eng p - Fundación México-Estados Unidos para la Ciencia

Annual Activities
Report
2013
Science, technology
and innovation
for development
© 2014 The United States-Mexico
Foundation for Science
Fundación México-Estados Unidos
para la Ciencia
San Francisco 1626 - 205,
Colonia Del Valle, 03100, México, D.F.
Printed and made in Mexico
www.fumec.org
Editorial Coordination: Rosario Taracena
Editorial Assistance: Jessica Borth, Eleane Proo
and Yamania Olivé
Design: Dinorah Mosqueda
Index
1
Presentation
4
Board of Governors
5
Origins of FUMEC
6
Message from the
Chairman of the Board
of Governors
7
Message from the Vice
Chairman of the Board
of Governors
8
Message from
the CEO
4
Education for
Innovation
35INNOVEC
39CECYTEQ
2
Innovation for
Competitiveness
10 Business Support
Programs
17 Success Cases
3
New Binational
Initiatives
30MUSEIC
32FOBESII
27 State Innovation
Agendas
28Collaboration
with Colombia
5
Other Activities
6
Complementary
Information
42Binational
Collaboration in
Health Care
46Directory
43 20 Anniversary
of FUMEC
48 Offices
44 Collaboration with
the Mexican Academy
of Sciences
47 Financial Information
6
Board of
Governors
Warren J. Baker
Cristina Loyo Varela
Juan Silanes
Nestor Montoya
Chairman
President Emeritus of the California
Polytechnic State University
Vice-Chairman
President of the Silanes Bioclon
Institute
Francisco Barnés de Castro
Immediate Past Chair
Commissioner of the Energy
Regulatory Commission
Karl Rüggeberg
Treasurer
Thomas Bowles
Executive Director at New Mexico
Computing Applications Center
José Luis Fernández Zayas
Director of the Mexican Institute of
Electrical Research
William Harris
President and CEO of Science
Foundation Arizona
Silvia Hernández
President-Associate of Public
Strategy Consultants
General Director of the National
Laboratory on Advanced Computer
Science
Advisor at the financial services
company TIAA-CREF
Bernard Robertson
Senior Vice President at
DaimlerChrysler Corp.
Leopoldo Rodríguez
Adviser of various enterprises
Cipriano Santos
Senior Scientist at Hewlett-Packard
Laboratories
Mary Walshok
Associate Vice Chancellor for
Public Programs at the University of
California, San Diego
Misael Uribe Esquivel
President of the Board of
Administration of Grupo Médica Sur
Guillermo Fernández
Secretary of the Board
CEO of FUMEC
7
Origins of FUMEC
“I believe our countries
have a common
destiny and scientific
cooperation is part of
that destiny.”
Congressman George
E. Brown Jr.
The United States-Mexico Foundation for Science (FUMEC) is a non-governmental organization created during the preparations for the signing of
the North American Free Trade Agreement, through a binational agreement
aimed at promoting and supporting science and technology collaboration
between the two countries.
The North American congressman, George E. Brown, Jr., played a key
role in the formation and consolidation of FUMEC. As Chairman of the
Committee on Science and Technology of the House of Representatives of
the United States, Brown defended the need to strengthen binational exchanges in these areas and took steps in the United States which yielded an
initial contribution of close to 11 million dollars to integrate the Endowment
Fund, an exceptional occurrence among the support that the US grants to
non-governmental organizations.
Congressman Brown was a tireless promoter of science and technology.
After his death in 1999 he left an important legacy that was reflected in improvements to United States science and technology programs highlighting
collaboration with other countries in the field.
Two important players for the formation of FUMEC were the scientific
advisors to the Presidents of both countries, Guillermo Soberón Acevedo
in Mexico and Alan Bromley in the United States, who were responsible for
organizing work groups and ensuring a commitment from the two governments to create the foundation, which was formally established as an organism with legal status in the two countries from 1993.
Continuing with the spirit of collaboration which distinguished the work
of Congressman George E. Brown Jr., FUMEC seeks to be a coordinating
body of binational efforts, through the identification of opportunities, creation of synergies, integration of programs with goals of binational interest
and the search for results in the areas in which it works.
8
Message from the Chairman of the
Board of Governors
FUMEC was created over 20 years ago and Congressman George E. Brown,
Jr. was the prime mover for the development of FUMEC stating that “our
countries have a shared path and scientific cooperation is part of it.”
As FUMEC begins its third decade it is clear that what Congressman
Brown believed then is still true. However, the world has changed significantly and the opportunities for FUMEC to foster cooperative initiatives in
advanced engineering, technology development, innovation and entrepreneurship are stronger than ever today. The cornerstones for success with
these initiatives are education and research.
In May 2013, Presidents Barack Obama and Enrique Peña acknowledged
the importance of implementing bi-national programs and launched the Bilateral Forum on Higher Education, Innovation and Research (FOBESII) and the
Mexico-United States Council for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MUSEIC).
FUMEC is playing an important role in both programs with three members of the Board of Governors co-chairing FOBESII Innovation and Technology Working Group, MUSEIC Technology Commercialization Sub Committee
and providing leadership to expand the NSF Industry University Cooperative
Research Initiative model fostering partnerships between our countries.
These new programs emphasize the importance of education in science,
technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as an essential element for
economic development. STEM education is one of the areas of focus and
expertise of FUMEC. The Foundation works cooperatively with other organizations to promote successful STEM educational models from the United
States in Mexico.
The other key cornerstone to support economic development and
global competitiveness is research. Through joint research and development
programs FUMEC will foster innovation, entrepreneurship, increased commercialization of new technologies, joint ventures, and joint workforce development in scientific and technology fields in both Mexico and the US.
2013 was an important year for the Foundation as it celebrated its twentieth anniversary in Mexico along with government officials, business leaders
and other allies. I am proud to be part of FUMEC because it works cooperatively to improve the quality of life. The excellent results achieved by the
Foundation inspire us to continue promoting the application of science and
technology to pave the way for improvements in health, education, the environment, and the economy.
Sincerely,
Warren Baker
9
Message from the Vice Chairman of the
Board of Governors
The new framework for binational cooperation in competitiveness and innovation that arose from the High Level Economic Dialogue between the
presidents of Mexico and the United States in 2013 is especially important
to FUMEC.
In this scenario, particular importance is given to the binational production chains with which FUMEC already works, building partnerships with
bodies such as the American Chamber and with American companies in
sectors including information technologies, automotive, aerospace and health
technologies, seeking to improve regional competitiveness in high value technology, like software engineering and development.
FUMEC is an organization which is recognized by both the Mexican business community and United States companies operating in Mexico. Its national and international acceleration programs, TechPYME and TechBA, have
helped many companies to integrate into regional innovation networks, and
to acquire new capacities and relationships to become leaders in the country's most productive sectors.
Fur thermore, FUMEC's experience in CONACYT's State Innovation
Agendas project is opening up new ways to work with state governments, universities and the business community, gaining better insight
into their needs to help them better ; but, above all, driving innovation at
state and regional level so that the country's effor ts are conver ted into
prosperity for all.
We are very happy to see that the scope of FUMEC has been expanding,
with the emergence of new prospects for bilateral collaboration, emphasizing
competitiveness and seeking alliances between companies, universities and
government.
Sincerely,
Juan Silanes
10
Message from the CEO
A few years after its creation—during the negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement—FUMEC started programs focused on promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, and
on helping technology businesses to increase innovation and competitiveness
in the region.
These programs developed and opened the door for the Foundation to
facilitate the creation of networks between government, industry, academy
and civil society in Mexico, and also with organizations and companies from
the United States and Canada. These networks are a major support in the
new framework of binational collaboration established by the presidents of
our countries through the High Level Economic Dialogue, particularly for the
FOBESII and MUSEIC programs.
In addition, in 2013 we faced important transformations in Mexico, such
as the change in operating regulations of the National Entrepreneurs Institute, which have meant adjustments to the TechPYME and TechBA programs.
The new conditions have also opened fresh perspectives for the Microsystems program and our STEM education programs.
During the year, we have further approached state governments, business
organizations and universities from both countries, and we foresee a very
promising outlook for the development of the Foundation and will work to
adapt FUMEC strategies to the new circumstances, with the guidance and
support of our Board of Governors.
In this Report 2013, we present the success cases of companies, entrepreneurs and projects in which FUMEC has been involved. These achievements
are the result of the synergies with different organizations and the efforts of
a great team of people who drive the Foundation's programs.
Sincerely,
Guillermo Fernández de la Garza
Innovation for
Competitiveness
12
Today, the important thing
is to innovate
FUMEC has been
successful in boosting
innovative small
and medium-sized
enterprises in Mexico.
T
oday, more than ever, the world
economy is intimately tied to
what happens in scientific and
technological development. Today,
more than ever, new ideas and our capacity to make them a reality have an
enormous potential for changing the
lives of millions of people all over the
planet, and improving national economies.
We live, unquestionably, in a knowledge economy, led by those countries
which, for decades, have made driving
innovation a priority, that is, the process
of converting ideas into products and
services to satisfy the needs of people,
organizations and companies.
We are already living in the innovation age, but in the case of North
America, there is a sharp contrast between what happens in Canada and
the United States, countries with a
long tradition of driving innovation, and
what happens in Mexico, where there is
still much ground to cover and where
we still have to join forces for the socalled “Mexican moment”—characterized by the huge capture of foreign
investment towards key industries—to
help strengthen national institutions
and mechanisms that support innovation for large, and particularly, small and
medium-sized enterprises.
