years.

The self-evaluation process the engineering programs were subjected to consisted of the analysis of five aspects: Institutional Context, which includes Research and Extension activities; Curric-

ulum; Faculty Members; Students and Graduates; and Infrastructure and Equipment. It is important to mention that the CONEAU only evaluates for accreditation those university degree programs which are deemed to be “of Public Interest” by the Ley Nacional de Educación Superior [Argentine Higher Education Act]. This means that accreditation is only granted to those degree programs whose professional practice may pose a risk to the health, security, rights, property or development of the members of society.

This is not the first time UTN Buenos Aires has re-

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ceived resolutions from the CONEAU: in fact, it has participated in the Accreditation processes offered by the Commission since 2001. Since then, and particularly with the creation of the Accreditation and Education Quality Policy Office, within the Academic Secretary’s Office, in 2010, a culture fostering this kind of processes which promote Education Quality has been built.

The reaccreditation process for undergraduate degree programs started in 2011. In July 2012, UTN Buenos Aires was visited by peer evaluators from the CONEAU. On that occasion, they visited the Campus laboratories and held meetings with the directors of the different engineering undergraduate programs in order to move forward with the process.

Accreditations of undergraduate degree programs are valid for either six years, if the profiles established by the standards are met, or for three years, if such standards are not met but it is considered that the weak points identified can be corrected through improvement plans.

“It all depends on the standards required by the Accreditation process regarding the training of professionals. These standards not only relate to what the program offers at an undergraduate level, but also to what is offered after its completion, such as the availability of Graduate programs, although such graduate programs go through a separate accreditation process,” explains Eng. Silvio Bressan, Head of the Civil Engineering Department at UTN Buenos Aires. Eng. Raúl Sack, Head of the Industrial Engineering Department adds: “being granted accreditation means that the programs, as well as the Engineering School, meet all the standards from an institutional self-evaluation perspective. This shows the quality of the programs. Besides this,

the fact that the six engineering programs have been granted accreditation for a period of six years (including the Information Systems Engineering program which was accredited in March 2012) indicates that, in the peer evaluators’ view, UTN Buenos Aires already enjoys high standards of quality, and their work is virtually limited to ensuring compliance with a very small number of issues because they know that the rest of the standards are being met. The School already enjoys great prestige.”

Eng. Bressan stresses “the qualitative leap achieved by the Accreditation process. After this process was introduced, research teams at this School of Engineering have significantly increased. Before accreditation, there were around ten or twelve research teams. Now, there are more than 80 teams spread among all the engineering programs at UTN Buenos Aires.” In addition, Eng. Eduardo Spittle, Head of the Electrical Engineering Department points out that in the program he runs “research was virtually non-existent. The School had a few consolidated research teams, of which some focused on areas related to the electrical engineering field and some others did not. After the Accreditation process was introduced, those teams conducting reseach in the field were brought together with the help of the authorities, and this led to the creation of a specific research area on electrical engineering.” Spittle further adds that “another very important area that has been fostered is the Students Mentoring Program, which seeks to provide permanent support to students from the beginning of their course of studies.” Eng. Silvio Bressan concludes that: “every action taken is part of a broader endeavor seeking to promote Education Quality.”

Accreditation of Graduate Programs Accreditation is mandatory for all Graduate degree programs. “All programs offered at the UTN.BA Graduate School undergo a permanent updating and evaluation process in relation to the following aspects: institutional context, curriculum, faculty members, students, equipment, library and documentation centers, and available resources for research work,” explains Eng. Florencia Pollo Cattaneo, MBA holder and former secretary of UTN.BA’s Office of Graduate Studies and Research.

The resolution granting accreditation to the Specialist in Information Systems Engineering program for three years was published at the beginning of 2013. In addition, the Master in Biological Processes program and the new Specialist in Telecommunications Engineering program have applied for accreditation by the CONEAU. In August 2012, the CONEAU granted a “Category A” accreditation to the following programs: Specialist in Environmental Engineering, Master in Business Administration (MBA), and PhD in Engineering with a Major in Signal and Image Processing.

As well as this, the following UTN.BA graduate degree programs are pending Accreditation: Specialist in Ergonomics, Specialist in Quality Engineering, and Master in University Teaching.

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In this second Accreditation process, the CONEAU plays an essential role in this respect. In the first has placed focus on Security and Hygiene stand- accreditation processes we lacked knowledge ards, particularly at the Campus laboratories. Dur- about the elements required to achieve top acaing this period, the facilities have been equipped demic quality. In the last accreditation process, in part with UTN Buenos Aires’s own profits and the Academic Secretary’s Office, through the partly thanks to the financing options offered The self-evaluation process the engineering programs were by the PROMEI (Project subjected to consisted of the analysis of five aspects: Institufor the Improvement of tional Context, which includes Research and Extension activEducation in Engineer- ities; Curriculum; Faculty Members; Students and Graduates; ing), which belongs to and Infrastructure and Equipment. It is important to mention the National Ministry of Education’s University that the CONEAU only evaluates for accreditation those uniPolicy Office, to those versity degree programs which are deemed to be “of Public departments accredit- Interest” by the Ley Nacional de Educación Superior [Argentine ing their programs be- Higher Education Act]. fore the Commission.

“The policy of this School of Engineering is to Accreditation Office, provided all department achieve excellence in education. It seeks per- heads with the necessary and essential support fection. We know these goals seem utopian, but required to obtain accreditation of our engineeras we progress and move on through stages, the ing programs.” utopia becomes more real and viable,” explains Eng. Sack.

In fact, the Accreditation process for the different programs was a policy adopted by the whole In this sense, Eng. Juan Carlos De Cabo, Head of School of Engineering. “In this accreditation, the the Mechanical Engineering Department points out Accreditation Office did an outstanding job. They that “Accreditation is a Quality guarantee which helped us a lot,” stresses Eng. Alejandro Furfaro, is not obtained overnight. It entails a long, sys- Head of the Electronics Engineering Department. tematic, hard work process. Institutional support In turn, Eng. María del Carmen Gutiérrez, Head of

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the Chemical Engineering Department adds that “it is essential that the whole community be immersed in this process. I would say this is one of the key issues. In order for these accreditations to yield good results, everyone has to get involved –students, faculty members and graduates–. Otherwise, it is impossible to put them into practice.”

“The fact that each program gained enough autonomy so that their intrinsic aspects could be explained from a sufficiently independent perspective in the self-evaluation report is paramount. At the same time, the Institution coordinated the whole process harmoniously by working alongside and hand in hand with the departments. It worked at the same level with them,” Eng. Furfaro concludes.

In view of the favorable resolutions obtained on all the Accreditation processes that UTN.BA applied for, Eng. Gutiérrez talks about the further steps to be taken and anticipates that: “in order for all this to be useful and meaningful, we have to keep working. These accreditations are quality systems and entail an ongoing process. The fact that the CONEAU has not received any applications from us in the last 5 years does not mean that we have stopped working in relation to this matter. UTN.BA is deeply committeed to this.”

“In this second Accreditation process, each engineering department conducted its own strategic plan towards achieving excellence. Excellence is not a goal; it is an attitude towards work.

We can never achieve excellence. In fact, once a goal has been reached, one must immediately search for more. This is the way to surpass oneself. It implies a culture change,” adds Eng. Furfaro. Eng. Spittle, Head of the Electrical Engineer-

ing Department warns that the milestone reached by means of Accreditation “must be consolidated every year. It entails an ongoing obligation for the Institution, students, faculty members and graduates. Everyone must get involved. It is paramount to keep it up.”

