The INCAE Digital Nations Project

This project began to materialize in August 2001, when the INCAE, with the support of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), organized the conference: Creativity and Competitiveness for Development. The idea came together on February 12, 2002, the date when the agreement was signed and the INCAE became part of the Digital Nations research consortium.

Public and private institutions and organizations from different areas related to learning and the science and application of new technologies participated in this consortium.

The INCAE project's ultimate purpose is to improve the quality of life for communities and people in the Central American region, through:
Improving equity
Improving productivity
Encouraging community development, and
Developing competitiveness conditions

The main catalyzing agents for achieving development in the four previously described areas will use learning systems measured by digital technology, with which it is expected that the development conditions will be improved for people, communities, governments, and companies in Central America.

The program has been divided into five areas: four for development and one for administration and control (see the project's conceptual map in the attached graph). Administration and control will be headed by an organization to be created within CLACDS to provide program follow-up and evaluation. Therefore, support will be provided by a committee of donors and sponsors and an academic committee made up of professors from the INCAE and MIT. In addition, the administration area will be in charge of finding financing so the project is properly executed and will seek to make it sustainable in the long term.

Within the development areas, prototypes and learning experience models measured by digital technology will be created. This area will carry out different projects, such as developing cases on community innovation, knowledge management workshops, support for in-progress projects such as LINCOS, and a business plan competency for community development.

Another area is creating digital tools for development. The Small and Medium Enterprise Observatory and the Learning Independence Network are the main projects to be developed. The third area, closely related to the previous area, is to develop collaborative networks. There will be a series of networks that serve as support for the projects expected to be put in place within this project, e.g., creating a network of entrepreneurs and sustainable development leaders, the Teachers' Teachers network (PROTEA), and the "Constructing Scenarios for Development" network.

Finally, an area has been designed that, hopefully, will enable placing the issues related to learning measured by digital technology on the public agenda. This analysis and dissemination area encompasses writing studies, presenting publications and making presentations at forums, conferences, and technical meetings that contribute to discussion and decision making about these issues. This information is not available in English. Alternatively, you can view this page in Spanish.

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