FREE Network National Conference in Costa Rica

The FREE Network National Conference “The challenges of public policy to promote entrepreneurship and innovation based on knowledge generated in universities” took place in San José, Costa Rica on 5th December 2018 and over 150 participants came together from Central America.

Organized by the Erasmus+ funded project FREE Network - Fostering Research-based Entrepreneurship and the development of spin-off companies in Central America, of which the University of Alicante is coordinator, the conference was hosted by Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnología (ULACIT) and was jointly organized with Tecnológico de Costa Rica (TEC).

The main objective of the conference was to promote the project visibility and present the project results, specifically the Innovation Support Offices (ISOs) Network that will be established in the framework of the project.  Also, the aim of the conference was to raise awareness of the key role of the ISOs for supporting spin-off creation in Costa Rica  and Central America. In this sense, the recently established ISOs from ULACIT (The Nest – Innovation Centre)  and TEC (Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre) were presented by Alejandra Quirós, Associate Director of External Affairs of ULACIT and Juan Carlos Carvajal, Director of the TEC Innovation Centre. 

In addition, Marta Blanco, a Costa Rican entrepreneur presented on the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship in universities and other higher education institutions. Finally, a Round Table to promote dialogue on research-based entrepreneurship in Costa Rica and Central America was conducted, with the following panelists: Victoria Hernández Mora, Minister of Economy, Industry and Commerce of Costa Rica; Silvia Hernández, Deputy of the Republic of Costa Rica; Juan Carlos Martí Revelos, entrepreneur, TEC; Francisco Noboa, Lecture Voice-Entrepreneurship Project, ULACIT and OGPI senior project manager Noelia López. The Round Table was moderated by Otto Guevara, Director of the Institute of Public Policies and Freedom, ULACIT.

The conference has great impact at national and regional level, been covered by relevant media channels such as  Estrategia & Negocios, Columbia, Revista Summa or La República, among others.

Prior to the Conference, a two-day project coordination meeting was held by project partners to review project progress and plan the project activities to be undertaken in the upcoming months.