EMBRACE - the new era of digital higher education cooperation project responds to the Latin American partners' needs to develop and implement institutional reforms by offering a strong input in higher education modernization. Education is seen as means to respond to both regional and global challenges.The projects main objectives are to•Develop HEI teachers’ digital and pedagogical competence to plan, implement and assess student-centred and competence-based online education•Support educational management in managing impactful pedagogical change and organisation of the innovative learning ecosystem with all the relevant stakeholders. •Build innovative collaboration between HEIs and work life/society partners resulting in stronger learning ecosystem and more robust economic and social development.Project supports teachers’ (25) professional development by organizing joint online learning modules, badge-driven competence development process, MOOC (300 teachers), open access learning materials and guidelines. Educational managers (15) define guidelines for teachers’ digital and pedagogical competence development and assess sustaining educational change and project goal achievement in the learning ecosystem of HEIs and their industry partners. Project creates, in co-creation with different stakeholders (students, teachers, managers, minimum of 10 industry and society partners), transferable models for innovative education-industry collaboration. Over 250 students in 5 Latin American HEIs will participate in new pedagogical practises during the project timeline gaining relevant competences and concrete experience with the world of work. The EMBRACE project result is modern and resilient HEIs in Latin America with capacity to utilize digitalization for creating inclusive and student-centered learning experiences. New co-creation models involve variety of different stakeholders and contribute towards robust and sustainable learning ecosystem.

Colombia is one of the 17 "megadiverse" countries in the world. Developing a sustainable bioeconomy based on the responsible use of its biodiversity is a priceless opportunity for the equitable, inclusive and sustainable socio-economic growth of the country. Colombia is just starting to develop and implement bioeconomic strategies and policies, as well as the related systematic assessment of the environmental and social impacts brought by such economic changes. Our cluster will bring together academic researchers, key industry, and government and policy advisors from Colombia and the UK to contribute establishing sustainable bioeconomic strategies (Phase 1) and pilot initiatives (Phase 2) in the agri-food and scientific ecotourism sectors in four targeted regions of Colombia. These strategic sectors and regions have been identified in previous activities. The cluster builds on three UKRI GCRF projects (>£10M investment) in Latin America, mainly Colombia, with strong complementary capacity building programmes ("GROW Colombia", "CABANA" and "UKRI GCRF Trade, Development and the Environment Hub"), two Newton-Fund projects in Colombia (BRIDGE and C3biodiversidad), and the policy work by the PIs in the UK and Colombia, who participated as experts in the Colombian President's mission to develop Colombia's Science, technology and innovation (STI) agenda. Colombian partners include business associations and the Chamber of Commerce of the targetted regions, exemplary bioeconomic business, non-profit organisations implementing ecotourism pilot projects and key Universities and Research Institutes working in these four regions from our previous activities. The cluster in this first phase (12 months) will facilitate three regional workshops to foster multisectoral partnerships in the agri-food and ecotourism sector in four regions. It will also conduct technical assessments of the existing and required capacity as well as market opportunities and challenges in each region, and eventually propose pilot strategies to transform the value chains while conserving the natural resources and yielding transparent environmental, social and economic benefits, that could be elaborated in a second phase. Our cluster is built on a shared vision of ensuring environmental sustainability in Colombia. Our work can be extended to other developing LATAM countries with similar needs and opportunities where our activities are already happening (Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, etc.). The cluster also responds to and interconnects various sustainable development goals (SDGs), and provides capacities to a generation of scientists, managers and industry actors crossing disciplines for the local action of such SDGs.

