In an event with the participation of the US Department of State and the US Embassy in Mexico City, Partners of the Americas announced a new competition of the Innovation Fund.
The Fund has the generous support of the Banorte Foundation and the Gruma Foundation to stimulate new levels of association of higher education institutions in Mexico and the United States.
What is 100,000 Strong in the Americas?
This Innovation Fund is named 100,000 Strong in the Americas, a disruptive hemispheric educational initiative of the US Department of State. UU. The objective of the fund is to defend the power of education to transform societies, provide opportunities, and stimulate economic prosperity.
The Innovation Fund inspires US universities and colleges. UU. to join with higher education institutions in Latin America to create associations that give more students access to new exchange and training programs.
The Innovation Fund associations provide students with more opportunities to work in teams, gain skills, solve real-world problems, and be better prepared for today’s workforce.
As of October 2019, after 27 series of competitions, the Innovation Fund has awarded 232 grants to teams from 477 institutions of higher education in 25 countries and 49 US states. UU.
In five years, Mexico has become the leading country in this hemispheric initiative to form partnerships with US colleges and universities. Currently, 19 Mexican states and 24 US benefit from the Innovation Fund associations io create sustainable student exchange and training programs in both countries.
This latest Innovation Fund grant competition supported by the Banorte Foundation, the Gruma Foundation and the United States Department of State will provide ten grants of $ 25,000 each to help teams of higher education institutions in Mexico and the States United to create new exchange and training programs for students in the areas of financial inclusion and agricultural sustainability for the reduction of inequality, among others.
Young people from Mexico and the USA will collaborate to solve global problems
During the announcement, the United States ambassador to Mexico, Christopher Landau, declared: “I am delighted that the International Education Week, celebrated every year by the Government of the United States, serves as a stage to announce the new call of the Fund of Innovation Strong 100,000 in the Americas that will benefit students and academics of institutions of higher education in Mexico and the United States. I appreciate the generosity of the sponsors, the president of Banorte, Carlos Hank González, and the president and executive director of Gruma, Juan González Moreno, who know the impact of the program and joined this effort with great enthusiasm and vision. “
Banorte President Carlos Hank González said: “Mexico and the United States are friends and partners. For this reason, at Banorte, we join the 100,000 Strong in the Americas initiative. We are convinced that academic exchanges contribute to a better understanding between our nations and that, working together, we can face problems such as inequality, economic and financial exclusion. “
“At Gruma, we join the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund because it is aligned with our company’s vision and commitment to promoting research to improve sustainable agriculture and rural development. Most importantly, it is an opportunity to show that Mexico and the United States can work together to find solutions to common problems and create more and better opportunities for our countries, companies, and people, “said Juan González Moreno, president, and CEO of Gruma.
Higher education institutions that want to participate in the initiative must submit grant proposals to Partners of America before the competition deadline of March 2, 2020. The process information is available from www.100kstrongamericas.org.
The 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund is the active public-private sector collaboration between the US Department of State. USA, U.S. Embassies UU., The Partners of the Americas, companies, foundations and regional government partners that work with academic networks to support and create a new higher education institutional partnerships between the United States and the rest of the Western Hemisphere.
These are the participants of the Innovation Fund.
Since its creation in 2014, the Innovation Fund has become a reliable, flexible mechanism to support this hemispheric education initiative to build connectivity, improve institutional capacity, increase student exchange and training opportunities, and strengthen Regional cooperation education throughout the Americas. As of November 2019, the Innovation Fund has awarded 232 grants to teams from 477 universities and colleges in 25 countries and 49 US states. UU. Currently, more than 2,300 higher education institutions have joined the Innovation Network with 1,200 universities and colleges in the United States.
Partners of the Americas
The mission of Partners of the Americas is to connect people and organizations across borders to serve and change lives through lasting partnerships. These associations create opportunities, foster understanding, and solve real-life problems. Inspired by President Kennedy and founded in 1964, under the Alliance for Progress, Partners is a non-profit and non-partisan organization with international offices in Washington, DC. Learn more at www.partners.net or on Twitter @partnersamerica.
Grupo Financiero Banorte
Grupo Financiero Banorte is a leading financial institution in Mexico with the best business diversification in its class. It offers a wide variety of products and services through its bank, brokerage, pension, and insurance companies, “Afore” (Retirement Fund Manager), and investment funds. Also, Banorte is the second largest financial group in Mexico and the largest provider of loans to governments and the second largest bank in mortgage loans. “Afore XXI Banorte” is the largest administrator of retirement funds in the country, and Banorte is the only Mexican commercial bank managed by a 100% Mexican board. Their decisions are made locally without the influence of a foreign parent company.
Banorte understands that it is your responsibility and priority to be an ally of the higher education institutions in Mexico, to contribute to the professional development of the young people who will be the future leaders of Mexico. For example, the financial group always tries to organize and share events that are useful for the future professional career of university students. For more than three years, Banorte has invited universities across the country to its main annual event, Banorte Forum. In total, more than 25,000 students have participated in the summit.
To be an ally of the growth of Mexico, Banorte considers that it is imperative to analyze, evaluate, and implement the proposals of young people facing the main challenges in Mexico. Receiving innovative recommendations from students on how to combat inequality in the financial sector is crucial. It is necessary for the future of Mexico that higher education institutions provide university students with the tools required to investigate these fields of study and develop a broader vision. These skills are often grown as a result of the exchange with other universities and countries, where students learn to work in an international team to propose solutions to current problems. Being able to help higher education institutions achieve this for their students is the reason why Banorte has chosen to support the Innovation Fund.
Fundación Gruma
Gruma is a world-wide Mexican food company and leader in the production of cornmeal, tortillas. It wraps worldwide, with an international reach that includes operations in America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania with 74 plants and a presence in 112 countries. Through his “Maseca” and the global “Mission” brands. Thanks to innovation and the use of new technologies, it has expanded its portfolio of products and services to adapt to the different lifestyles, cultures, and needs of its customers and consumers in all countries where it is present.
Currently, we live in a world where malnutrition, food security, hunger, and sustainable agriculture have not yet been entirely resolved. As a food company that operates worldwide, Gruma is fully committed to finding solutions to these problems. Promoting international research and collaboration on these subjects of study should be a priority of higher education institutions because the world needs innovative proposals to address these problems. To face the nutrition and food problems facing the world, Gruma must understand the vision that university students are developing on how companies must adapt their products and services as part of the solution to these problems.
The world situation requires food businesses to find and apply sustainable agriculture techniques. Gruma considers it a priority to collaborate with higher education institutions so that university students can propose innovative solutions and methods to address these problems.