In relation to the upcoming Accreditation processes, Eng. Raúl Sack anticipates that “the aim of this administration is to improve every aspect, and a great emphasis has been placed on equipping classrooms and laboratories, as well as acquiring new equipment and new infrastructure.”

On the possibilities open to graduates from the accredited programs, Eng. Silvio Bressán foresees that “the Accreditation of the programs will play a key role in professional mobility within Mercosur. A free trade transit agreement is to be signed very soon. Trade transit means that there will also be professional transit, which, in turn, means that Degrees issued by one country will be valid in every country which is a party to the agreement.”

Following the publication of CONEAU’s resolutions, UTN Buenos Aires’s Academic Secretary, Eng. Marcelo Giura pointed out that “at this stage, it is important to look back and think about where we come from, where we want to go and where we stand now. All the programs have obtained accreditation. Our Doctoral degree program has been accredited within the highest category. All the graduate specialist courses for which we submitted applications were granted accreditation by the CONEAU,” and added that “today we can see the results of three years of work done by the School administration through an Accreditation team which has the know how and expertise required to achieve the objective.” The Secretary did not forget to thank “all faculty members, who collaborated with the Accreditation, as well as the technical personnel of the School different offices. Everyone has collaborated.”

In turn, in a statement issued after the news had been released, UTN.BA’s Dean, Eng. Guillermo Oliveto, said: “I am proud and very satisfied with our achievement. It is, without a doubt, the result of the University Community working as a team in which everybody committed to the training of better professionals. I would also like to highlight the effort made by the Accreditation and Education Quality Policy Office, created in 2010 to coordinate this process. I congratulate you and ask you to keep working together towards a better School of Engineering.”

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Two UTN graduates lead UTN Buenos Aires for the first time

On September 11 2013, UTN Buenos Aires School Assembly re-elected their Dean, Eng. Guillermo Oliveto, for a period of four years more, with 95% of the votes; and for the first time, their Vice Dean, Eng. Andrés Bursztyn was elected with 90%. Both are UTN.BA graduates.

UTN Buenos Aires held a new School Assembly on September 11 2013. The School’s Board of Trustees and departmental representatives re-elected Eng. Guillermo Oliveto as Dean. Eng. Andrés Bursztyn, Head of the Information System Engineering Department since 2009, was elected vice dean for the first time. This is the first time two UTN graduates lead UTN Buenos Aires.

Under the terms of the Universidad Tecnológica Nacional by-laws, the new term of office will extend until December 2017. All UTN.BA authorities attended the Assembly meeting: secretaries and departmental heads; in addition to a great number of members from the technological community, Rectorate authorities and other Schools.

neering Department, on behalf of the Departmental Council. She said: “This is a democratic act.

It is by itself a cause for celebration”. She also reviewed Oliveto administration’s most important achievements between 2009 and 2013, such as CONEAU accreditation of all undergraduate degree programs; graduate and Doctoral degree programs accreditation with category “A” rating; promotion of research, graduate degree programs and their linkage to all other undergraduate degree programs; infrastructure and equipment improvement; systematization as a method of work; Academic discussion instances opened in favor of Academic Quality.

“The challenge is to maintain the achievements reached and the new ones to come,” stated Gutiérrez after proposing the Dean’s reelection.

The reelection of Eng. Guillermo Oliveto as UTN Buenos Aires Dean was proposed by Eng. María del Carmen Gutiérrez, Head of the Chemical Engi-

There followed Eng. Oliveto’s nomination acceptance: “For the sake of my commitment to this School”. From then on, the Assembly was chaired

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by incumbent Vice Dean Eng. Raúl Sack, who gave way to other speakers. After speakers finished, the Assembly continued with the voting process. Eng. Oliveto achieved 123 votes out of 129; which accounted for 95.35% of the total. Immediately after this, the re-elected Dean, who will hold office until December 2017, said: “Four years ago, the Assembly members bet on someone with a student background of militancy. Someone with management experience?; but still a bet. What you have just done is no longer a bet. With your vote, you confirmed your bet four years ago. This is a project that includes all of you,” he continued.

“Now it is no longer a bet but a commitment,” said the Dean. “I committed myself to transforming our School. We did it. All commitments were translated into concrete actions or are already part of the daily agenda of this School,” he reviewed.

“I would like to thank students, faculty members, support staff and graduates, my team, secretaries, undersecretaries and directors. There is much to improve yet. At least we are on the right path: on the path that our Buenos Aires Regional School Technological Community wants to be,” he continued. The Dean highlighted the presence and support of the authorities of the Rectorate: “Today we have a relationship of full reciprocity with the Rectorate, working together.”

Then he mentioned the importance of friends and family. “Their support is fundamental. Lean on your family. They will give you the necessary self-confidence at the worst moments.” He also recalled the basement flooding on UTN Buenos Aires Campus, on April 2, 2013, as a “collective misfortune” .

“Today the flooding is a remembrance. You achieved that. The community achieved that, by going there and getting dirty, getting wet, taking risks, drawing strength from nowhere. That was achieved by an organized community. A community of interest that becomes an organized community. Our strength lies in the fact that, together, no external force will beat us; and we have the strength to build what we dream. Everything is possible,” referring to the words of the flag.

“We must turn quantity into quality. This is the country’s largest School of Engineering. In addition, we must ensure it is the best Engineering School in the country. It is possible,” he concluded. The School Assembly continued with the Vice Dean election who will be in office until 2017.

The nomination of Eng. Andrés Bursztyn, Head of Information Systems Engineering Department and Board of Trustees Member representing the Faculty members, as Eng. Oliveto’s vice dean, was pro-

Eng. Andrés Bursztyn (Vice Dean) Andrés Bursztyn was born in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, on March 8, 1970. He graduated as Information Systems Engineer at UTN Buenos Aires in 1998. In 2000, he completed his Postgraduate course in Business Management. He is currently pursuing a Specialization degree in University Management Policy delivered by Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento at UTN.BA, and he is writing his thesis for the Master in Applied Information Technology in Education at Universidad Nacional de La Plata.

He has been teaching at UTN.BA since 1990, when he started as Ad Honorem Teaching Assistant. Then he became Special Assignments Teaching Assistant, Adjunct Professor; and he is currently Full Professor in Resources Management and ordinary adjunct Professor of Control Theory in the Information Systems Engineering degree program.

In the 90’s he was a Students representative in the Departmental Council; and a Graduates representative between 2003 and 2005. From 2005 until 2009, he served as Academic Secretary of the Information Systems Engineering Department and as full representative of the Faculty members in the Systems Engineering Departmental Council.

In 2009, he became Head of the UTN.BA Information Systems Engineering Department. Between 2010 and 2012, he served as full Faculty member representative in the Higher Council. Since 2010, he has also been a full member in the UTN Buenos Aires Board of Trustees representing Faculty members. In 2013, he took over as UTN Buenos Aires Vice Dean; and as Secretary of the Communication and Information Technology Office.

In addition, he is Researcher and Director of Research & Development Projects (RDP at UTN and UTN.BA). He is currently Vice President of the Professional Association of Computer Science (CPCI) of the City of Buenos Aires; Alternate Coordinator of the Career in Computer Engineering / Information Systems network (RIISIC Network) of the Federal Council of Engineering School Deans (CONFEDI); and Regulatory Affairs Office Secretary of the National Universities Network in Computing Careers (RedUNCI), representing UTN. During his office as Head of Information Systems Engineering Department at UTN Buenos Aires, in 2009, the degree program won the Sadosky Award to Argentinian Intelligence applied to the IT Industry. In addition, in 2012, he achieved accreditation by the CONEAU (Comisión Nacional de Evaluación y Acreditación Universitaria) [National Commission for University Evaluation and Accreditation] for a period of six years; and in 2013, his laboratory (DISILAB) certified services under ISO 20000, thus becoming the first Latin American laboratory to obtain this distinction.

