The impacts that I have achieved are mostly related to the development of new programs, entities and projects that have described the growth of what we call the UDD’s Entrepreneurship & Innovation Ecosystem and therefore its impact in thousands of students and the community. Between 2011 and 2017, being Director of Program Development, I was able to design and co-create the university Accelerator UDD Ventures (https://uddventures.udd.cl/), establish the agreement with Stanford University (still active) that ended up in creating iCubo, our Institute for Interdisciplinary Innovation (https://icubo.udd.cl/), lead the process of becoming designated as an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus and be today part of its Network Advisory Committee, create and lead all of our cross-campus entrepreneurship programs, be the UDD Champion for the Babson Collaborative network of universities, which 1 month ago recognized me as Member of the Year, among other achievements. Since 2018 I have been the Director of Entrepreneurship and Public Responsibility, the two main values and seals of our institution, being my role to further develop these among our community and engaging at a national and global level, time during which our team grew from 4 to 13 intrapreneurs.

A specific example of a project I lead would be ‘The Entrepreneur Ship’, in partnership with Stanford University and Universidad Católica de Chile, in which we got 120 people (80 students plus professors, experts and other) on a ship to sail in Patagonia while teams of students learned and solved 8 major innovation challenges.

An entrepreneurial university requires strong leadership to foster a pro-entrepreneurship culture. At UDD, entrepreneurship is a fundamental value in our educational project and throughout the university. Our team has been deeply and passionately immersed under this vision. People are key to building and sustaining an organizational culture that values entrepreneurship. Through them, our aim is to ensure that our commitment to entrepreneurship is not just an intention, but translates into concrete actions and results that transform our university and our engaged community over the long term. I have been very lucky to be surrounded by really good leaders, amazing professionals and team workers, and enthusiastic students.

We have gained valuable insights by forging partnerships with exceptional international universities and networks. For instance, we have a long-standing relationship with Babson College, a global leader in entrepreneurship education, and are now part of the Babson Collaborative network, where UDD is a Circle of Influence member. We have also collaborated with Stanford University through their Stanford Technology Ventures Program. Moreover, UDD is the only South American university designated as a Changemaker Campus by Ashoka, alongside over 40 other prestigious institutions worldwide. By actively engaging with key national and international ecosystems, UDD has established a robust entrepreneurship and innovation environment that is fundamental to our success.

To everyone involved in entrepreneurship education I would advise to be creative, take risk and positively tense the organization, even if failure is the most repeated result. Anyway, that is what us entrepreneurs do.

Our future plans are, as always, not small. Regarding entrepreneurship education, we want to promote and strengthen the broader concept of entrepreneurial skills so we can have a greater impact by including our students that want to find a job in an existing business or social organization and excel there as an innovator and a changemaker.

We want to continue fostering a flourishing entrepreneurial culture and increase student participation in our programs, while highlighting the impact stories of UDD startups and entrepreneurs. Furthermore, I would like to continue the expansion of our outer impact through our recent but rapidly growing entrepreneurship programs for other university entrepreneurial students and for high school teachers and students.

Regarding our team, I plan to find ways in which they can further grow their capacities as individuals and as a team, facilitating new opportunities for professional development.

In general, my plan is to continue helping and becoming even more instrumental for UDD to consolidate as a leader in entrepreneurship education in the Latin American region and then at a global level.