FUMEC and the boost to
innovative companies
FUMEC is an organization that has
worked for over 20 years to narrow
the innovation gap that exists between
Canada, the United States and Mexico.
One of the environments in which
the Foundation has achieved most
success is the boost to small and medium-sized innovative enterprises in
Mexico, through programs that leverage the best practices of the United
States and Canada, and are designed to
detonate the potential of these companies and help them to grow both inside
and outside the country.
The FUMEC programs targeted to
technology SMEs have been rated by
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as
best practices in several of their business support analyses in Mexico. The
most recent is The Local Dimension of
13
SME and Entrepreneurship Issues and
Policies in Mexico, a document that
highlights the acceleration services that
FUMEC offers to Mexican SMEs, and
its ties to international business support programs.
FUMEC’s business programs emerged
just over 15 years ago, when the Foundation began to integrate the best experiences of supporting SMEs coming
from the United States and Canada.
These experiences were a valuable
framework which has been enriched by
working directly with the enterprises.
In 2004, following an analysis of the
best experiences of supporting innovative companies internationally, and
together with the Mexican Ministry of
Economy, we launched the International Technology Business Acceleration
Program, TechBA, which has taken over
600 Mexican technology enterprises into international markets in its 10
years of operation.
In parallel, the TechPYME National
Acceleration and Boost to Innovation
Networks program has identified and
helped more than 1400 technology
enterprises in state programs, helping them to consolidate a competitive
value offer.
The administrations of Presidents
Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón allowed the development of these programs with resources so that enterprises could receive FUMEC support
and access specialized advice and innovation networks that enabled them to
strengthen and grow. President Enrique
Peña’s government marked a change in
this dynamic and today it is the companies, associations and state governments who must apply for support
from the National Entrepreneurs Institute (INADEM), which opens tenders,
evaluates the proposals and allocates
resources to the applicants.
FUMEC has continued to work
under this new scheme, helping companies, associations and state governments to present their projects, many
of which are already running. The
Foundation also continues to collaborate with the states in local programs
to support enterprises and drive local
economies.
FUMEC’s value proposal to
companies
FUMEC supports the growth of Mexican technology SMEs through four
programs: TechPYME, TechBA, Microsystems and a Food and Agri-Business Incubator, which provide help to
evaluate the potential and opportunities of companies, and develop with
them their capacities, integral development, innovation and internationalization strategies.
FUMEC offers companies access to
innovation networks formed by actors
who support their development, such
as: clusters, business chambers, universi-
TechBA has taken
over 600 Mexican
technology
enterprises into
international markets
over its 10 years of
operation.
14
ties, research centers and state and federal government entities, among others.
These networks facilitate the creation
of business ecosystems where companies can grow productively and innovatively in their states, and at national and
international level.
FUMEC programs focus their work
on strategic niches with the potential to
generate new development opportunities, as shown below.
The strategy to drive and strengthen
innovation networks and help companies to enter or migrate towards strategic niches with high growth potential,
TechPYME has
identified and
assisted more than
1400 technology
enterprises, helping
them to consolidate
a competitive value
proposition.
Strategic Niches
Identified by FUMEC
SEC TOR
NICHES
Information
Technologies
Cloud computing
Mobile technologies
Multimedia
Advanced manufacturing
Automotive
Advanced manufacturing
Aerospace
Advanced manufacturing
Maintenance and repair
Airport services
Health Technologies
Medical devices
Clinical trials
New drugs
Health IT
Food technologies
Nutraceutics
Manufacturing processes
Sustainability
Clean technologies
(air, water, soil)
Alternative energies
Microsystems
Embedded systems
FPGAS
has fostered the development of hundreds of SMEs which have learned to
do business with a global outlook.
TechPYME: National
acceleration and driving of
innovation networks
As a national acceleration program,
TechPYME identifies and helps Mexican
technology companies with innovation
potential to strengthen internal capacities, support migration towards strategic niches, trigger innovation capacity
and refine business strategies.
In alliance with state governments
and business associations and clusters,
TechPYME promotes the integration of
innovation networks and develops the
capacities and potential of local technology-business ecosystems related to
the niches in which FUMEC works.
The service this program provides
to businesses covers the evaluation of
their potential and needs, coordination
with training specialists and the application of business tools such as, cash flow,
technology roadmaps, development or
redefinition of business plans, certification assistance, intellectual property
guidance, analysis of opportunities, and
the preparation of innovation projects,
among other services. The TechPYME
work model is shown below.
During 2013, the program continued its work to strengthen technology-business ecosystems collaborating
with different players to create productive environments for companies.
One example is the collaboration
which TechPYME maintains with the
Mexiquense Council for Science and
Technology (COMECYT) to support
companies from the State of Mexico in
15
sectors such as: food, health, automotive, information technologies and clean
technologies.
Another example is TechPYME’s
collaboration with the InteQsoft information technologies cluster in Queretaro to design an internationalization
model for small enterprises with funds
from the World Bank and the Ministry
of Economy. This program, with TechBA’s support, helped to identify ten
enterprises with potential to penetrate
global markets, and offered them advice on value offer, market analysis and
competitiveness as well as opportunities and business models.
In addition, the TechPYME program
has collaborated productively with the
Mexican Institute of Industrial Property
(IMPI) and Nacional Financiera (Nafin)
in order to support inventive, technological and business activity in Mexico,
and promoted the registration of industrial property with high scientific
and technological value. As part of that
collaboration, FUMEC helped the organization of the Expo Ingenio 2013, an
event pushed by the IMPI that sought
to promote the meeting of technology generators, entrepreneurs and the
players working for the country’s economic growth.
TechPYME Service Model
Development of Strengthening Programs
Opportunity analysis
workshop
BUSINESS
STRENGTHENING
• Diagnostics
• Roadmap
• Business tools
• Linkage to
support programs
INNOVATION
STRATEGIES
• Innovation
workshops
• Presentation
of projects
in tenders
• Intellectual
property
• Technological
monitoring
Action Plan
by Company
TECHNICALBUSINESS
PREPARATION
• Technology
consulting
IDENTIFICATION
OF COMPANIES WITH
INTERNATIONAL
ACCELERATION
POTENCIAL
• Certification
consulting
• Networking events
• Interaction with
techonology
and business
networks
• TechBA integration
Results in new products, new markets, access to innovation project funds, partnerships,
new business culture, estimation of sales impact.
16
TechBA: Internationalization
of Mexican Technology SMEs
TechBA facilitates the international acceleration of Mexican Technology SMEs
with an innovative value offer and the
potential to compete in global markets,
through specialized support in world
innovative business ecosystems.
TechBA has eight offices in cities
with highly active economies, such as:
Silicon Valley, Austin, Seattle, Arizona,
Michigan, Montreal, Vancouver and Madrid. Each office has experts in the strategic niches identified by FUMEC and
local innovation networks that promote
the accelerated growth of companies.
Expert advice on global markets
and local partnerships generated by
TechBA allow companies to learn new
ways of doing business, which translates
into competitive sales for their companies and improved value offers. The
TechBA work model is shown below.
TechBA also supports the creation
of companies with global vision since its
inception. In 2013, TechBA along with
CONACYT and the United States
Embassy to Mexico conducted the
Bootcamp “Invent your Future,” which
sought to give Mexican entrepreneurs
the opportunity to convert their ideas
into business and present them to investors, potential clients and experts in
the international market.
More than 400 projects registered
for the Bootcamp during the invitation
process, of which 160 had the opportunity to take the on-line course “Preparing for Innovation” from the University
of Texas. Subsequently, an evaluation
committee selected 15 finalists, who
The TechBA Model
Performance in a
global environment
Global innovative
company
Acceleration
Attraction of
new clients
Transformation
Opening
process
INNOVATION
NETWORK
Development of
new products
Pre-Acceleration
Local incubation
Local operation
Innovation space
17
received direct guidance on the development of global business, and the opportunity to present their projects to
investors at Expo TechBA Austin.
In addition, TechBA, in conjunction
with the Universidad Autónoma del
Estado de Morelos (UAEM), organized
a second bootcamp called “UAEM
Potential” in which 46 entrepreneurs
participated with 42 innovative science
and technology projects.
Food and Agri-Business
Incubator
Arising from activities begun with the
United States Department of Agriculture to facilitate the incorporation of
food safety technologies, and to support rural producers of processed
foods, FUMEC integrated a Food and
Agri-Business Incubator, a people-centered program dedicated to providing
tools for personal, family and community development. The incubator helps
the creation of enterprises that contribute to the resolution of priorities in
food safety, the fight against malnutrition, and obesity.
This program trains, advises,
strengthens and links micro and small
enterprises with support institutions to
achieve their incorporation into production chains, which helps to generate
new opportunities and improve quality
of life.
The Incubator serves two groups:
High Impact Companies and Social
Economy Companies. Its service model
is shown on the right.
During National Entrepreneur
Week 2013, the Incubator received
more than 300 applications from entrepreneurs seeking guidance to start
a business, of which 24 high-impact
projects were selected. In total, the Incubator helped 40 entrepreneurship
projects in 2013.
Mexican Microsystems
Consortium
The Mexican Microsystems Consortium (CMM in Spanish) was created by
FUMEC in 2007 with the aim of promoting scientific research and technological development in microsystems
in Mexico, in order to improve the scientific and technological capacities of
Mexican companies and increase their
competitiveness.