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Eng. Guillermo Oliveto (Dean) Guillermo Oliveto was born in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, on September 30, 1961. He graduated as Industrial Engineer in 2001, and was the standard bearer of the first cohort of the Industrial Engineering degree program at UTN Buenos Aires. He is holds a degree as Specialist in Management Engineering (UTN.BA Graduate degree) and Specialist in Dynamic Systems (Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya).

He teaches in the Industrial Engineering degree program at UTN Buenos Aires as Adjunct Professor in the following subjects: Systems Thinking, Industrial Engineering I and Marketing. He has also participated in various specialized research groups, and acted as a speaker at important academic meetings.

From 1988 to 1990 he served as Students Departmental Representative, and President of the Centro de Estudiantes de Ingeniería Tecnológica [Technology Engineering Students’ Association] at UTN.BA until 1991. He was Vice President of the Federación Universitaria Argentina [Argentina University Federation] between 1991 and 1993, and President of Federación Universitaria Tecnológica [Technological University Federation] until 1995.

In 1993 he served as Secretary of UTN.BA Student Affairs and renewed his term in office in 1997, until 2001. Between 1999 and 2001 he served as Academic Representative of UTN Buenos Aires Students.

In 2001, he was appointed Secretary of Culture and University Extension. He completed two terms in office until December 2009, when he took over as UTN Buenos Aires Dean. On September 11 he was re-elected by the University Assembly.

During Eng. Oliveto’s administration, the School has further pursued accreditation processes of undergraduate and graduate degree programs within a project aimed at improving its academic quality and at fostering policies to expand the scope of research and transfer to society. The relation with School graduates has been strengthened as well; and important building refurbishment was carried out in both UTN.BA sites, among other measures.

Moreover, Eng. Oliveto opened the debate on “Engineering Education in Argentina” and he actively participated in the meetings that were the basis of the 2012-2016 Engineering Strategic Plan, released by the National Ministry of Education.

posed by the outgoing 15-year-in-office Vice dean, Eng. Raúl Sack. Sack emphasized Eng. Bursztyn’s 23-year teaching career, his full professorship, his professional career, and the fact that he is a UTN. BA graduate. He emphasized that “it was the first Department Head who had his degree program accredited for six years.” Eng. Andrés Bursztyn spoke to the Assembly members: “For me, it is an honor to accept the nomination and I do so with great commitment and responsibility.”

Speakers in the Aula Magna expressed support for Eng. Bursztyn’s nomination. UTN Buenos Aires Vice

Dean election resulted in 109 Assembly members (out of 121) voting in favor of Eng. Andrés Bursztyn as successor to Eng. Raúl Sack, which accounted for 90% of the total Assembly attendees.

Finally, the re-elected Dean, Eng. Guillermo Oliveto highlighted the importance of “the exemplary nature of a University School like this, of an assembly like this. For the love and affection that is felt for this School,” thereby ending a day that reaffirmed the commitment of UTN Buenos Aires with university democracy.

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More Research Work at UTN.BA Research, science, technology and innovation activities at UTN Buenos Aires have shown a steady increase since 2009, which has been driven by specific policies designed for such purpose.

Since 2009, UTN Buenos Aires has been reinforcing its policies on research, science, technology and innovation as well as on those activites promoting and fostering the social and productive impact of these action fields, such as the relationship with the production and social environments. Such policies aim at generating an impact on regional and national development, improving innovation systems, contributing to a better training of future engineers, and promoting the advancement of knowledge. In this sense, the Science, Technology and Productive Innovation Office (SeCTIP) seeks to foster, consolidate and develop endeavors in the areas of research, technology transfer, innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as to promote all its activities within and outside the scientific community.

Research

One of SeCTIP’s central goals was to increase the number of Research and Development Projects (RDPs) conducted at UTN Buenos Aires. To further such goal, one of the priorities established since 2010 has been promotion of such projects in order to obtain accreditation for them, both under the most frequently used category (UTN) and in a category that has not been used so far (School-Type Research Projects, accredited

by UTN.BA). As a result, the percentage increase of active RDPs was 50% between 2009 and 2013 and the estimated percentage for 2014 is 124%.

The main objective of this central line of work is to support scientific research work at this School of Engineering, thus allowing for the training of human resources, the update of undergraduate and graduate training programs, and the communication of scientific research studies conducted at UTN Buenos Aires, both within the scientific community and society at large. In addition, a larger number of projects facilitate access to research grants from UTN and national science and technology agencies.

In this respect, the number of people involved in reseach projects at UTN.BA has significantly increased since 2010, including teacher researchers, scholarship holders (graduates and students), and students. In 2009, the total number of people involved in research projects was 359, while in 2013 that number rose to 709. This shows an increase in the number of people involved in research activities of 97% in three years.

With regard to Research Scholarships, there were 134 scholarship holders in 2008 at UTN Buenos Aires.

This number reveals an increase not only in the total number of scholarship holders but also in each of its subcategories. In 2008, there were 122 students holding research scholarships. We expect that number to rise to 249 in 2014 (125 funded by the School, 122 by the University, and 2 by the National Inter University Board -in Spanish, CIN-). In 2008, there were 12 people holding BINID scholarships (Research and Development Initiation Scholarships for graduates). Now, in 2014, there are 56. In addition, the number of research projects training scholarship holders has also increased significantly.

Besides this, among the endeavors undertaken to promote research at this School of Engineering, the “Science and Technology Trips and Events Program” has been launched. So far, 275 grants for science and technology trips and events have been awarded. The total sum of those grants amounts to $696,187 Argentine pesos, which were disbursed by UTN.BA.

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In turn, the total budget for research activities has risen from ARS $812,400 to ARS $2,995,510, an increase of 369%. This figure does not include teacher researchers’ salaries and is made up of the budget assigned by the University to each project, the resources generated and assigned by UTN Buenos Aires, and external funding. The rise in funding has been the result of an increase in: the funds awarded by the University to each project, the funds granted to each scholarship holder, the number of active projects (since the funds granted to each School is proportional to the number of active projects), the number of scholarship holders, and the promotion given to the submission of applications requesting external funding.

event, where open-data applications are created, and whose aim is to provide solutions to social problems related to health, education, citizen security, and environmental protection, among others.

In addition, it coordinated the second TEDxUTN as well as TEDLive, both held in 2013, with around 250 participants. The School has actively participated in the Concurso Nacional de Innovaciones (National Innovation Contest) INNOVAR by promoting the activity and encouraging the submission of projects, coordinating the institutional support given to submitted projects, and through the presentation of its own exhibition stands. UTN.BA has won various prizes and awards in the different editions of the contest.

Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship

In 2012 and 2013, the “24hs of Innovation” event was co-organized by the School and several universities from around the world. This is an international contest for teams of students and teachers which consists in solving a technological problem, posed by participant companies, within 24 hours.

The Charrette system of work is used (quick project or innovation rally).

The Science, Technology and Productive Innovation Office has also contributed to the development of 65 business plans emerging from the Entrepreneur Program. The support provided from the Office involved project development consulting, improvement of ideas, and follow-up on opportunities. In addition, 32 innovation projects submitted applications for funding or soft loans from technology-based companies.

As well as this, a development potential tracking system was developed as a result of the scientific work conducted within the research and development projects in order to foster technology transfer according to the needs and opportunities of the social and production environments surrounding UTN Buenos Aires.

