On June 9, the Collegiate Body for Administration and Decision of the Science, Technology and Innovation Fund (OCAD) of the General Royalty System approved 24 billion pesos for institutional strengthening and research in ten Public Higher Education Institutions in the country.

Within the framework of this government initiative, the University of Cauca benefited from the project called 'Strengthening of test laboratories at the University of Cauca, as a strategy to promote activities for the provision of services, research, technological development and innovation in Cauca', approved for a total value of $ 2,297,229,660 for the implementation of the quality management system in the testing and clinical laboratories and the physical adaptation and provision of equipment in 7 laboratories to provide services in science, technology and innovation.

As one of the main Higher Education Institutions in the Pacific Region of Colombia, the University of Cauca proposes research, innovation and social interaction within its 5 strategic axes, where research laboratories have been identified as technological support units for the development of science, technology and innovation activities. Currently the Institution has 68 laboratories dedicated to teaching and research, 24 of them carry out research activities and 7 laboratories provide extension services.

"The project will be executed by the University of Cauca in an approximate time of 24 months. The initiative seeks to strengthen 7 laboratories from different Faculties of the University through the improvement of technological capacity with the adaptation of infrastructure according to requirements regulations, equipment and technology for training, service provision and innovation, research and development, ”said the formulating team.

In this sense, they added that the requirements established in the NTC ISO / IEC 17025: 2017 and NTC ISO 15189: 2014 standards will be incorporated into the SGC Quality Management System of the Universidad del Cauca, in the testing and clinical laboratories, with the training of personnel and, finally, the validation and implementation of test methods and the articulation of laboratories to generate a sustainable ecosystem for the provision of specialized services, technology development, research and innovation.

The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, through its website, highlighted the project, as it will achieve the correct management, control and development of the institution's research capabilities. Finally, it is proposed to generate an ecosystem for the provision of services at an inter-institutional level. regional and national, that allows to promote technological development, innovation and research activities in an interdisciplinary way, which translates into a great impact on the strategic axes of the Institution and the development plans of the departments of Cauca, Valle del Cauca, Choco and Nariño, through obtaining new knowledge generation products, social appropriation of knowledge and training of human resources for CTeI.

Currently, the formulating team is working on meeting the requirements to start the project and thus start executing it in August or September.

More Info:

Vice-Rectory for Investigations

Email: vri@unicauca.edu.co