Cuban universities enter into business

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 1 (ACN) Alicia Alonso Becerra, deputy minister of Higher Education, explained how the Cuban universities have created business societies to promote innovation to develop the country.

She mentioned the the first two scientific-technological parks (PCT) built in the premises of two of these entities: in the University of Informatics Sciences (UCI) and the University of Matanzas and are the result, to a great extent, of concrete proposals made by those centers.

She also pointed out that the UCI is one of the governing entities with participation in the commercial society of the scientific-technological park of Havana.

She stressed the advantage of having these new societies for the flow of knowledge between academies and companies in high value-added projects, in addition to providing an outlet for proposals from other universities in the country.

In the case of the so-called interface societies, the sponsors are higher education centers, such as the Marta Abreu Central University of Villa Clara and the Technological University of Havana, known as Cujae.

In just six months, these two companies have identified 121 projects in strategic sectors and their value has reached eight million pesos, while focusing on the export of goods and services.

At the beginning of this year, a new legal framework came into force for the creation of the University of Havana Foundation as a non-profit institution for the management of science, technology and innovation, which has among its purposes the incubation of projects and the
commercialization of products, academic, scientific and professional services.

Among the prospects is the creation of a mercantile interface company in the scientific-educational complex of Mayabeque, which includes the Agrarian University of Havana and three research centers of the MES.

Finally, she said that other centers in eastern Cuba have proposals to implement similar experiences in their territories.