The Consortium works as a strategic coordinator for the production,
government, academic and research
sectors. In doing so, it promotes the
development of a business ecosystem
based on microsystems in order to
contribute to positioning Mexico as a
developer of innovative solutions for
products and processes that can be
marketed both nationally and globally.
Through the CMM, the Foundation
Model: Food and Agri-Business Incubator
POST INCUBATION (3 MONTHS)
• Quality and competitiveness
management system
• Network
INCUBATION (2 MONTHS)
• Pre feasibility
• Business plan
• Tax ID and Articles of Incorporation
PRE-INCUBATION (1 MONTH)
•
•
•
•
Diagnostics
Life plan
Evaluation of ideas
SWOT
PROCESS
18
The CMM has
worked with more
than 100 Mexican
companies to
integrate emerging
technologies and to
develop innovative
products.
has worked with more than 100 Mexican electronic, food processing, robotics and industrial automation companies, primarily helping companies to
integrate emerging technologies and to
develop innovative products.
The primary services offered to
companies by CMM are project management and technological innovation,
consulting for knowledge sharing, strategic foresight and monitoring studies,
development of technology roadmaps,
training and certifications and links between industry and academia.
Between 60% and 70% of the technological developments that CMM has
supported have generated intellectual
property such as patents or software
copyrights. About 250 engineers from
industry and academia have been
trained on issues related to embedded
systems and FPGA technology, and the
certification of 35 electronic design engineers has been accomplished.
Of all the projects supported by
CMM, 80% of the proposed techno-
logical developments are linked with a
university or research center.
Furthermore, 40% of companies
participating with CMM have created
new products that feature distinctive
elements in the market (energy saving,
smaller size, reliability, functionality, etc.)
and most of them are on the doorstep
of being positioned in the market.
Success cases of innovative
companies
Our business support programs have
generated a large number of success
cases, either for the kind of innovation
they have brought to the market, the
sales volume they are generating, or
the way the company has been able to
develop its capacities in a highly specialized niche. The following pages present
ten such cases of companies helped
by FUMEC and which are growing
and gaining market share thanks to the
Foundation.
19
Obesity Control Center: a nation’s challenge
to lose weight
Few Mexican doctors have appeared in
United States media as much as Ariel
Ortiz, director of a Tijuana clinic called
the Obesity Control Center (OCC),
which successfully treats patients from
the United States.
While the clinic has offered excellent services for 13 years, Dr. Ortiz has
such presence that his image has appeared in shows like Oprah Winfrey,
Fox News, The Doctors and magazines
like Newsweek.
But, beyond the success of his business, Dr. Ortiz’s worries extend to his
countrymen. “My biggest concern is
that Mexico is the most obese country
in the world and no one is developing
education programs to change that in
childhood and adolescence.”
In 2012, with FUMEC’s help, the
OCC team worked on a roadmap to
organize the implementation of its development projects, and this simple exercise enabled the company to visualize
a new way to grow.
“When I introduced myself to FUMEC, I said, ‘Look, but if the most obese
country in the world is Mexico, not the
United States,’ Ortiz recalled, “then we
see there is a great need for weight
management services and that it’s a
poorly served area.”
Today, one of OCC’s priorities is to
broaden his clinic work in Mexico, so
FUMEC helped him to conduct a diagnostic analysis of infrastructure and
equipment, with the goal of getting
certified by the General Health Council, which he hopes to achieve in March
2014. This will enable him to compete
with the best hospitals in the country
and work in cities such as Mexico City,
Guadalajara and Monterrey.
Another line of work is the use
of Obalon, a patented non-surgical
weight loss method. It involves a capsule which enters the stomach and expands, occupying the space normally
filled by more food.
In addition, the company developed
a smartphone app which facilitates patient follow-up, keeping an account of
what they eat, monitoring signs and
symptoms and offering recommendations. Vitaleph brand food supplements
are yet another line of work, helping to
avoid malnutrition in patients.
However, the OCC’s most ambitious project is a video-based education program for social networks, which
“Today we see
ourselves as a
company that
educates a nation and
fights the number
one disease in the
country.”
intends to change the eating habits of
Mexico’s overweight population. To do
so, the company has set up a recording
studio which is already working.
“Before meeting FUMEC we saw
ourselves as just a bariatric surgery
company and today we see ourselves
as a company that educates a nation
and fights the number one disease in
the country,” says Ortiz.
Doctor Ariel Ortiz and his team in a surgery. Photo courtesy of the company.
20
Biaani: mobile services for
small and medium-sized enterprises
Betting on innovation has never been
easy. This was learned in the last few
years by the Biaani Consulting team,
a mobile applications company which,
with FUMEC’s help, has developed
two very innovative products: one to
monitor sleep patterns and the other
to help small business sales.
For some years, Enrique López, the
director of Biaani, has known that he
wanted to turn his business around and
venture into new areas. “Our first plan
was to develop systems for companies,
and we did that; but then we thought
we could apply that knowledge to the
development of our products and it
could be a better business,” he remembers.
Searching for support, López discovered FUMEC’s Mobile Leadership program, which invited him to Blackberry’s
Dev Com to present his proposal for
an app to monitor snoring. The app received an award for its creativity, which
encouraged López to develop it.
“FUMEC gave me
the opportunity to
broaden my business
outlook and made me
see that we have the
capacity and support
to achieve it.”
Biaani staff at a meeting. Photo courtesy of the company.
Shortly afterwards, FUMEC again
extended an invitation for the company to visit the new TechBA site in Vancouver, and López moved to Canada in
the hopes of finding new opportunities.
Once in Vancouver, Biaani matured the
idea of a product to fill small-business
orders through smartphones.
Called WalkBiz, the application
manages the sales-purchase process of
products and services, allowing the client to see available products, place orders and find the closest branch, while
the business owner can receive notifications, consult balances and manage
transactions.
Although the stay in Vancouver
served to advance the product, it was
not until they attended the Bootcamp
“Invent your Future” that they put all
the pieces of the puzzle together to
get it onto the market. “The Bootcamp
helped us define how to work on innovative products to reduce risks and
ensure that the product is accepted in
the market,” commented López.
For this entrepreneur, the Foundation’s services enabled him to make the
changes he dreamed of. “FUMEC gave
me the opportunity to broaden my
business outlook, made me see that we
have the capacity, knowledge and support to achieve it,” says López.
The commitment to this new product is reflected in the investment that
Biaani has made; today, a third of his
employees work on promoting it. The
application is currently available by direct purchase and soon a network of
distributers will be expanding the client
base of those who benefit from it.
“WalkBiz is going to represent a
paradigm shift from how people are
used to interacting with their suppliers,
and what we now see as innovative, we
hope will become an everyday thing,”
López explains.
21
Xivalju: Delicious beverages from Mexico for
the global market
Xivalju’s business is to captivate palates
with delicious drinks and, to do that, the
company develops around 200 flavors
every year, of which only 5 or 10% reach
the market. Some drinks that have been
through this filter are traditional Mexican punch—which is sold only during
the Christmas season—horchata and
café de olla (a widely known type of
coffe in Mexico).
“We have created a lot of different
products and, little by little, people have
adopted and understood them. Our
idea is to have Mexican products and
be proud to see them in restaurants
and cafes because sometimes they are
appreciated more in other countries
than here,” comments Juan Carlos Prieto, director and founder of the company.
The State of Mexico company began in 2008, taking advantage of the
experience of Prieto’ father, a chemical
engineer with a flavor company where
the entrepreneur learned the basics of
developing new products. That experience, along with his marketing training,
resulted in a company that manufactures powdered drinks and sells them
to customers like Costco, Cinépolis,
Starbucks, and Kentucky Fried Chicken,
who take them to the final consumer.
Xivalju offers these clients unique
beverages, especially developed for
their market; but the company also has
a wide range of products targeted to
cafes, restaurants and bars, which are
sold through distributors.
In 2012, the company began to
work with FUMEC’s TechPYME program with the idea of improving its
processes and obtaining HACCP and
FSSC 22000 certifications, which establish international food standards.
Certification has allowed Xivalju to
improve sales and broaden its client
base. “The certifications have helped us
reach clients we had not approached,
they have helped us win clients’ confidence and the diagnostics to improve
our processes,” comments Prieto.
Another defining feature of the
company is its passion for innovation
and so it works to ensure its drinks provide health benefits. One such product is its “green coffee,” which is high
in antioxidants and calorie-free, has a
great taste and leaves a feeling of satiety. “In all the research we have found
that green coffee helps the metabolism
because it keeps you awake, helps you
“The certifications
have helped us
reach clients we had
not approached,
they have helped us
to win the clients’
confidence.”
look after your weight and gives you
energy,” assures the entrepreneur.
The demand for Xivalju products
has grown steadily in the last few years;
it expects to open a new plant in 2014
and intends to grow 200% the same
year. And given that it has received
requests from countries including the
Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia and Poland, internationalization looks like the
next step.
Xivalju team. Photo courtesy of the company.
22
Buildbinder: a powerful tool
for managing construction projects
More than 20 years ago, architect Óscar Núñez devised software to give his
company, NK Consultoría y Servicios
para la Construcción, a means to manage and monitor its projects. “I never
thought about marketing it, but in 2007,
several clients wanted to buy it or rent
it, and then the seed was sown and with
my brother Luis, I started to explore
whether it had potential,” he recalls.
Thus emerged Buildbinder, a cloud
system to manage construction projects.