Colombia is one of the 17 "megadiverse" countries in the world. Developing a sustainable bioeconomy based on the responsible use of its biodiversity is a priceless opportunity for the equitable, inclusive and sustainable socio-economic growth of the country. Colombia is just starting to develop and implement bioeconomic strategies and policies, as well as the related systematic assessment of the environmental and social impacts brought by such economic changes. Our cluster will bring together academic researchers, key industry, and government and policy advisors from Colombia and the UK to contribute establishing sustainable bioeconomic strategies (Phase 1) and pilot initiatives (Phase 2) in the agri-food and scientific ecotourism sectors in four targeted regions of Colombia. These strategic sectors and regions have been identified in previous activities. The cluster builds on three UKRI GCRF projects (>£10M investment) in Latin America, mainly Colombia, with strong complementary capacity building programmes ("GROW Colombia", "CABANA" and "UKRI GCRF Trade, Development and the Environment Hub"), two Newton-Fund projects in Colombia (BRIDGE and C3biodiversidad), and the policy work by the PIs in the UK and Colombia, who participated as experts in the Colombian President's mission to develop Colombia's Science, technology and innovation (STI) agenda. Colombian partners include business associations and the Chamber of Commerce of the targetted regions, exemplary bioeconomic business, non-profit organisations implementing ecotourism pilot projects and key Universities and Research Institutes working in these four regions from our previous activities. The cluster in this first phase (12 months) will facilitate three regional workshops to foster multisectoral partnerships in the agri-food and ecotourism sector in four regions. It will also conduct technical assessments of the existing and required capacity as well as market opportunities and challenges in each region, and eventually propose pilot strategies to transform the value chains while conserving the natural resources and yielding transparent environmental, social and economic benefits, that could be elaborated in a second phase. Our cluster is built on a shared vision of ensuring environmental sustainability in Colombia. Our work can be extended to other developing LATAM countries with similar needs and opportunities where our activities are already happening (Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, etc.). The cluster also responds to and interconnects various sustainable development goals (SDGs), and provides capacities to a generation of scientists, managers and industry actors crossing disciplines for the local action of such SDGs.

Climate Labs seeks to strengthen the applied research and innovation capacities of ten partner universities from Mexico, Brazil and Colombia through the design and implementation of Social Innovation Labs for mitigation and adaptation to Climate Change. In a network with Universities from Spain, France, and Italy, plus Ashoka as a non-academic expert partner, the project seeks to build interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder labs that will institutionalize the applied research and innovation for climate change in the territories the partners are inserted. In a term of three years, the project expects to train scholars, students and staff members in Latin America, who will form changemaker leader teams, design and implement labs according to the needs, strengths, challenges and characteristics of the institutions and territories they serve. In this period, each university will also implement a pilot project, get connected with international relevant networks as well as other national institutions, build the physical and virtual infrastructure of the lab, and develop strategies for the sustainability and scalability of the project. The project seeks, ultimately, to build strong and connected areas of innovation and applied research within universities impacting in the overall capacities and strategies of the partner countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The CITYLAB project aims to enhance the quality of HEI’s in Latin America through problem based-learning. A problem-based learning is a proven innovative approach for introducing real-world problems in the education program with huge possibilities to transform the quality of learning and teaching. It is a kind of active, integrated and constructive learning method that works from a student centred approach and emphasizes on learning to learn and learning by doing, and breaks with traditional teaching methods such as ex-cathedra lectures. In order to introduce and spread PBL, it is required to work on specific problems through multidisciplinary approaches. We choose to work on typical urban problems, such as urban planning, conservation, energy and climate change, poverty and crime, employment, …which are in general complex, and wicked problems that can only be properly addressed through multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary working methods. Moreover, the selection of urban problems, and the transdisciplinary approach which works directly with urban actors, provides the opportunity to structurally strengthen the relation between universities and cities and to make education more socially relevant. The project departs from existing niches of problem based learning methods in curricula of Architecture, urban planning and urban engineering in 12 Latin American universities, and gradually involves other faculty members such as sociology, economics, environmental engineering, law, criminology, administration and political sciences, ….through the development of CITYLABS. The CITYLABS are accredited modules that will be integrated in existing curricula and which work directly in partnership with selected cities on urban problems. Teachers from different faculties will be involved and trained to implement PBL methods in their CITYLAB module. The Global Network of Cities, Local and Regional Governments will act as a linking partner between universities and cities.