Reviews of academic backgrounds of teacher researchers, students and graduates from UTN.BA were conducted in order to create RDP teams. In addition, patentability analyses of RDP equipment were carried out and a brand search for SMEs belonging to graduates was conducted. Intellectual property rights protection was also addressed. In this sense, talks, courses and seminars, as well as patenting and consulting activities, were organized for research teams.

Promotion and Communication Events

UTN.BA co-organized “Developing Latin America”, Latin America’s largest collaborative hackathon

In addition, since 2009, the Science, Technology and Productive Innovation Office has been charged with the publication of UTN Buenos Aires’s biannual scientific journal “Proyecciones”. The purpose of this journal is to publish original research work in the engineering field. All papers are evaluated by external peer reviewers before publishing. In December 2012, the journal celebrated its first ten years in circulation. The initial print run increased by 50% from the initial 600 issues in 2009 to 1200 issues by October 2010. As a result of the growing number of submitted papers during 2012, the number of pages per issue was raised by 40%.

In 2011, the Grupo de Estudios en Transporte y Tecnología Ferroviaria (Transport and Railway Technology Study Group, GETTeF) was created for the purpose of contributing to the improvement and reinforcement of the National Transport System. This group conducts studies and establishes connections between the knowledge developed at UTN. BA and other institutions and that of those people involved in the design and execution of transport policies. Since 2011, the Group has been organizing meetings and conferences on the subject, and has participated in the Red Universitaria de Transporte (Transport University Network, RUT).

Highlights -The percentage increase of active RDPs was 50% between 2009 and 2013 and the estimated percentage for 2014 is 124%.

-In 2009, there were a total of 359 people involved in research projects. In 2013, that number rose to 880.

-The number of teacher researchers participating in the UTN Research program has risen from 272 (in 2011) to 297.

-In 2008, there were 134 research scholarship holders at UTN Buenos Aires. In 2013, there were 249.

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UTN.BA and CONICET create Engineering Research and Development Unit UTN Buenos Aires and CONICET signed a Specific Agreement setting up a Research and Development Unit for Engineering, which will run a Program for the Consolidation and Training of Researchers to promote Research, Development and Technology Transfer.

On Monday February 24th, the Specific Agreement was signed between UTN Buenos Aires’s authorities and the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) [Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas]. The agreement establishes the creation of a Research and Development Unit for Engineering, which will run a Program for the Consolidation and Training of Researchers to promote Research, Development and Technology Transfer.

This work aims at strengthening established research groups and creating new groups to be integrated in the aforementioned Unit, all of them associated to different areas of Research, Development and Transfer: Process Modeling, Simulation and Control; Biotechnology; and Renewable Energy and Energy Technology. These areas were chosen because they provide cross-functional insight into the main areas of study being investigated at UTN Buenos Aires, which are considered relevant for the development of science and technology in the country.

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Eng. Guillermo Oliveto, UTN.BA Dean, pointed out: “This experience at UTN Buenos Aires will undoubtedly benefit the School, not only because of the selected areas of study, which are already being addressed in research projects and master’s degree programs; but also because of the possibility of supporting human resources trainers, graduate students’ trainers. That will increase the critical mass of researchers at UTN. BA and will be a huge benefit, especially considering that nowadays the development of engineering is a priority for the country.” The Dean anticipated that “the goal is to include research activities into undergraduate courses. There is unquestionable improvement when research is performed on priority areas related to undergraduate courses; and we intend to actively create bonds between undergraduate, graduate and research areas.”

Dr. Roberto Salvarezza, President of CONICET, said: “The impact of technology is one of the newest areas we are developing. Therefore, we

Dr. Roberto Salvarezza, President of CONICET; and Eng. Guillermo Oliveto, UTN Buenos Aires Dean.

consider this partnership with UTN as strategic CONICET’s Career as Scientific and Technological precisely due to the impact of engineering, the Researcher, and the consolidation of researchers impact of areas where the institution traditional- trained in other areas, the Program provides the oply needs to increase human resources.” He also portunity to obtain scholarships, grants, co-financstressed that through this Unit “we are trying to ing and contracts for research focused on study strengthen some areas that UTN.BA has consid- areas of interest to the Unit. ered strategic for development, where we make a number of tools available ranging from grants Furthermore, in order to provide consolidated reto researchers from consolidated universities, searchers with an opportunity to obtain a position to a CONICET Fellowship Program; and also the at both institutions, both UTN Buenos Aires and possibility of developing oriented proThis project will increase the critical mass of rejects whose area of searchers at UTN.BA and will be a huge benefit, research will be deespecially considering that nowadays the develtermined by UTN. opment of engineering is a priority for the counBA.”

try.” (Eng. Guillermo Oliveto, UTN Buenos Aires Dean)

The agreement is part of a joint project between UTN Buenos Aires and CONICET for the establishment, in the future, of an Engineering Research Institute whose main objectives will be concerned with: high-level scientific technological research in the field of engineering; human resources research training, technology development, bondage with the production area for the creation of innovations, and training of highly qualified engineers; new applications and knowledge generation in the areas of Engineering, in line with the purposes common to both institutions, UTN and CONICET, and the contribution to the best training in engineering at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

To facilitate internal mobility of researchers from

CONICET will open teaching positions, technical positions and Science and Technology researcher positions for this Program. Should work teams be consolidated under the terms of the agreement, their potential reconversion into double dependency Executing Units shall be dealt with. The intellectual property rights arising as a result of the activities performed under the terms of this agreement shall belong to both institutions in proportions equivalent to the contributions made by each of them.

Before the signing of the agreement, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional already has two CONICET institutes at UTN Cordoba and UTN Santa Fe.

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Master’s program jointly administered with Troyes University In 2013, the Master in Systems Optimization and Security program offered at the Université de Technologie de Troyes, France, was launched at UTN Buenos Aires.

After two years of collaborative work between UTN Buenos Aires and the Université de Technologie de Troyes (UTT), France, the Master in Systems Optimization and Security program, “System Control”, was launched in 2013. The program is structured around the axes of Production Planning and Control, Logistics and Transport, and Maintenance.

In a workshop held in December 2012, each professor presented the modules they taught in the Master’s degree program, covering contents, schedule and assessment. The workshop was conducted in English, the language in which the program is delivered. “A very hard-working group with a high academic level was formed. The students built such a friendly relationship and were so satisfied with the organization of the Master’s program that they are making plans to continue working together at the end of this cycle,” says Eng. Raúl Sack, Head of the Industrial Engineering Department at UTN.BA, who coordinates the Master’s program.

He further adds that: “When presenting the Master’s degree program in the last Board of Trustees meeting, I pointed out that the difference between this program and other master’s degree programs is that the latter aim at training students in applied technologies, that is, helping them to incorporate a number of uses for those tools in certain processes and systems.

The Master in Systems Optimization and Safety program, on the other hand, seeks to provide students with tools which enable them to create new technology, to create new knowledge.”

UTN Buenos Aires thus becomes the first institution outside France where this Master’s program is offered. “Foreign students who have come to our country as part of the program have expressed their contentment and satisfaction. Synergy and continuity have been achieved between the ARTIFEC projects for Undergraduate Students and the master’s program in Systems Optimization

A Visit by the Authorities

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During the week of March 17, the director of PhD programs at the Université de Technologie de Troyes (UTT), Prof.

Ph.D Regis Leugelle, and the Director of the Master in Systems Optimization and Security, Prof. Ph.D Anne Barros paid a visit to UTN Buenos Aires. The purpose of the visit was to evaluate how the Master’s program was being conducted; participate in project defense presentations by the first cohort of the program; and design the schedule for the creation of the PhD in Industrial Engineering (Major in Systems Optimization and Security), to be launched in September 2015, and the PhD program jointly administered by UTN and UTT, to be launched in March 2016.