The big data and business intelligence
solution provides important collaboration capacities so that all participants in
a project collaborate efficiently.
In 2010, the urge to discover
whether his software was marketable
led Núñez to the TechBA program in
Silicon Valley, with which he worked for
three years.“I went to a couple of work-
shops that were just what I needed to
start the research and decide whether
to invest in it. That was the best help:
knowing the potential of what I wanted
to create,” he explained.
At the end of 2011, with the market analysis he conducted with TechBA, Núñez and his brother decided
to develop the product. “This implied
giving it multi-user, multi-company and
multi-project capabilities, and account
management capability to guarantee
that its information is secure,” he comments.
From 2011 to date, Buildbinder has
been tested by a number of friendly clients and early adopters who helped to
improve it and detect difficulties which
could arise when used by end clients.
The tool will be on sale in the United States in March 2014 and is expect-
“The best help was
to understand the
potential of what I
wanted to create.”
ed to serve close to a thousand clients
in the first year, including general contractors, construction project managers, investors and financiers. The aim is
to cover 5% of the market in the United States, which would imply selling 3.7
billion dollars per year.
Although Buildbinder is a product
for the North American market, the
technological development is done in
Mexico. “We want it to be a product
from Mexico for the world, and everything required for the development of
systems, support and service at specialized levels is done in Mexico,” he explains.
To achieve this, the company has
a team of nine people in its Development Center in Chihuahua and a team
of four in the United States who take
care of administrative aspects and give
direct customer service.
“The mentors and networking of
TechBA gave us the knowledge to develop what has become a spin-off and
a product with a high potential for success. Now we need to complete the
stage of getting it on the market, and
keep on improving it,” the entrepreneur
Óscar and Luis Núñez at the TechBA office in Silicon Valley. concluded.
23
Silanes Bioclon Institute: Saving lives
with the help of antivenoms
In 2009, this company contacted
TechBA Madrid with the goal of expanding its operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and has since
worked with this accelerator to develop its business plans and create a network of partnerships to support marketing of their products.
But Bioclon knows that its products
are not for mass consumption. “We
cover niche markets in Europe. Now
we sell a few antivenoms to zoos, so
they buy from us once and keep the
product just in case it is needed, but
do not buy more until it expires,” comments Walter García, Medical Assistant
for Biotechnology Research at this
company.
Since the total of potential customers is so small, the company has seen
the need to narrow its focus to find
more customers effectively, and this is
where the help of TechBA has been
valuable.
“With TechBA we conceived two
business plans: one for an specific product against native snakes of Europe that
is under development, and another to
identify potential customers in this continent and market our products. Also
with TechBA we performed a market
study for the countries of North Africa
with a special focus on Morocco,” explains García.
A unique aspect of the developA worker in the laboratory the Silanes
Bioclon Institute. Photo courtesy of the company. ment of new pharmaceuticals is that it
When a company has a niche product, it must also have an equally specialized strategy to expand its markets. This is what the Silanes Bioclon
Institute has been doing with the
suppor t of TechBA Madrid, since this
Mexico City Company is dedicated
to developing antivenom pharmaceuticals for spider bites, scorpion stings
and snakebites.
Bioclon sells five products in Mexico: two snakebite antivenoms, two antivenoms for different types of spiders
and antivenom for scorpion stings, the
latter being their main product and
which is also sold in the United States.
takes a long time to get them to market. “Our development processes take
a long time to crystallize, sometimes
eight to ten years, and the registration
and regulatory processes are also very
time consuming,” says Garcia.
Because of this, one of the medium
term challenges for the company is to
meet the regulatory requirrements in
the African and European countries
where they wish to market their products. “We have to comply with local
regulations, which is usually quite complicated, and that’s our biggest challenge,” García concludes.
Still, the company is optimistic since
it counts with a worldwide unique
technology, enough international experience and the tools to bring their
products to the countries that could
need them.
When a company
has a niche product,
it must have an
equally specialized
strategy to expand its
markets.
24
Tecnomotum: telematics for
heavy duty vehicles
Tecnomotum is a Veracruz company
that is revolutionizing the handling of
cargo vehicles in Mexico with leading-edge technology, developed and
patented by the company itself, which
enables the real-time performance
monitoring of this kind of vehicle and
makes them more efficient.
The company’s developers see cargo trucks as information centers that
record every action the operator performs: distance covered, driving habits,
fault codes, among others; and its job
consists precisely of connecting to the
on-board computer to provide haulers
with reliable information about how
the units operate.
Some of the advantages of the Tecnomotum technology are: improved
fuel efficiency, reduced idle time of the
units, preventive maintenance, highway
rescue prevention and the assurance
that routes and operating policies are
followed.
Tecnomotum began to work with
FUMEC at the end of 2012: “We found
“FUMEC helped
us to implement
the Core Tools and
through this, we
were able to improve
the quality of our
products.”
Tecnomotum staff. Photo courtesy of the company.
the TechPYME program on the Foundation’s web page and got in touch
with Carlos Meneses, to whom we
expressed our need to have the Core
Tools included in the ISO TS16949 standard, since those tools are essential for
the development of our products,” says
Luis Galán, director of the company.
FUMEC evaluated the company’s
capacities to establish a work plan and
identify the priorities and processes
that were going to demand more resources to implement the Core Tools.
Soon, the company started to receive
specialized consulting services and its
employees took courses to become
familiar with the new tools and implement them correctly.
Acquiring these skills was one of
the benefits obtained by Tecnomotum
through its relationship with FUMEC.
“Implementing the Core Tools allowed
us to discover areas of opportunity and
identify their causes, and in this way we
were able to improve the quality of our
products. Once we integrated these
tools, we obtained approval from an
automotive company with which we
signed a partnership to distribute our
products nationwide,” states Galán.
The new Tecnomotum partnership
is Cummins, a global leader in the manufacture and distribution of engines. This
partnership, formalized in June 2013,
aims to have Tecnomotum tools in use
in all Cummins service centers in the
country, providing cargo vehicles support in the operation of their engines.
With this agreement, Tecnomotum
meets the objective of bringing its technology to a broad base of carriers, opening up new opportunities for growth.
25
Lertek: Democratizing access
to mobile solutions
The town of Santiago, Nuevo León,
near Monterrey, has less than 20 traffic
police, but could become the most efficient municipality in the country when
it comes to creating and collecting fines.
This is because soon its agents will be
using low cost tablets and printers
that allow them to generate a ticket
to be paid by motorists at the nearest
OXXO store.
The technology to be used in Santiago was created by Lertek, a Monterrey
based company that develops mobile
applications for acquiring data in the
field and whose mission is to bring mobile solutions to any organization that
requires it, regardless of its size.
This democratizing mission has resulted in a customer base as diverse as
Petróleos Mexicanos, Whirlpool, Federal Electricity Commission and a variety
of SMEs that have seen that this company’s products create solutions for making their work easier and more efficient.
A major supermarket chain in Mexico, for example, uses Lertek technology
for monitoring its stores. Employees in
the field can check promotions or inventories, answer supplier’s questions
and surveys, and make records with
photographs, video and audio in real
time. This is of great advantage for this
chain of stores.
Lertek is transforming how data is
created in the field, and their solutions
are useful in many areas such as oil inspection, charging and monitoring of
personnel providing delivery services.
However, when the company created
its first mobile solution, it didn’t imagine
the impact it would have.
“We started developing custom
software,” recalls Gustavo Cervantes,
director of the company, “and in 2001
we started renting software and we requested a system to create information
in the field in order to automate what
was being done on paper. It was then
that we recommended this be done
from a mobile device, and from there
we started to design the system we
have now.”
In 2012, Lertek began working
hands on with the FUMEC mobile program, which has resulted in a number of
resources and key contacts that allow it
to expand business opportunities. “Before this we were very closed in, but as
soon as we began with FUMEC we saw
that it is not so difficult to work with
“As soon as we began
working with FUMEC
we saw that it is not
difficult to work with
large companies and
compete with leading
companies.”
large companies and compete with
leading companies. The support and
advice they have given us has helped us
to target markets that used to appear
beyond reach,” stated Cervantes.
The new relationships and contacts
have paid off, because in the last two
years the company has tripled its sales
every year, and it expects 2014 to be
even better because it is opening operations in Costa Rica and looks to do
the same in Colombia.
Lertek works with several devices to fulfill its clients' needs. Photo courtesy of the company.
26
Agro Operadora de Silos y Bodegas: ecological
options for grains and processed foods maintenance
Sometimes, clients’ needs can spark innovation, which is what happened to
Martín Ramírez Falcón, owner of Agro
Operadora de Silos y Bodegas, a company dedicated to stored grains maintenance. One day, Ramírez was asked
to fumigate a bean shipment for export
without using traditional pesticides, and
to find out whether ozone could be
used. This led to a search which turned
his business completely around.
“We began to investigate and in
one year we developed ozone as a
fumigant. We did laboratory research
and when we saw that it worked, we
submitted a project to CONACYT and
started to develop it,” he remembers.
Ramírez, an engineer and professor at
the Universidad de Juárez del Estado
de Durango, was able to develop the
technology in association with the Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa.
In 2010, the entrepreneur came into
contact with FUMEC with the idea of
obtaining a patent, and could then visualize the potential of his business. The
FUMEC advisors suggested documenting his research and writing a manual
about the use of ozone with stored
Agro Operadora
developed an
ecological system
to eliminate pests in
stored grains.
