Through INOVIA’s project, the mains actors of the higher and vocational education system in Brazil, Costa Rica and Bolivia, will develop adaptative capacities in the field of agrofood processing, in a context of technological, economic and social changes of the sector. The aim will consist with professionalizing the training system and promoting its integration in the productive sector, to enhance employability and integration of graduates and actively participate to the local economic development, in a shared knowledge and innovation approach among stakeholders.INOVIA aims to establish:-The Capacity of higher education institutions to operationally implement new innovative training programs with a skills oriented approach, with the cration of three modules, with one in e-learning- The foundation for the development of an appropriate and contextualized professionalization system, facilitating the introduction of experience, practice field and promoting interaction with the professionals.- Strengthening of exchange gateways and cooperation with the professional sector, through the establishment of an appropriate and scalable service offering (expertise, development, technology transfer, lifelong training) and the development of collaborative projects in a logic of public / private partnerships.- Strengthening of cooperation between partners at regional and international level.The consortium gathers major players in the partner countries and relevant international institutions in agricultural and food sectors, with a common objective to contribute to the sustainable development of products from the agricultural and food sectors in Latin America.

The University of cross-border territories are the place of cultural integration, sharing of know-how, construction of common study programs, promotion of shared growth strategies, strengthening of common identity signs, protection of ethnic and cultural minorities. For these reasons, the development of border areas allows the strengthening of relations and joint programs of universities that insist on frontier territories. NUCIF project is the result of the activities of the REUNIF Network (Network of Border Universities) which has involved a large part of the universities participating in the Project. The REUNIF Network was set up in 2010 after the Tarija Agreement (2006) signed by the universities themselves. The NUCIF project (Network de Universidades para el Conocimiento y la Integración de Frontera), from the European experience in managing cross-border programs of economic development and sharing of research areas, education and knowledge, aimed at promoting construction of a common area of education, university extension and research in cross-border geographical area which includes Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay.Project’s specific objectives area:1. Strengthen cross-borders Universities Network by creating a governance model open to local public institutions and private companies;2. Encourage Universities’ expertise on key issues (agroindustry, environment and climate change, sustainable tourism and cultural property, circular economy) related to trans-border development by building a network platform for local know how dissemination and resources sharing.3. Building and experiment shared curricula in order to support regional integration trans-border development by facilitating and implementing CLAR System in the involved Universities.NUCIF objectives combine in order to determine a concrete change in present situation:1)Cross-borders Network institutionalization and creation of an open governance model which allows to bridge the gap between Universities and society, building good trans-borders cooperation practices starting from companies and society’s requirements and gain efficacy in main social/economical problems solving; 2)Knowledge Hub specialization allows to improve knowledge and research by implementing cooperation among research centers EU/LA on the 4 above mentioned issues. At the same time, the Project aims to disseminate the know how developed through the Knowledge Hubs, by making it available to all stakeholders; 3)Exchange and implementation of CLAR system encourages students and professionals’ mobility, breaks the existing gap among different credits systems, facilitate the contamination among training and professional programs, contribute to reinforce weakest areas. NUCIF Project implemented different actions, through a precise methodology as follow: - Knowledge, skills and practise were transferred and disseminated during international conferences (also via web); training sessions through webinar; academic and research specialization on the 4 main areas though study trips in EU.- For CLAR System adoption the Canteros CLAR and the training-intervention methodology were implemented.- An open source software has been implemented for management, control and evaluation activities, it allowed to monitor every step of the Project;- Dissemination activities were implemented through traditional channels (radio, publications, events.) and on line channels (NUCIF Sharing Platform, Social, webinars).- Creation of four Knowledge Hubs on the key themes of cross-border development to encourage the specialization of universities and the construction of a network platform for the dissemination of know-how to the territory and its stakeholders. The results were shared through the knowledge sharing platform, allowing the know-how accumulated by the KHs from all the territorial areas to be distributed and made available to all the subjects in the network (universities, schools, companies, NGOs).

Latin American countries face the challenge of transforming into knowledge-based societies. Adaptation to these challenges has prompted universities to revise their traditional functions and assume a proactive role in contributing to economic and social development of the society. TETRIS general objective is to enhance to building trust in academic research and in university-industry collaboration by improving the effectiveness of Technology Transfer activities at the Partner Country HEIs. The project aims to improve the level of institutionalization of the ‘third mission’ of the partner universities from Latin America. The development of innovation schemes at institutional level will facilitate and encourage university-industry partnerships. More systematic efforts are required to unlock the potential of research and innovation results. The project will address the regional priority by a carefully designed set of capacity building actions targeting two intervention areas: i) institutional policies on IP and technology transfer and ii) institutional set-up and mechanisms for technology transfer and innovation. The project has three phases: the initial phase is about detailed assessment of Technology Transfer performance and will result in individual development needs. The next phase is the design and development of organisational, operational models and technology transfer mechanisms. The last phase is dedicated to the implementation: universities will adopt and implement elements of the previously developed models that suits best the institutional strategy and capability. Upskilling professionals and improving the knowledge transfer function together will allow them to actively engage with the innovation ecosystem and will have a multiplier effect on research and education. The project will contribute to increase openness and transparency by developing a technology transfer innovation scheme.