It is part of the directory of accredited universities that created the network COLOMBIA CHALLENGE YOUR KNOWLEDGE. Located in Pereira capital of Risaralda Department which is part of Colombia’s Coffee Cultural Landscape proclaimed World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
UTP has 16,184 students in undergraduate programs and 1,983 in postgraduate programs, 836 faculty members, and 412 staff members.
It offers bachelor programs in engineering, health sciences, environmental sciences, education sciences, fine arts and humanities, basic sciences, technologies, business sciences and agricultural sciences and agribusiness. UTP holds 34 master’s degrees and 6 PhD programs supported on the research groups.
The university has more than 100 agreements with institutions in 24 countries and promotes the learning of a second and third language most importantly English.
Concerning the project, UTP counts on the academic support from the faculties: Business Sciences, Environmental Sciences and Agricultural Sciences and Agribusiness, with their undergraduate and graduate programmes and also research groups and labs. Especially Business Sciences Faculty seeks to contribute mainly to the improvement of a sustainable development strategy as UTP is part of a sustainable development strategy, called the Risaralda-‐BMR model Forest, which brings together political, academic and productive actors from the Department of Risaralda. The model forests, in turn, are part of the Ibero-‐American model Forest Network, the RIAMB and the International network of model forests, RIBM.
What has done your institution concerning social innovation? What does your institution understands social innovation?
The UTP understands social innovation as a continuous learning and adaptation process that takes place in socio-ecosystems and where communities and organizations are intimately involved in the search for solutions for socio-environmental sustainability. In this process, the systemic and adaptive approach is crucial. Likewise, the identification of problems and the construction of solutions is done, from the same ideas, jointly between those involved.
The UTP develops social innovation processes, with multiple actors, which are organized in multiple ways, from children and adolescents (ONDAS projects), to associations of agricultural producers, or engaging with entrepreneurs and industrialists in certification processes and imrpovement process that contribute to sustainable development.
• Virtuous Circle and social mobility project
• Innovation Node Projects
• Projects to strengthen black and indigenous communities in biodiversity management.
• Sustainable development projects in production processes
• Project Building Future 2018-2020 related to the development of socio-emotional skills in children through workshops in public schools in Pereira.
• CIDT Sapiens Park Project
What has done your institution concerning climate change?
Relevant projects Management Andean Agroecosystems Group
• Ecosystem Services, adaptation to climate change and planning of the territory: strategies for the management of socio-ecological systems in the coffee zone of Colombia.
• Considerations on the estimation of bamboo biomass and carbon in the Colombian coffee axis: contributions to the definition of its potential for climate change mitigation.
• Determination of the Potential for Greenhouse Gas Reductions in Silvopastoral Systems
• Proposal for the Design of Agroecosystems More Resilient to Climate Variability in the Middle Otún River Basin
• New Methodologies for the Evaluation and Monitoring of Carbon and Biodiversity Indicators in Silvopastoral Systems and Guadua Forests in Landscapes of the Colombian Coffee Zone
• Glimpsing Agroecosystems less vulnerable to climate change in the Colombian Andes
• Projects Ecology-Engineering and Society Group EIS
• Strengthening capacities for adaptation to climate change with open science tools in coffee communities of the Risaralda Model Forest. CATIE-UTP
• Communication strategies for adaptation to climate change in coffee growers associations in the Risaralda Model Forest. Purdue University-UTP.
• Water balances and monitoring of wetlands in the upper basin of the Otún river
Living Lab UTP
Living Lab UTP is a space for dialogue and reflection to co-create innovative solutions. It combines scientific and citizen science knowledge, to face the complex challenges of climate change with an inclusive approach and environmental sustainability. The team has a track record in working with communities and implementing active methodologies such as the LEGO Serious Play method and the 'School Forest' approach that promote the participatory construction of knowledge in the search for solutions to various problems. As it does? Through an innovation route that implements living spaces designed to stimulate creativity, teamwork, reflection, and interdisciplinarity
The team has a track record in working with communities and implementing active methodologies such as the LEGO Serious Play method and the ‘School Forest’ approach that promote the participatory construction of knowledge in the search for solutions to various problems. As it does? Through an innovation route that implements living spaces designed to stimulate creativity, teamwork, reflection, and interdisciplinarity
Generate adaptations of the coffee value chain in Risaralda through sustainable practices that strengthen coffee families. This is from the empowerment of women and youth, to deal with the phenomena of climate change.
Output: social innovation roadmap in the coffee value chain and generational junction.
Contact us: annamorales@utp.edu.co