Martín Solís and the truck he created to generate ozone. Photo courtesy of the entrepreneur.
grains. The patent is now pending and
Ramírez hopes to have it soon.
One year later, the company joined
the TechBA program in Vancouver,
which helped to complete the validation of ozone as a pesticide and refine
its business model. The next step was
to create a special, one-of-a-kind truck,
to generate ozone in situ, since the
chemical is not bottled, but produced
on demand.
Today, Agro Operadora provides
its services to companies like Pepsico,
Bachoco, Bimbo, Grupo Maseca and
large storage companies like Almacenadora Mercader and Almacenadora
Regional Mexicana, among others.
Ozone eliminates pests without the
use of chemicals which are harmful to
health, and also eliminates microorganisms (fungi, virus and bacteria) that can
affect grains and the finished product.
In addition, it cuts costs because it requires no chemical inputs, is an environment-friendly product and meets international standards that seek to eradicate
the use of harmful chemicals in food.
This has caused the company to
have a high demand that it cannot cover because it lacks the resources for a
new truck. However, the company has
received approval from INADEM for a
project to take its technology to Canada with the help of TechBA Vancouver,
which includes the development of a
second truck for that market.
In the last two years, the company
has grown by almost 40%, and expects
to grow even more; its goal is to cover
the domestic market and continue to
explore the Canadian market, which will
undoubtedly bring new opportunities.
27
Semvid: Reinventing traditional
amaranth sweets
Amaranth bars, known as “alegrias”, are
heavily consumed in Mexico because
they are rich and nutritious, but above
all cheap. Informal vendors offer them
in the streets, subways and wherever
there are a lot of people because there
is always someone who will buy them.
However, the company Semvid,
from Mexico City, has found a high value niche market by developing new
forms of this traditional snack aimed at
the gourmet market.
“We want to create a new way of
consuming amaranth, give it another
image, give people new options to consume it” says Lidia Ávila, General Director of Semvid, adding that her company
has created innovative products such as
amaranth truffles and chocolates filled
with amaranth and offered in natural,
mint and caramel flavors.
Semvid is a family business made up
of ten people who, like many other producers, used to sell amaranth informally
to anyone who would buy it. But the
company began to take on a new direction in 2013 when Ávila enrolled herself
in the Food and Agribusiness Incubator
at FUMEC during National Entrepreneurship Week.
The company began to receive help
and training to enhance the value of
its product and, when comparing its
products with those of competitors, it
realized that it needed to not only improve the product, but also improve its
marketing.
Semvid’s new products. Photo courtesy of the entrepreneur.
“What has helped me most is the
sincerity with which I have been spoken
to at workshops and consultancies. It
also helped that they have accompanied
us in performing benchmarking because
we had never done it before, and that
helped us to change the image and the
idea of our products.”
Less than a year after starting the incubation process, Semvid feels stronger
than ever. “We used to go out and see if
anyone would buy from us, and now we
decide who to sell to.This is because we
have a more concrete vision,” says Ávila,
who is convinced that her products will
be well received by consumers in the
middle and upper classes.
Part of the strength that the company has gained has to do with its better internal organization, since before,
according to Ávila, many things went
unnoticed because of it being a family
business. “But they tell you you need to
set rules and policies, so we did, and
although it is taking a bit of work, we
do have better organization and we are
more professional.”
Semvid’s medium term goal is to
position the “Chikahuak” brand, which
in Nahuatl means strong, firm and
healthy, like amaranth. “Now we are
ready to take care of any customer,”
says this entrepreneur, who is not afraid
of new markets because “we have new
products and we know that they are of
high quality.”
“We used to go out
and see if anyone
would buy from us
and now we decide
who to sell to.”
28
Apícola Kanan Cooperative: Yucatan honey
ready for the international market
The Apícola Kanan cooperative is making a radical change in how honey marketing is done in Yucatan, as beekeepers
in this state often sell their product to
collection centers linked to large exporters, who buy them at the very low
prices, leaving them little room to improve production and grow.
Today this cooperative has begun
marketing the honey of its 90 partners
in the national and international market,
at a fair price that allows for economic
improvement for the families and communities of beekeepers.
This cooperative started operations
in August 2013, after a process of more
than two years to join the efforts of various beekeeper partners and companies working in nine rural villages in Yucatan: Baca, Cansahcab, Dzidzantun, San
Francisco Tinum, Santa Elena, Sinanche,
Teabo, Uman, and Yokdzonot Hu.
Initially, things did not look very
good because “we did not have a culture of teamwork, everyone did their
“Through
organization we
have been able to
sell our product at a
better price and give
it added value.”
Apícola Kanan partners.
own thing and we were a bit stuck in
the purely productive mentality” recalls
Wilver Llanes, President of the cooperative. But things began to change in
2011 when FUMEC, in partnership with
FUNDEMEX and the Kellogg Foundation, organized a work plan to support
the organizing efforts of producers, providing them with technical training and
finding new ways of marketing.
“I think it has been a drastic change,
because we were very much into the
production mentality, and we could
not see that through organization we
would be able to sell our product at a
better price and give it added value,”
said Llanes, who explained that “there
has been a total change in the vision of
the workmates, and now we believe it
is possible to sell our product at a better price, which would be reflected in
improvements for everyone.”
Today, the cooperative is in contact
with Walmart in the United States to
sell it packaged honey in 340-gram jars.
“We do not know yet how much they
will ask from us, but we have 8000 jars,
with bar codes and trademarks, ready
to make the first delivery,” said Llanes.
The cooperative has the support of
INADEM to bring its products to that
country, so it has designed special labels
for that market and is developing other
materials to facilitate export.
Another project that is in the works
is to send an initial shipment of 22
tons of honey in bulk to Europe, which
Kanan expects to sell in Germany.
“FUMEC has made a multi-year effort to realize this project, but we still
have a lot to do. The work never ends,
but rather begins a new period and I
think that this is the most difficult period, because everything is new to us
and we will continue to need support,”
concludes Llanes.
29
State and Regional Innovation Agendas
During 2013, FUMEC worked with the
Mexican Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT), taking on the responsibility to create a program, funded
by CONACYT, to develop State and
Regional Innovation Agendas in all states
of the Mexican Republic. In this program,
FUMEC is responsible for directly supporting nine states and facilitating the
support of the other 23 states by three
important organizations (Idom Consulting, Europraxis and CamBio Tec).
The State and Regional Innovation
Agendas are intervention processes that
seek to aid states to focus their resources strategically to trigger high impact innovation processes, as well as to identify
areas of expertise where it is necessary
to make investments. All of this is based
on the capabilities and the natural vocation of each state, in order that each
entity can compete in a global context.
The project seeks to contribute to
state and regional economic development to maximize the innovative potential of Mexico, through a shared vision
between government, academia, industry and society. For this reason, it is intended that the Agendas allow for the
articulation and definition of sectoral
priorities and smart specialization.
“The State Innovation Agendas are
roadmaps that will allow each state to
identify and define priority areas and
sectors.They will also allow for alignment
of the programs being managed by the
CONACYT Associate Director of Re-
gional Development, in order to focus
our resources on supporting projects
in areas that contribute in an important
way to bolster regional development,”
says Elías Micha, CONACYT Deputy
Director of Regional Development.
It is expected that these Agendas
will be documents that are agreed to
that allow for the triggering of acceleration of innovation abilities in states
and regions, in order to generate a
knowledgeable economy that will help
Mexico achieve strong, sustained and
sustainable economic growth.
To prepare these Agendas the Research and Innovation Strategies for
Smart Specialisation method used by
the European Union is followed, which
is known by the acronym RIS3. The RIS3
generates integrated territorial economic transformation agendas aimed at
enhancing the skills and practical knowledge that the regions already have, inno-
The Innovation
Agendas seek to aid
states to focus their
resources strategically
to trigger high impact
innovation processes.
vation being the main factor for transformation.
The purpose of these agendas is to
achieve smart specialization in the regions for the effective use of supports
and increased synergies, achieving the
effective implementation of investments
in research and innovation.The development of this project began in the third
quarter of 2013 and it is expected to
yield results throughout 2014.
A meeting for organizing the Agenda in Puebla.
30
We continue to work with Colombia
in the Internationalization of Technology Companies
In 2012, FUMEC began to cooperate
with the ParqueSoft and Incubar organizations to promote a project to position the region of Manizales, Colombia,
as a knowledge society and to build an
environment conducive to social and
economic development through technological innovation.
As part of this project, FUMEC developed and implemented an acceleration model in strategic niches, and
worked to transfer work outlines and
tools from its TechPYME and TechBA
programs to companies in Manizales.
This was done to help identify their capabilities and potential and refine their
value proposition, with the aim of going
international.
At the end of this process, ten companies with the capabilities to bring
their products and services to international markets were identified. These
companies traveled to Silicon Valley
and to Mexico City to learn about the
business ecosystems in these areas and
to evaluate the possibility of beginning
operations in them.
Colombian
companies traveled to
Silicon Valley and to
Mexico City to learn
about the business
ecosystems in these
areas.
A training organized by FUMEC in Colombia.
In August 2013, FUMEC returned
to Colombia to initiate a similar process, this time in Barranquilla, together
with the Chamber of Commerce in
that city. Because of this, the Foundation organized a process to identify the
potential of companies in the region
and to work with them in their internationalization projects.
The aim was to identify 20 companies that have the potential to go to international markets. With this in mind,
50 companies from various sectors
were interviewed. The result was the
selection of 20 health and information
technology companies with the potential to internationalize. The Foundation
worked with these companies in the
application of business tools such as
roadmaps and strategic monitoring.