About the French Master’s Program The Master in Science, Technology and Health, with a major in Information and Communication Science and Technology, (Industrial) Systems Optimization and Security specialization, offered by the Université Technologie de Troyes (UTT), is a “Master 2” degree according to the French classification system: One semester is done at UTN. BA and the other, at UTT. The program has three objectives: to promote international education and foster the exchange of pedagogical practices among countries; to strengthen the abilities of students or professionals seeking employment with companies; and to build relationships among teams of teachers, researchers and students in order to establish co-tutorships for doctoral dissertations and to conduct joint research projects.

The chosen engineering branch for this interuniversity collaboration project is Industrial Engineering, but students graduated from the Information Systems Engineering program may also be enrolled.

and Security for Graduates,” Sack stresses. The Master’s program is administered through a series of one-week-long intensive modules of 8 hours a day, consisting of both theoretical and practical lessons.

combinatorial problems; stock and production flow management; and transport and distribution optimization. These topics naturally facilitate collaboration with the industry, which in turn leads to the professionalization of the training program.

The exchange between UTN.BA and France has In 2014, the second cohort of the Master’s probeen running since 2008 and it consists of three gram started their training. The objective is to form stages. The first stage involves an undergraduate a group of 15 students per class, which will allow student exchange program (ARFITEC We seek to provide students with tools which will Project, still running), enable them to create new technology, to create supported by the Nanew knowledge.” (Eng. Raúl Sack, Head of the Industrial Engitional Ministry of Edneering Department at UTN.BA, who coordinates the Master’s program) ucation’s University Policy Office and by the French Embassy in Buenos Aires, through plane the project to be self-funded. Students will have tickets and 6-month accomodation arrangements to pass six of the nine modules that will be taught for each exchange student. The second stage, during the semester. Each module earns four ECTS which started in 2012, consists of this joint Mas- credits (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation ter’s degree program: it is a French program and it System), which total 24 credits at the end of the is administered at UTN Buenos Aires. “This formu- program. We must then add four more ECTS credits la enables students to further pursue a Doctoral earned after passing a Language course (French or program. UTN’s current regulations do not sup- Spanish) and two credits obtained upon compleport this automaticity to go from one level to the tion of the Research Methodology course. Students next. For this stage, we have gathered a group must earn a total of 30 (thirty) ECTS credits. of highly qualified professors and designed very specific modules which lead to A very hard-working group with a high academic what we want to level was formed. The students built a friendly achieve,” says Eng. relationship and were satisfied with the organiSack.

zation of the Master’s program.”

The topics developed in the program are: system reliability; industrial risk management; maintenance planning and optimization; system monitoring and detection through signals and images; fault detection and diagnosis, programming

The third stage of the exchange program, scheduled for 2016, would involve joint PhD programs (see chart).

UTN (Argentina) - UTT (France) Joint PhD Program Eng. Raúl Sack, Head of the Industrial Engineering Department at UTN.BA explains: “This is a joint PhD program, in which both institutions will assess the same Dissertation within the area of Industrial Systems Optimization and Security. Dissertations will be co-tutored by two PhD professors, one for each univesity.

It will be a 3- to 4-year long program and the PhD students will conduct research both in Argentina and in France.”

This joint PhD program is scheduled for launching in March 2016. After passing the Dissertation defense, the new PhD holder will receive one PhD diploma from each university: UTN and UTT.

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Entrepreneuring at UTN.BA Entrepreneurship has a prominent place on UTN Buenos Aires’s agenda. For this reason, in the last few years, this Engineering School has taken specific actions to promote it at all levels within the technological community.

Over the last few years, Entrepreneurship has gained increasing importance at UTN Buenos Aires and has received special attention from the incumbent school administration since it took office. Although the term was coined in the 19th century, its current meaning and relevance have developed in recent years: entrepreneurship has become a driving force in economy and society and it provides an important source of employment in Argentina, where SMEs are the dominant business structure. UTN Buenos Aires’s policy to foster entrepreneurs’ development is in line with this new form of economic organization as opposed to traditional models since, by regarding information and knowledge as strategic components to achieve higher levels of competitiveness, it favors associationism and cooperation between initiatives which, if developed in isolation, would not be sustainable.

UTN Buenos Aires has, therefore, responded to this reality: from the creation of the Entrepreneurs Center (see chart) to the inclusion of specific courses on the topic, such as elective subjects, in its academic programs, the institution has been taking actions aimed at fostering Entrepreneurship at all levels within the technological community.

In this respect, UTN.BA has not only organized a series of Entrepreneurship events (such as conferences given by the FONSOFT -Fondo Fiduciario de Promoción de la Industria del Software [Fiduciary Fund for the Promotion of the Software Industry], within the Argentine Agency for the Promotion of Science and Technology- as part of the School’s Entrepreneurs Program launch, and a public talk on the Start Up Chile program launch) but it has also informed about and provided institutional support to entrepreneurial projects undertaken by graduates, teachers and students (see chart). In addition, it organized the first University TEDx in the country, TEDxUTN 2012, which offered Entrepreneurship-oriented talks. Such event was repeated in 2013 and has already been confirmed for 2014. In addition, UTN.BA was the chosen venue for the Tools for the Technology Entrepreneur Conference, which was held during the National Entrepreneur Week in September 2013.

Entrepreneurship in the Classroom

One of UTN Buenos Aires’s major policies aimed at building an entrepreneurial culture consisted of the inclusion of various elective subjects in the curricula of its engineering programs, a groundbreaking measure at University level. Therefore, the first Entrepreneurship-related subject offered in this School, and at Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, was Entrepreneurship and Business Administration, an elective subject within the Mechanical Engineering degree program which was included in 2005. In order to implement this change, the curriculum structure was adjusted following the recommendations issued by the CONEAU (Comisión Nacional de Evaluación y Acreditación Universitaria) [National Commission for University Evaluation and Accreditation] during the first stage of Accreditation, started in 2003. “We had a certain number of vacant credits of the total number required to take the Final Project subject. So, we decided to include a compulsory elective subject. Students, then, had to choose between Entrepreneurship and Business Administration and Socio-economic Evaluation of Projects,” recalls Eng. Juan Carlos De Cabo, Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at UTN.BA. Therefore, Entrepreneurship and Business Administration was the first step towards providing students with the knowledge as well as the theoretical and practical methodological tools required for the analysis, creation and execution of an entrepreneurial project. “The goals of this subject are to acquire business administration knowledge and techniques; build an entrepreneurial mindset in students, by promoting the creation and execution of projects; provide alternatives for creation; and train students in the evaluation and development of their enterprises based on mass projects or the brainstorming of ideas for businesses,” adds Eng. De Cabo. In this subject, students learn about the nature of business organizations, including essential administration concepts, and how to design and evaluate an action plan for their projects. The subject is currently very popular with students and other regional schools within the university have contacted the Mechanical Engineering Department to request a copy of its curriculum and details about the program. The idea of merging this subject with Socio-Economic Evaluation of Projects, extending the total number of hours and thus giving it a

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higher status, is currently under consideration.

In addition, since 2012, the Industrial Engineering Department has been offering Innovation and Entrepreneurship, another elective subject which, as from next year, will also be available to Textile Engineering students. Since Universidad Tecnológica Nacional has a federal structure, which makes it difficult to modify the curricula in the short-term, the inclusion of this type of subjects allows for adjustments in the programs. Eng. Raúl Slack, Vice Dean and Head of the Industrial Engineering Department at UTN.BA explains: “In this respect, three cross-curricular areas were developed in the program: Oral and written communication axis, in which students are trained in text analysis and reading comprehension, report writing, project development, and the submission of their Final Project; a Corporate Social Responsibility axis; and an Innovation and Entrepreneurship axis.” In short, he states that “the ultimate goal is to arouse a kind of entrepreneurial instinct in students, to generate a social obligation in terms of Social Responsibility, and to standardize the way in which they interpret texts, write reports, and conduct projects.”

