New agreements reinforce international research collaboration and student exchange between DTU and Tec De Monterrey.
DTU and the Mexican university Tec De Monterrey are now expanding their research collaboration and making it possible for Mexican students to do a research internship at selected DTU departments. This is being implemented through an extended agreement, which will be formally signed by DTU President Anders Bjarklev at Tec De Monterrey in January 2022. The two universities already have a student exchange agreement.
Philip Binning, Senior Vice President, Dean of Graduate Studies and International Affairs, is pleased with the new wide collaboration across research, education, and innovation:
“With this agreement, we aim to contribute to making a difference worldwide. Mexico faces a number of challenges, including lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and environmental challenges such as wastewater management. This means that the Mexicans are very interested in the whole life science field, digitalization of the public health service, food, smart cities, and how to create better living conditions.”
“With the strengthened research collaboration, DTU and Tec De Monterrey can create inventions and solve real problems together. This can benefit both countries”
A major export product
As a concrete example, Philip Binning mentions that Danish and Mexican researchers are working together on an invention for how to preserve strawberries. The research collaboration also involves a research trainee from Tec De Monterrey.
Together, they have invented a coating of biodegradable, edible bioplastic with antifungal and antibacterial properties that increase the postharvest life of strawberries. This makes it possible to improve the quality of the strawberries.
Today, strawberries are a major export product for both Mexico and Denmark, but up to half the strawberries produced in the two countries never arrive on the market due to a short postharvest life.
New horizons
“Our hope is that the collaboration can give DTU’s researchers insight into new horizons. But we also want to give DTU’s students an opportunity to experience a university with new academic challenges and a teaching approach with great emphasis on social responsibility, where volunteer work forms party of the individual study programme. Conversely, we also hope to attract some of the most talented students from Mexico,” says Philip Binning
The number of exchange students between DTU and Tec De Monterrey has increased significantly in recent years. This year, 12 DTU students are on an exchange stay at Tec De Monterrey.
Tec De Monterrey is one of DTU’s major exchange partners and among the leading technical universities in both Mexico and Latin America.
The university has 26 campuses—distributed on 25 different cities in Mexico—and has 18 international offices worldwide. In addition, the university owns two hospitals in Mexico.
On the university’s campus in the city of Monterrey, four research centres have been set up in innovation in design and technology, the water sector, biotechnology, and health innovation with both public and private funding. The university also collaborates with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in nanotechnology and with Harvard University in health.
Mexico is among the largest economies in the world. Large Danish companies such as Danfoss, FLSmidth, Novo Nordisk, Grundfos, and Lego are active in Mexico.