In regards to sharing the model for
caring for technology companies, FUMEC has trained two business consultants in Barranquilla, with the idea that
they can continue to apply various
business support tools to companies
in the city.
It is expected that this project will
be completed in mid-2014 and that selected companies will receive direct advice from a consultant in Silicon Valley
to increase the value of their product.
Also, a trip to Mexico and Silicon
Valley will be organized so that the entrepreneurs in Manizales can learn how
to do business in these cities, and so
that they may begin to analyze their
ability to generate strategic alliances
and perhaps even carry out sales if they
are mature enough at the time.
New Binational
Initiatives: MUSEIC
and FOBESII
32
High-Level Economic Dialogue: A framework
for new Mexico-US agreements on Education,
Research and Innovation
FUMEC has actively
participated in
the MUSEIC and
FOBESII initiatives,
generating binational
proposals that involve
partners from the two
countries.
The impressive commercial relationship
that has been created between Mexico,
the United States and Canada by the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is evolving towards a
more competitive and dynamic economic relationship.
For this reason, Presidents Barack
Obama and Enrique Peña Nieto announced in 2013 the High Level Economic Dialogue, which serves as a
framework for two new collaboration
schemes to promote education, research and innovation as pillars of competitiveness.These new mechanisms are:
Due to its binational approach and
the extensive experience that has been
developed over the last 20 years in
the central themes of these two programs, FUMEC has actively participated
in these efforts, generating binational initiatives involving universities and
programs in the two countries. Some
members of our Board of Governors
have leadership roles in these programs
and are directly involved in a number of
specific initiatives.
FUMEC Participation in
MUSEIC
• MUSEIC: Mexico-US EntrepreneurMUSEIC seeks to develop an ecosysship and Innovation Council, and
tem of entrepreneurship and inno• FOBESII: Bilateral Forum on Higher
vation using programs for binational
Education, Innovation and Research.
cooperation, through joint initiatives
to promote the creation and growth
of micro, small and medium innovative
companies, harnessing the potential of
universities and research centers to
become relevant actors in these processes.
This Council is made up of entrepreneur ecosystem participants from
both countries, and includes representatives from government, academic and
business establishments, NGOs, venture capital funds and others. In Mexico,
MUSEIC is headed by the National Institute of Entrepreneurship (INADEM)
and in the United States by the Department of State.
33
Subcommittee on Technology
Commercialization
FUMEC chairs jointly with the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) the Subcommittee
on Technology Commercialization at
MUSEIC. Through Thomas Bowles, a
member of the Board of Governors
of FUMEC, the Foundation chairs for
the United States and CONACYT for
Mexico. This Subcommittee has identified a number of actions to promote
high impact entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives between the two
countries. In this Subcommittee, FUMEC has worked on the two initiatives
described below.
Intelligent Manufacturing
Initiative (IMI)
The border between the United States
and Mexico has become one of the
regions with the highest density of
manufacturing in the world. Manufacturing is a priority activity for economic
development in the region and there
are many opportunities to create new
innovative companies that facilitate the
incorporation of technological advances, such as opportunities for linking
universities and research centers on
both sides of the border with companies seeking advances in manufacturing,
particularly in Intelligent Manufacturing
Systems.
The Intelligent Manufacturing Initiative (IMI) will help identify business
needs and technology trends to help
companies incorporate advances in
intelligent manufacturing, increase efficiency, reduce downtime and facilitate quality assurance. Thomas Bowles,
a member of the FUMEC Board of
Governors, leads this initiative. Mary
Walshok, also a member of this Board
of Governors, participates as a representative of the University of California.
FUMEC, in cooperation with Economic and Industrial Development of
Tijuana (Desarrollo Económico e Industrial de Tijuana, A.C. or DEITAC),
and with the support of various organizations at the border, is presenting
this initiative to CONACYT as well as
to the United States Department of
Commerce.
The IMI will coordinate efforts
among research and development organizations with manufacturing companies and government agencies in the
United States and Mexico. It has a work
plan that proposes the organization of
a binational symposium, as well as a series of industry-academia meetings and
visits to border companies in Tijuana
and Mexicali to be held in 2014.
Experts and specialists in intelligent
manufacturing from both sides of the
border have been contacted in order
to form a Binational Advisory Commit-
The IMI will
help identify
business needs to
help companies
incorporate advances
in intelligent
manufacturing.
Opening meeting of the MUSEIC on September 2013.
34
tee that will propose discussion topics,
define the symposium program and
visits and follow up on the action plans
generated during the meeting. After the
event, the Committee will monitor the
results and projects arising from the
symposium.
The iCorps initiative
is aimed at helping
university researchers
to commercialize the
fruits of their research
through the creation
of high-technology
businesses.
iCorps Initiative in Mexico
Another initiative that FUMEC is encouraging within the Subcommittee on
Technology Commercialization consists
of using the Innovation Corps (iCorps)
model in Mexico, created by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the
United States. This is aimed at helping
university researchers to commercialize
the fruits of their research through the
creation of high-technology businesses.
The program is based on Customer
Discovery methodology, which is used
to confirm that the value proposition
meets a specific need in the market
and of end-users.
This initiative uses teamwork
through support specialist networks to
help researchers become successful entrepreneurs, since the technology transition from the laboratory to new companies requires skills and knowledge in
addition to those that research requires.
With the implementation of the
iCorps model in Mexico, the country would have a high impact tool to
facilitate collaboration among its researchers in order to create businesses and contribute to Mexico’s GDP
through innovation.
FUMEC advances the implementation of this initiative in Mexico with the
support of CONACYT and the NSF.
CONACYT and the universities and institutions involved are possible sources
of funding for this initiative.
FUMEC and its participation
in FOBESII
The Bilateral Forum on Higher Education, Research and Innovation (FOBESII) seeks to promote binational cooperation in higher education and
research, especially regarding important
areas for innovation in businesses in the
two countries. Juan Silanes, Vice Chair
of FUMEC´s Board participates in the
Mexican Consulting Group of FOBESII.
It feels that talent in science and engineering, as well as in entrepreneurial
talent, are keys to regional competitiveness.The vision of FOBESII is to create
a 21st Century workforce that accelerates progress in the region. Its mission is
to promote programs for student mobility, academic exchange, research and
innovation in areas of common interest
and to contribute to the competitiveness and economic development of the
region.
To accomplish this, FOBESII proposes the strengthening of ties and cooperation between governments, higher
education institutions, civil society and
the private sector in Mexico and the
United States.
Unique Border Potential
FUMEC participates in the Unique
Border Potential work group, which
has proposed the implementation of
a binational workshop in El Paso, Texas.
This workshop aims to analyze the best
ways to capitalize on the potential of
the border between Mexico and the
US to expand bilateral cooperation regarding higher education.
It is expected that the workshop, to
be held in early 2014, will call together
representatives from the private sector,
35
civil society, academia and the governments of Mexico and the United States.
Cooperation with
Industry/University Cooperative
Research Centers I/UCRC
from the NSF
FOBESII is an adequate and timely
framework for giving impetus to the
proposal of FUMEC and CONACYT
to assemble binational initiatives that
would allow Mexico to leverage the
experience of Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRC)
from the National Science Foundation
(NSF) of the United States.
These Cooperatives lean toward
allowing education centers to train
specialists according to the profiles that
emerge from the innovation strategies
of the participating companies, and
with support from company research
groups. The students’ work on company research projects allows them to
incorporate the talent and knowledge
arising from academia.
The objective of this FOBESII initiative is to facilitate participation in operational I/UCRC within Mexican companies and universities. This will allow
them to acquire more insight and support for the design of their technology
strategies and will help Mexican universities improve their training of the
specialists required by companies. The
idea is also that Mexico uses this experience to organize its own programs
with these types of cooperatives.
FUMEC with the leadership of Cristina Loyo, member of FUMEC´s Board,
and Director the National Laboratory
of Advanced Computing (LANIA), has
been collaborating with companies and
A meeting in Mexico City to advance in the establishment of the of the FOBESII.​
research institutions with the support
of CONACYT, in the identification and
exploration of Mexican groups (institutions, companies, researchers and students) that could become part of the I/
UCRC in specialized areas of advanced
subjects and information technology.
In regard to information technology, the participation of Mexico in the I/
UCRC Logistics and Distribution (CELDi) and Intelligent Maintenance (IMS) is
currently being facilitated. In advanced
subjects, the participation of the University of Baja California and the CETYS
University in the I/UCRC for Non Ferrous Alloys for Aerospace Structures
(CANFSA) is being supported.
Other initiatives
Under the FOBESII framework, FUMEC began a process of collaboration
with the American Chamber and with
companies involved in the Innovation
Task Force to facilitate collaboration
between Mexican and United States
universities. This was done in order to
improve the training of engineers and
scientists required by North American companies that are operating in
Mexico, especially for their engineering,
research and development, and specialized software operations.
From this a collaborative initiative
with Ford Motor Company arose to
improve the training of engineers in
advanced automotive design with the
support of the University of Detroit.
Activities are being organized with
CONACYT and CIDESI—a Research
and Graduate Center with facilities in
Cuautitlan, next to the Ford facilities—
to create collaboration with the University of Detroit to meet the needs
of Ford.
Education for
Innovation
37
INNOVEC: Advanced Science Education
to develop skills for the 21st Century
One of the challenges facing Mexico
is to shrink the training gap between
it and more developed countries. This
means better education for the younger generation, encouraging them to acquire skills that enable them to provide
solutions and help develop the country.