As a result, the inclusion of Innovation and Entrepreneurship becomes an essential step towards the goal of offering students cross-curricular themes, thus fostering a transition between theory and practice. The subject provides students with the necessary knowledge to bring a new product or process to market, whether through the setting up of a new business or through the licensing of a new product or process belonging to existing companies.

As from next year, the subject will be available to Textile Engineering students. Eng. Marcelo Olivero, Director of the Textile Engineering Undergraduate Program, states: “Since this is a School of Engineering, we offer technical training. However, there are many variables which are not accounted for in our curricula, including accounting issues, costs, marketing and packaging. This subject thus helps students to professionally address these variables, which are necessary and are otherwise not dealt with in their programs.” In this respect, he adds that “it is very useful for Engineering because all degree programs are, in essence, entrepreneurial undertakings, particularly Textile Engineering, in which self-initiative plays a very important role.” The offering of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in this degree program would take place while the Department gets ready to readjust its Curriculum, in view of an upcoming Accreditation by the CONEAU. In addition to this, the Information Systems Engineering Department has approved two new entrepreneurship-related elective subjects for the 2014 academic year: Digital Enterprises and Entrepreneurial Development. The inclusion of the latter was suggested by

Eng. Andrés Bursztyn.

Eng. Gabriel Marcolongo, a UTN Buenos Aires graduate, who exemplifies the concept of the virtuous cycle promoted by this administration for the entire technological community. Following graduation, this student founded his own company with the support of this Institution through its Entrepreneurs Center and, after succeeding in his endeavor, he returned to the Institution as a teacher to pass on his experience to current students.

Eng. Juan Carlos De Cabo.

As regards the opening of new elective subjects, Eng. Andrés Bursztyn, Head of the Information Systems Engineering Department, and Vice Dean elect, explains: “The concept of Entrepreneurship in introduced at a very early stage in the Information Systems Engineering undergraduate program because the creation, development and fostering of entrepreneurial undertakings, considering the associated financial issues and the characteristics of the project, system, product or service, are intrinsic elements which are present from the very moment a student is able to develop a system. The concept of Innovation is thus intrinsic to the program.” In this sense, there are two precedents in Entrepreneurship-related elective subjects: Creativity and Technological Innovation. Both subjects have been offered since Plan 95 of the program was implemented.

“Our task as educators is to provide the knowledge and motivation to identify an idea’s innovating potential and to develop it. We are promoting the creation of Innovation. The path to achieve this is a little more flexible in Systems Engineering, and goals are reached faster compared to other, more traditional, engineering degree programs, where other elements come into play, such as the availability of equipment, labs, tools and materials; this is not an issue in our field,” adds Eng. Bursztyn.

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Eng. Marcelo Olivero.

From the Classroom to the University

Such actions, which have allowed for the inclusion of subjects specifically related to Entrepreneurship in four degree programs at UTN Buenos Aires are, in part, aimed at banishing the belief that UTN Buenos Aires trains outstanding employees only. In this respect,

Sin embargo, también desde la propia Facultad se busca desterrar otro mito, que dice que solo se es emprendedor si se posee una empresa propia, si no se trabaja en relación de dependencia. “Se puede ser emprendedor e innovador aún trabajando en relación de dependencia”, opina el Ing. Raúl Sack.

“Entrepreneurship goes beyond commercialization of a labor relations. It originates from an idea, its development, market research, and scientific research, if necessary. Defining an entrepreneur is associated with the implementation of that idea, the achievement of the intended objectives; and from my point of view it is not so much associated with social success -Eng. Bursztyn continues. I may be an entrepreneur while I work either as a permanent employee or under a fixed-term contract.

What really matters is that you have the capacity to implement the acquired tools and develop a project, from the idea itself to the intended objective.

That is what we foster at UTN.BA” From UTN.BA to the Country

Beyond the exchange of opinions within UTN Buenos Aires, Entrepreneurship is vital to the productive system of a country where SMEs play a main leading role.

Eng. Raúl Sack.

Eng. Juan Carlos De Cabo shares a phenomenon that has been seen over the last few years in Final Project, a subject of the Mechanical Engineering Degree Program: “Most of the students’ ventures developed from their final projects. They have been able to integrate them into an entrepreneurial start-up. In turn, this experience has allowed them to develop their management skills in executive projects and provided them with sound theoretical background and principles based on their creativity and innovation”.

Eng. Andrés Bursztyn believes that “university graduates should not be trained to be employees only.

They should have all the tools to become entrepreneurs, businessmen, to hold decision-making and management posts. If a person is a university graduate he should have that ability, whatever his degree.” In this sense, Eng. De Cabo continues: “Students have not yet realized that they can be their own company founders” UTN Buenos Aires is also seeking to banish another myth according to which a person is an entrepreneur only if he has a company of his own, if he is self-employed. “A person may be an entrepreneur and an innovator even when working as an employee,” Eng. Raúl Sack states.

Eng. Raúl Sack explains: “It is very important for a country like Argentina, where knowledge generation is still in an initial stage, that the entrepreneur mindset be fostered in engineering students; because this may lead to the emergence of world market niches where there is no high competitiveness, and where a large scale investment is not necessary.”

In this regard, Eng. Marcelo Olivero says that “unlike larger economies like Brasil, where principal areas are managed by giant companies which supply the entire market; having in a country with small and medium-sized companies means that the costs structure benefits the entrepreneur.” Eng. Andrés Bursztyn adds: “We, from UTN.BA, foster entrepreneurship so that it ultimately provides our country with a solution which, in turn, also has an impact on social welfare; and when you speak of social welfare you are also speaking of providing jobs.”

“Strengthening entrepreneurship is both strengthening the Industry and achieving a competitive advantage as well, which have backed us in many instances of open economy, that is versatility,” says Eng. Olivero and concludes: “If a person has the capacity to develop their idea, and this idea becomes a value-adding solution, and that added value turns into more jobs for the community, what may be better?”

UTN.BA Success Cases 18

This section presents a number of companies, emerged from within the technological community, which have consolidated and even gained recognition in their field.

Subjects on Entrepreneurship at UTN.BA Entrepreneurship and Business Administration (Mechanical Engineering) Adjunct Professor: Lic. Leonardo Coppola.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Industrial Engineering and Textile Engineering) Adjunct Professor: Eng. Sebastián Brie Entrepreneurial Development (Information Systems Engineering) Adjunct Professor: Eng. Gabriel Marcolongo Digital Enterprises (Information Systems Engineering) Adjunct Professor: PhD Alejandro Prince

ADA ADA is a social company started by students María Celeste Medina and Ezequiel Gerónimo González whose objective is to provide women belonging to disadvantaged sectors of society with an opportunity of social and labor insertion. It has recently won the DESAFIATE (Challenge Yourself) competition organized by the General Department of Youth Policies (BAJoven), Buenos Aires Emprende, the Design District, and IAE Center of Entrepreneurship; and developed by Socialab.

All Online Solutions Company belonging to graduate Juan Ignacio Onetto, who designed the Colppy system, which is a simple online accounting-administrative management system for accountants and SMEs. In 2012, it won the 2012 BAITEC award and the Open App Talent contest in the SME category, organized by Telefónica and Movistar.

