Transdisciplinary Capstone with the USFQ

Through the Transdisciplinary Capstone the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) wants to generate spaces where arts, engineering, sciences and design get together in order to promote innovation and the creation of disruptive solutions to complex problems through private – public alliances and civil society. In Ecuador we have witnessed the necessity for universities to grow alongside companies, where these alliances will allow to solve problems through tangible proposals that can be applied to the needs of the country. A consolidated alliance allows to generate information and solutions that will later be applied in companies.

With República del Cacao we have stablished an alliance that is focus on working together for the innovation of quality products with a social and an environmental focus. From our perspective we have seen how combining the expertise of our researches with the expertise of República del Cacao’s collaborators can generate projects that can be a model of sustainable development in Ecuador. At the moment, we are working on a Circular Innovation and Carbon Footprint project that aims to promote and potentiate good practices on the fine aroma cacao sector.

The Transdisciplinary Capstone requires the compromise of the university and the company, in order to empower student teams in the achievement of a proposal with basis on theoretical and practical investigation and an interdisciplinary perspective. Because of this, every project presentation is composed with an Evaluating Committee that gives feedback to all the teams. It is very important for us to count with the perspective of companies like República del Cacao that has generously contributed with their experience in the development of the proposed solutions.

Generate interdisciplinary spaces between students and different majors promotes the liberal arts philosophy, and we have witnessed how students have built abilities that will help them in the long term, like continuous learning, group management, and critical and systemic thinking. Moreover, they’ve had the opportunity to gain a experience that will prepare them for working life.

  Cristina Muñoz, M.A. Design Professor

  Daniela Flor, MSc. Environmental Engineering Professor