The economy in which we live is
increasingly dependent on the effective
application of science and technology
in production processes and in problem solving, which lends urgency to the
education of children and youths so
that they may be creative and innovative actors in a knowledgeable society.
FUMEC created INNOVEC over
ten years ago to facilitate Mexico’s
taking advantage of the best experiences from the United States in this
field, and has since worked closely with this organization to promote
the implementation of Hands-On
and Inquiry Based Science Education
Systems (IBSE)—developed by the
Smithsonian Science Education Center—in basic education centers in
Mexico and to promote strategies for
improving science education.
IBSE stimulate the development of
key skills for knowledge economy such
as critical thinking, teamwork, effective
communication, problem solving, experimentation and research.
INNOVEC works with national and international institutions to
train teachers and develop teaching
materials. It has also adapted educational content and models that work
successfully in other countries to the
Mexican context.
For this organization, the exchange
of experience is a key element and
therefore, supported by FUMEC, it
maintains contact with organizations
such as the Inter Academy Panel (IAP)
and the worldwide network of science academies. The Chairman of the
Global Activities Committees from
IAP’s Science Education, Dato Lee-Yee
Cheong, has emphasized that the successful integration of social programs
like INNOVEC depends on its proper
relationships with businesses and education authorities.
With the support of the Ministry
of Education, State Education Secretariats, private sector organizations and
civil society, INNOVEC has successfully
promoted science education and the
development of scientific attitudes. To
date, INNOVEC annually helps more
than 420,000 students and has trained
more than 10,000 teachers in 12 states
within Mexico.
The economy
in which we live
is increasingly
dependent on the
effective application
of science and
technology in
production processes.
38
VII International Conference on
Science Education
In November 2013, INNOVEC organized the VII International Conference
on Science Education with the theme
“Assessing Science Education: Trends
and Challenges.” The event brought
together national and international experts who shared their experiences
in various programs and educational
areas, with the goal of providing ideas
and proposals aimed at improving assessment systems.
The event was attended by over
500 professionals and students as well
as teachers, educational-technical advisers and education authorities from
Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, the
State of Mexico, Mexico City, Hidalgo,
Queretaro, Yucatán, Zacatecas, Tamaulipas and Tlaxcala. The meeting was
made possible thanks to the support of
the Ministry of Education, the National Council for Science and Technology
and the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Among the international experts
were Eduardo Backhoff, Lee-Yee
Cheong, Anne Goube, Petra Skiebe-Correte, Sylvia Schmelkes, Humbert
Dyasi, Jon Price, Anders Hedberg and
This Conference
brought together
national and
international experts
who shared their
experiences in
various programs and
educational areas.
several others, who discussed key issues such as models and assessment
strategies for the development of skills
with advanced systems for science education, the role of public policy in the
proper evaluation of education and
specific processes of evaluating education programs based on inquiries.
According to Pilar Verdejo, expert
in evaluation systems from the Quality Assurance in Education and Work
(ACET) organization, this event allowed many teachers to understand
what is being done internationally in
the area of educational evaluation. “It
was a valuable opportunity for teachers
and leaders of educational institutions
from other states, since having multiple
viewpoints enriches the country.”
Verdejo says that forums like this allow us to evaluate the work and quality
of what is made in Mexico, as well as
to learn more about specific programs
in this area. “The presence of organizations such as the Smithsonian Center
for Science Education gives us assurance that we are doing the right thing.
This is the case with INNOVEC, which
is moving in the right direction and has
many things to show, and is working on
par with other countries to develop
monitoring and evaluation tools that
prove the impact of their programs.”
For Magdalena Horta, who is also
part of ACET, the Conference had the
advantage of “bringing together the experiences of people who have developed the pedagogical inquiry model
in science which can be transferred to
domestic situations.”
Representatives for agencies such
as the National Institute for Educational Evaluation in Mexico, the New York
University, the University of Bristol in
the UK, the Intel Research and Evaluation Program, the Malaysia IAP Science
Education Program and the “Primmary Connections” program in Australia,
played also a prominent role in this
Conference.
39
Training of Trainers Workshop
The international experiences that INNOVEC has had with the support of
FUMEC have also been used for Professor and Educator Training. In August
of 2013, the INNOVEC team in Mexico City organized a national Training of
Trainers Workshop, aiming to strengthen the skills and attitudes of the educators who work with IBSE and ensure a
high level of quality in the training that
is performed in the country. The workshop lasted 45 hours and was attended
by 40 teachers.
Instructor Lizbeth Cano, from Integrated Educational Services of the
State of Mexico, said that in that role
the IBSE methodology has been in use
for six years, and “from the outset we
saw that when training educators with
an expert in the program their professional development is different, resulting in well trained professionals.”
For this teacher, the training provided by INNOVEC proved to be of great
benefit because, as she says, “it gave us
the necessary tools to better fill the
role of educators, to provide monitoring and support, and to effectively
address the concerns of teachers. We
discovered new ways to make the program more attractive, as both teachers
and students feel motivated when we
make visits to the classroom.”
Another positive aspect from the
workshop was that the participants
were able to share their experiences
with teachers from around the country. “We were able to learn from their
experiences and this has served to provide better training for our teachers. In
particular, this workshop helped me
improve my training in terms of the interpersonal relationships that a trainer
should have,” explained Cano.
Throughout the workshop there
was an emphasis on the key components and features of IBSE training as
well as the basic skills that every educator should have. Jorge Montaño, Assistant Director for Science and Technology for Secondary Education at SEP,
who spoke about science education in
the context of Educational Reform, also
attended the workshop.
Some of the issues discussed in the
workshop were the following: pedagogical theories behind Inquiry-Based
Science Education (IBSE) programs, the
features of the investigative method,
the dimensions of science education,
the importance of education assessment and the link between IBSE and
other educational plans and programs.
“We discovered
new ways to make
the program more
attractive, as both
teachers
and students feel
motivated when we
make visits to the
classroom.”
40
Diploma in Science
Education in Tamaulipas
Diploma program
attendees are
developing skills to
design projects using
the investigative
approach.
Another activity effectively performed
by INNOVEC is the Diploma in Science Education through Inquiry and
Experiential Activities. In October 2013,
INNOVEC started this Diploma program in Tamaulipas, with the aim of
strengthening the training of the operating teams, technical-pedagogical
advisors and authorities involved in the
Inquiry-Based Science Education (IBSE)
programs in that state. This training will
last six months and 45 people will participate in it from the education sector
in the state.
For professor Perla Cedillo, who
has worked for three years as a technical-pedagogical advisor for the IBSE
program, the graduate program has
been an experience that has helped
improve her teaching. “The investigative
method facilitates concept learning in
a more natural manner, and the ideas
of science can be rediscovered and applied,” she said.
In her experience, what makes the
content very appealing to her students
is the fact that children can experiment
directly with the objects being analyzed. “That allows them to reflect on
and construct their own knowledge.
Through the investigative approach, not
only is scientific knowledge strengthened, but skills and abilities in other
subjects are also improved.”
This diploma has enabled teachers
from various levels and types of education to see the importance of teaching science in basic education. They
become familiar with IBSE, dig deeper
into investigative pedagogy and prove
that these systems facilitate the learning
process.
Diploma program attendees are developing skills to design projects using
the investigative approach, the same
methods that will enable them to apply
the knowledge acquired in their daily
work, for example, in designing adjustments to IBSE units for their use in the
field of special education.
Cedillo says the INNOVEC graduate program was designed with very
specific goals; “the instructors taught us
very important things, such as assessment issues. It would be great if teachers who are in front of groups had the
opportunity to attend one of these diploma programs and address the context directly the way we are able to,”
she concludes.
41
CECYTEQ: Laying the groundwork for
engineers required by Queretaro’s economy
Queretaro is an enclave of industrial
excellence. This area has attracted foreign investment in several strategic sectors in Mexico, such as automotive and
aeronautics, and in the medium term
it expects to open up opportunities in
engineering and telecommunications.
This economic boom has been followed by a high demand for engineering and technical talent, but Queretaro
has a serious shortage of engineers.
According to Governor José Calzada,
3000 engineers graduate annually in
the state, but 6000 are required.
Hence the importance of the Engineering Basics Program in Medium to
Higher Education (hereafter PBI) which
is operated by the College of Science
and Technology Studies from the State
of Queretaro (CECYTEQ), with the
support of FUMEC, and which contributes significantly to solving this problem.
Five years ago the program began
to train a new generation of candidates
for engineering schools, using the experience of the Project Lead the Way
(PLTW) program which is applied successfully in the Science Academy of
South Texas.
In 2013, the CECYTEQ celebrated
the graduation of its third generation of
students at PBI, consisting of 135 young
people, of whom 102 continued studying technical and engineering careers.
Twenty-three decided to study in other
areas. “We are talking about 90% of students who continue to study, of which
75% chose careers in engineering. This
is in contrast to the 36% we had when
the program did not exist,” says Carlos
Luhrs, Director of CECYTEQ.
But beyond the numbers, Luhrs
prefers to emphasize the students’
experience on a personal level. “The
change that occurs in young people is
perhaps the most amazing part for me.
What happens is that we discover their
talent and ability, and that gives them
important motivation. So their self-esteem grows, their aspirations soar and
they begin to make better decisions,”
he says.