Biogle Taxonomy-based animal and vegetable detection and identification system created by student Alan Cura based, to be implemented in natural parks and ecological reserves. In 2012, it was presented at Tecnópolis.

Charinut Graduate Eng. Christen Sasse’s enterprise consists of a healthy-food company which collaborates with different NGOs and receives a share of their fundraising. She took part in the Entrepreneur Development Program through UTN Buenos Aires Entrepreneurs Center. eGrow It is a tool created by student Alejandro Cohen that allows for indoor crop growing for food production with no human intervention or sunlight. It was presented at Tecnópolis 2012.

Incluyeme.com Inclusive Job Portal created by Gabriel Marcolongo (UTN.BA) and Pablo Verti (UBA). It is a Yeeeu spin-off which informs about labor inclusion programs. In 2013, it was awarded the ImpacTec first prize for innovative ideas which, through technology, meet social challenges within the country. Furthermore, he won Start Up Chile, an award which includes a work visa and seed capital to develop the project in the trans-Andean country.

KLearning A software developed by students Soraya Tortella, Gerardo Pozzetti and Roberto Barberis. It is an innovative kinect device that allows third grade students, at elementary school, to learn maths by performing different operations such as multiplication, addition, division, subtraction and fractions.

Maná Desarrollos Technology-based company by Eng. Nahuel González which provides various tools to facilitate access to information, education and employment for people with disabilities. In 2006, he won the 2006 Innovar Award (Innovative Concept category) and the Sadosky Award. He was also awarded with International Distinctions in countries such as Denmark (2006), Turkey (2007) and Brazil (2009).

MiCursada It was founded by UTN.BA student Tomás Bermani and Iván Badgen (UBA) and It is an educational platform in which users can share content in the cloud. It is incubated by NxtpLabs which, in turn, is a project accelerator that has already incubated The Social Radio.

Rucatech Founded and managed by Eng. María Laura Orfanó, this company gathers software specialists, provides e-commerce solutions, mobile applications and tailored software. In 2012, she won the Open App contest, organized by Telefónica and Movistar (SME category) for her e-mysis project; a cloud collaboration software that facilitates communication and teamwork.

The Social Radio Technology-based company created by UTN Graduate Engineers Roberto Gluck; Alejandra Negrete and Demián Renzulli which offers a twitter application with an alternative for social networks updates consumption. It won the 2012 Startup World prize. Eng. Roberto Gluck was named The Most Innovative Young Person by the Technology Review Journal edited by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Yeeeu Created by engineers Gabriel Marcolongo (UTN.BA) and Pablo Veltri (UBA), this call center employs people with motor disabilities and through a teleworking format and their own platform. It won the 2011 BAITEC prize and the Young Entrepreneurs Award (Santander Río Universities). Furthermore, it received an award at Big Challenge.

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UTN.BA awarded in USA In November, the “Records on Time” project, developed by UTN.BA non-faculty staff, won the Distinction Level Award Recipients competition confronting teams from around the world in the Education category of the National Quality Education Conference organized by the American Society for Quality every year.

In August, the “Records on Time” project, developed by a UTN.BA non-faculty staff team, was awarded the first prize in the Education category of the “Stars of Excellence”, a team competition organized by the Argentine Professional Institute for Quality and Excellence (IPACE). As a result, three members of the team traveled to the city of Milwaukee, United States, as finalists to participate in the National Quality Education Conference annually organized by the American Society for Quality. On November 17, a UTN.BA team earned the highest score and the Distinction Level Award Recipients confronting teams from around the world who participated in the Education category. Francisco De Lellis, Ezequiel Montenegro, and the UTN.BA Secretary of Academic Affairs, Juan Di Costa traveled to defend the project. UTN Buenos Aires funded their travel and stay expenses.

“It was very rewarding to represent UTN.BA and show the work we do every day. I had the chance to explain our work and the process involved to improve it,” points out Ezequiel Montenegro, who has worked at UTN Buenos Aires for 6 years and, being a student of a Teaching English as a Foreign Language course, took over the role of speaker in Milwaukee. “Even though people may think our job is about paperwork we deal with professional certificates, we handle important

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documentation. That is what I tried to explain to the attendees, so that they became aware of the fact that we care for UTN.BA students’ work and efforts and our own work and efforts, as well”.

The “Records on Time” project, as presented in the U.S., was considered by The American Association of Quality as a work that may be applicable not only to universities but also to other areas or education levels. It should be noted that it was the first time that an Argentine team participates in a competition organized by that Association, especially taking into account that UTN Buenos Aires is a state-funded

“Records on Time” “The project originated in an Academic Affairs Management staff meeting. After the training courses we attended, we started to use Quality tools that were useful to organize the entire record process,” explains Francisco De Lellis, and continues: “It was unprecedented to work on processes so deeply.”

“Records on Time” could streamline diplomas delivery. Due to the work done by the UTN.BA Quality Committee, framed in the Staff Training Program performed by the School, the causes of the problem were identified and roles were established; staff was trained on quality and improvement; the team planned strategies to troubleshoot problems.

public university. When registration to the National Quality Education Conference was open, there were 65 teams of which 30 passed the preliminary round. UTN.BA joined after winning the “Star of Excellence” contest of IPACE, and in November it obtained the highest score among six finalists, thus winning the first prize.

While in Milwaukee, the team visited the ALBA School, Fine Arts and Language Academy, a bilingual school, where they shared information about UTN.BA and the country. The team was invited by the American Society for Quality to participate again in the 2014 contest.

Francisco De Lellis, who has worked at UTN Buenos Aires for 19 years, states: “We feel that our work is valued, we are motivated. With this project we eliminate redundant steps, and capitalize software tools that allow us to expedite the process. We have adjusted and streamlined the entire process from start to finish.” Ezequiel values “teamwork, needing each other, and reciprocity between areas.” In this regard, “Records on Time”

The Team Hernán Castelo Fernando Chiesa Agustina De Lellis Francisco De Lellis Sebastián Deleon Andrea De Los Santos Juan Di Costa Sergio Iscolnic Gabriela Krechuk Natalia Lago Ezequiel Montenegro Ana María Rodriguez Arturo Romero

involved and benefited many sectors of the Secretary of Academic Affairs Management: Academic Management Office; Students Affairs office; Office of the Registrar; Integrated Academic Management System (SIGA); and Beadle’s Office. “We are grateful to all the authorities that allowed us to participate and travel to defend the project. We never had a “no” for an answer,” concludes Francisco.

“Participation of such projects in contests is a policy that was defined by UTN Buenos Aires, driven mostly by non-faculty staff teams that are being trained on quality improvement tools,” says Eng. Juan Di Costa, UTN Buenos Aires Secretary of Academic Affairs Management.

Currently, UTN Buenos Aires is working on five new projects associated to the latest training sessions on Quality that took place in 2013: Process Improvement Tools. In such projects there are 40 non-faculty staff members from the following areas of UTN.BA: Academic Affairs; Student Affairs; Culture and University Extension and Academic Management. Projects are about: Exception Procedures

for Subject Correlation to improve cases resolutions on time; Organics, to appoint teachers and pay salaries on time; Financial Aid Scholarships, Services and Research, to streamline fellows payment; Technical degree programs, to improve the process from the moment the student enters University until it receives his diploma; and Supply Warehouse Enhancement, a work approach to strengthen and build a working indicator panel to improve management. Upon the result obtained from the National Quality Education Conference this year, UTN.BA is expected to participate in the “Stars of Excellence” contest again through some of aforementioned projects.

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Campus basement reopening On September 4, only 5 months after the flooding that affected much of the Campus site, UTN Buenos Aires Campus basement was reopened. Fifteen new classrooms were built, the electrical system was renewed, floors and walls were reconditioned and a new exit route was incorporated.

On September 4, with the presence of authorities the School,” and thanked the entire technology from UTN Rectorate, the Campus site basement, community. damaged by the severe flooding of April 2, 2013, was reopened. Reconditioning of this sector was “On April 2 , my first reaction was mourning bedone in record time since the ultimate objective was cause the situation was horrible: water level exto prevent the damage caused by the flooding from ceeded the ceiling. Everything in the basement interfering with academic activities. Fifteen new was lost. But from that moment on, we began classrooms were built, the electrical system was to generate actions that were chained. We set renewed, floors and walls were reconditioned and up a crisis committee. The most affected area a new escape route was incorporated. The work was the physics office which was in this sector. required an investment We all committed not only to recovering from adof more than 2,800,000 Argentine pesos. versity but, as far as possible, to getting advan-

tage of adversity, and to improving what we had

Due to such situation, before the flooding.” (Eng. Guillermo Oliveto, UTN.BA Dean) the Physics Laboratories migration was done ahead of time by UTN Buenos Aires, in com- There was also a Laboratory of Signal and Impliance with the works plan. This space planning age Processing. And there was plenty of docuwas performed together with the Basic Sciences mentation,” explained the Dean in relation to the Department, meeting the needs and requirements situation. “First, we began to draw water. We of use. The project includes, thereinafter, a build- hired pumps. There were people who slept here. ing adjacent to the Civil, Electrical and Mechanical What we lived in those days was really touching.

Engineering Labs which, in the first stage, will have It was unique. What you saw in the video was 1,200 sq m for the Physics Laboratory. just a part of what we actually experienced. All the community worked jointly to solve a probIn the reopening event, an allusive video was lem. That is how we emptied the basement in rescreened showing the situation of the Campus site cord time. We were able to survey the damage. after the flooding and five months later at the time We started working on removing everything that of the reopening event. UTN Buenos Aires Dean, had been affected. Groups of students, graduEng. Guillermo Oliveto, addressed the audience ates, support staff, teachers working hard on and said: “5 months ago we lived hard times at Saturday and Sunday, cleaning everything,” said

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the Dean, who recalled: “It was touching to see how valuable material was cleaned, as well as material that had little economic value but great sentimental value because it had been produced by a teacher at some point in the history of this School.”

“In those days -he recalled- we had great media exposure through television and radio broadcasting.

That same exposure occurred on social networks. Thereafter, the number of people offering help increased.”

Eng. Guillermo Oliveto.

“I want to emphasize the fact that when we started working with the Crisis Committee, we committed not only to recovering from adversity but, as far as possible, to getting advantage of adversity, and to improving what we had before the flooding. And we are achieving that. All departments offered help with space to the Physics Department so that students’ academic year was not affected by the impossibility of doing their practical assignments. And this is how, nowadays, activities are undertaken almost as usual. We are carrying out the activities of Physics I, Physics II, Electronic Physics regularly. “

Eng. Oliveto concluded: “What we have proved to ourselves, in the course of these months, is what we are as a community. And in this case, there were non-faculty staff who did not look at their watches, and stayed until late to solve problems. Students camped and slept at the Campus facilities. There were graduates who heard the news on television and came to help and Teachers who stopped doing what they were doing to come to work. All together working as a community. This is what makes us strong.”

Then Universidad Nacional Tecnológica Rector, Eng. Hector Brotto, said that “the only truth is

The Dean, Oliveto, stated, “I have been a stuUniversidad Tecnológica Nacional Rector, Eng. Hector Brotto, dent of this house myself; I am a graduate said that “the only truth is reality. Today we are here, of this house. When standing where five months ago you could not even I was told what had get in,” and continued: “I am sure that our University has happened, I said my advanced thanks to the human quality of its authorihouse was flooded. I ties, staff and mainly students who are the sentiment had no other thing to and reality whereby we exist as a university.” say because it is my home. And what I did, and the people who accompany me did, was ex- reality. Today we are here, standing where five actly what we would have done if our home had months ago you could not even get in,” and been flooded. That was the spirit that moved us continued: “I am sure that our University has from the beginning, and that is the spirit that advanced thanks to the human quality of its aumoves us every day.” thorities, staff and mainly students who are the sentiment and reality whereby we exist as a uni“What we do is reaffirming the fact that no storm versity. “ will ever beat us. We are an Engineering University, the largest in the country, and we do are not defeated by adversity; we try to get advantage of that adversity.”

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New Gender Equality Committee On March 12, during a university event commemorating International Women’s Day, UTN Buenos Aires launched a Gender Equality Committee.

UTN Buenos Aires launched a Gender Equality Committee on March 12 during a university event held within the context of the commemoration of International Women’s Day. “Women do not yet have the place they deserve; true equality has not yet been achieved but we are slowly getting closer to it. In our University, there are more and more women holding key political positions,” said Eng. Guillermo Oliveto, Dean of UTN Buenos Aires, at the beginning of the event, and added: “We need to act as a resonant box in relation to these issues in order to foster the creation of policies that will encourage equal participation of women in our country’s decision-making processes.”

With regard to the Gender Equality Committee, Eng. Javier Ona, Secretary of Culture and University Extension, said: “Our purpose was to generate a space for the participation and inclusion within the four areas of our university community (faculty, non-faculty staff, students and graduates)”. This new institutional body will work around three main axes: Society, Education and Work. Lic. Natalia Parrondo, Coordinator of the Social Development Area at UTN.BA, said: “We know these areas are intertwined; the School knows that.

That is why we seek to create policies that will have a social impact. We intend to depart from the traditional vision of gender and to generate a productive space of university belonging that promotes dialogue. The creation of this space may lead to academic or research work but, at the same time, it should generate proposals to discuss the issue within the community.”

In this context, working groups were created and they were coordinated by experts in the field in order

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to address the three axes and to promote a space for reflection and debate with a gender perspective.

The Society working group was coordinated by Fabiana Tuñez, Executive Director of “La Casa del Encuentro” Civil Association; Griselda Peri, President of Las Mamás NGO; and María Lucila Colombo, former Deputy Secretary of the National Consumer Protection Office, President of the National Women’s Board between 2004 and 2006, President of the National Board for Childhood, Adolescence and Family between 2003 and 2004, and founder of the Argentine Housewife’s Union (in Spanish, SACRA).

In turn, the Education working group was presided over by Eng. Rosa Breier, former Dean at UTN Buenos Aires (1983-1989) and Full Professor of undergraduate and graduate courses at this School; PhD. Graciela Morgade, Dean of the School of Philosophy and Literature of the University of Buenos Aires; and Eng. Adela Hutin, from the Women Engineers for Development Committee of the Argentine Center of Engineers.

Finally, the Work working group was led by Estela Barba, Coordinator of the Equal Training Area for Decent Work of the National Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security; Lic. María Cristina Lionti, Head of the Cultural Industries Unit within the Department of Industry of the National Ministry of Industry; and Eng. Jorgelina Soria, from the Women Engineers for Development Committee of the Argentine Center of Engineers, who holds a position as Process Engineer at AESA - YPF and as a General Chemistry Professor in the Electrical and Civil Engineering programs at UTN La Plata Regional School.

GRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAMS

2014 CONTACT Graduate School of the UTN Buenos Aires www.posgrado.frba.utn.edu.ar administracion@posgrado.frba.utn.edu.ar Tel: 0054 011 4983-8882 // 4981-5577 Castro Barros 91, City of Buenos Aires Hours: 10 to 22 hs.

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