One aspect that has been helping
the PBI to mature is its relationship
with higher education institutions and
other organizations that receive their
students when they finish high school
and even at the end of college.Thus the
CECYTEQ has tightened its ties with
the Polytechnic University of Queretaro, the Aeronautical University, Tech-
“We discover young
people’s talent and
ability so their selfesteem grows, their
aspirations soar and
they begin to make
better decisions.”
42
“In the schools
where the program
began, for every
available space
we already have
three student
applications.”
nology University in San Juan, and even
with the Aviation Industry in the state,
in order to generate a collaborative environment for its graduates to function
professionally and expand their opportunities.
The collaboration with these other
institutions has begun to bear fruit, because “we have created a value chain in
which continuing education is given and
students see a very favorable area to
define their vocation and choose their
career. In the words of the Rector of
the Polytechnic University of Queretaro, graduates of CECYTEQ’s PBI leave
with very clear direction in their careers
in engineering and with the best performance in mathematics,” says Luhrs.
And although the Director of CECYTEQ is satisfied with the results so
far, he is convinced that the PBI can
improve. “The program should grow
in size and depth. With the support
of FUMEC, we are in touch with what
is happening in the United States, and
we continue to delve deeper into
what we do.”
One of PBI’s tangible accomplishments is the recognition it receives
from students and parents. These individuals see it as an elite program, aimed
at training top students. “In the schools
where it began, for every available space
we already have three student applications. This means that the program has
been spreading and youths are beginning to approach us,” says Luhrs.
PBI has already achieved national
recognition and the groundwork for
its application in other states is being
prepared. In December of 2013, during
a meeting of the Advisory Council for
Science and Engineering, Luhrs presented the program to representatives
of the Colleges of Science and Technology Studies (CECYTES) from Baja California Sur, Coahuila, Durango, the State
of Mexico, Guanajuato, Nuevo León,
Puebla and Yucatán. These all showed
great interest in implementing the program in those states.
“We are convinced that this should
be a national model, because it gives
excellent results. There is a very important impact, not only in numbers,
but in the transformation of young
people,” adds Luhrs..
Other Activities
44
Binational Collaboration in Health Care
With 350 million legal crossings a year,
the border between Mexico and the
United States is the most frequently
crossed border in the world. This dynamism poses enormous challenges for
health systems responsible for preventing the spread of infectious diseases in
these countries.
The Binational Collaboration for
Health Care program at FUMEC facilitates the channeling of funds from the
US to Mexico to coordinate binational
efforts aimed at preventing or effectively fighting any infectious disease
outbreaks.
The objective of this collaboration is
to improve Mexican epidemiology surveillance systems, with resources from
the Departments of State and Health
and Human Services (DHHS) in the
United States, and supported by the
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that allow the promotion of this type of health initiatives.
“We act as a trustee that channels
funds and coordinates actions in favor
of the health of the population near
the border. We also have the responsibility of coordinating the technical and
administrative efforts of the institutions
involved. We also connect the academic and institutional networks that we
work with,” says Fernanda Guerrero,
Program Coordinator for the Foundation’s Binational Collaboration in
Health Care.
The Border Infectious Disease Surveillance (BIDS) and the Surveillance
and Response to Influenza Network
operate in Mexico under the responsibility of institutions like the Department of Epidemiology (DGE) and the
Institute of Epidemiological Diagnosis
and Reference (InDRE) at the Ministry
of Health.
In 2013, with the aid of resources
from the US, InDRE staff was trained
in advanced methods for detection
and genotyping rotavirus, a disease that
damages the small intestine causing
gastroenteritis, and, according to the
National Center for Child and Adolescent Health, is one of the leading causes of death in Mexico and the world.
Another result was the training that
InDRE staff received to be able to manage molecular diagnostic methods in
parasitology, assisting in the prevention
and attention given to vector-borne diseases, such as Chagas disease, leishmaniasis and malaria which are transmitted
by insect bites and represent a public
health problem that can cause serious
social and economic consequences in
any nation.
Also in 2013, coordination meetings
were held to establish the Epidemiological Surveillance of Brucellosis project, which is expected to begin in 2014.
Its aim is to compare traditional laboratory techniques with more advanced
US and Mexico
health systems face
enormous challenges
for preventing the
spread of infectious
diseases.
ones in order to detect and monitor
this bacterial disease that affects not
only humans, but also cattle, horses,
pigs and other wildlife.
Mexico keeps constant watch on
influenza through the Epidemiological
Surveillance System for Influenza, coordinated by the DGE, which has been
recommended by the World Health
Organization.This system has 583 Influenza Monitoring Health Units, distributed in 32 states in Mexico, which were
supported through InDRE to strengthen its health care and laboratory system. The aim was to prevent epidemics
and outbreaks of respiratory diseases
through the surveillance of new cases
of influenza.
45
20th Anniversary of FUMEC
“FUMEC decided 20
years ago to address
two fundamental
issues: science and the
relationship between
two neighboring and
friendly countries,
Mexico and the
United States.”
On October 15, 2013, FUMEC celebratedits 20th anniversary of work in
Mexico at the Antiguo Colegio de San
Ildefonso. The celebration was held in
the company of friends and partners
including leading academics, businessmen and representatives of civil organizations and agencies that have collaborated with the Foundation over the last
two decades.
Several leading figures attended
the event, led by Warren Baker, Chairman of FUMEC’s Board of Governors.
Among them were Ildefonso Guajardo, Secretary of Economy; Francisco
Rosenzweig, Undersecretary of Industry and Trade; Sergio Alcocer, Undersecretary for North America; Guillermo Soberón, Chairman of the Scientific
and Medical Advisory Board for ISSSTE;
Enrique Cabrero, Director of CONACYT; José Narro, Rector of the UNAM,
and Francisco Barnés, previous Presi-
dent of FUMEC’s Board of Governors.
Also present were other former Presidents of the Board of Governors and
senior representatives from business,
academia, government and civil society.
“This is a very important event
because we are talking about a Foundation that decided 20 years ago to
address two fundamental issues, science and the relationship between
two neighboring and friendly countries: Mexico and the United States,”
said the Rector of UNAM, adding that
“the efforts made by the members of
the Foundation are the reason we are
here. This is a project that has paid off
and has been so successful that we are
now establishing a sort of revival of the
Foundation.”
Meanwhile, Warren Baker stated
that “the work, experience and results
from FUMEC have brought support
and recognition to international institutions, authorities and companies who
cooperate so that their educational and
innovation support programs may have
a large impact.”
During the event, FUMEC acknowledged the work of Guillermo Soberón
in supporting the establishment of this
organization and for having served as
president of the Board of Governors.
Soberón recalled the first efforts to
form this organization and said “one
remarkable man, Congressman Brown,
will always stand out as the great creative spirit behind this effort and who
gave out of his own savings to make
this happen.”
46
Collaboration with the
Mexican Academy of Sciences
During the past 20 years, the Mexican Academy of Sciences (AMC in Spanish)
and FUMEC have granted scholarships so that young researchers from Mexico
can spend summer breaks at educational institutions in the United States, and so
that distinguished professors from the United States can spend short periods of
time in Mexico.
Both of these exchanges are directed toward researchers in the areas of Astronomy, Biology, Computer Science, Physics, Engineering, Educational Research
(Science Education), Mathematics, Medicine and Chemistry.
So far, 116 Mexican researchers have received support to take these trips to
educational institutions such as Harvard and Yale, and 300 American professors
have made brief stays at Mexican higher education institutions.
These scholarships strengthen the ties of cooperation between researchers
from Mexico and the United States, allowing them to access new academic fields,
enriching their work and their career.
It is worth mentioning that this initiative has supported the career of researchers as Citlali Trueta and Erika Bustos, who have achieved further recognition as in
the L’Oreal-UNESCO Scholarship for Women in Science.
Complementary
Information
48
Directory
ProgramCoordinator
Innovation for Competitiveness
TechPYME General Coordinator
Lilia Arechavala
Aerospace
Luis Pineda
Automotive
Carlos Meneses
Clean Technologies
César Rivera
Health Technologies
Carlos Martínez
Food Technologies
Ana Boeta
Information Technologies
Iván Zavala
Microsystems
Guillermina Avendaño
Mobile
Mariano Contreras
Regional Coordinator
Jaime Loé
Industrial Property
Shanik Santos
Food and Agri-Business Incubator
Cristina Acevedo
TechBA General Coordinator
Haru Yamasaki
TechBA Arizona
Haru Yamasaki
TechBA Austin
Luis Medina
TechBA Madrid
Eugenio Marín
TechBA Michigan
Raúl Carvajal
TechBA Montreal
Leoncio Salaburu
TechBA Seattle
Itzam de Gortari
TechBA Silicon Valley
Adolfo Tavera
TechBA Vancouver
Federico Goroztieta
Education for Innovation
INNOVEC
Claudia Robles
Engineering Basics in High
School Education
Ignacio Castro
Other initiatives
Binational Initiatives
Claire Barnouin
Binational Health Collaboration
Fernanda Guerrero
Liaison in Washington D.C.
Jessica Borth
49
Financial Information
The George E. Brown United States-Mexico Foundation for Science Statement
of Activities for the Year End as of December 31, 2013 (U.S. Dollars)
Health and Environment
673,619
Economic Development Based on Innovation 9,811,191
Human Resources Development
99,753
in Science and Technology
Offices Abroad
89,244
Subtotal10,673,808
Operating Expenses 890,996
TOTAL11,564,804
50
Our offices
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The National Academies
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