By Edmond Ortiz
A local hub for coworking and startups and a private Mexican university have made a formal pact to collaborate with each other in order to bolster regional innovation and entrepreneurship.
What’s happening
Geekdom CEO Charles Woodin and Juan Carlos Leano, executive vice president at Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara (UAG) met during an Oct. 14 San Antonio Startup Week event and signed a memorandum of understanding.
The MOU establishes an official cross-border partnership between the two organizations and will support academic and commercial cooperation. This is the result of conversations between Woodin and Leano that began more than one and a half years ago.
Established in 1932, UAG was Mexico’s first private university and first medical school. UAG launched University in the Community as Mexico’s first community college.
In recent years, Guadalajara has earned a reputation as Mexico’s Silicon Valley where companies such as Apple, Facebook and Google have cultivated a major presence. Mexico graduates tens of thousands software engineers yearly, and the country has an evolving startup culture and an expanding venture capital community.
Leano was part of a delegation of Mexican dignitaries, including Ruben Zanatta, Mexican consul general in San Antonio, that attended a daylong series of SASW activities in downtown designed to showcase Mexican innovation and entrepreneurship.
What you should know
Leano said UAG and its collaborators in Mexico will share expertise, resources and best practices in order to help support entrepreneurs and startups in the Guadalajara and San Antonio areas.
UAG’s mentors, professors and industry experts will network with Geekdom’s startup teams, and vice versa, in an effort to educate each other. UAG will also facilitate student internships, founder exchange programs, and encourage reciprocal visits to boost personal and professional relationships across both business ecosystems.
Additionally, UAG will co-host networking activities, workshops and training sessions to foster collaboration and improve access to mentorship, funding and to support startups on both sides of the border.
What they’re saying
Leano and Woodin both promised that their newly signed MOU is not a mere symbolic gesture, but a guide toward formulating short- and long-term initiatives. Leano added that connecting Geekdom and UAG makes sense.
“We nurture talent, and Geekdom accelerates ventures,” Leano said. “Though we operate in different contexts, our goals and values align perfectly. We both believe that innovation has no borders, and that entrepreneurship thrives through collaboration.”
Woodin echoed Leano’s remarks, saying that community is the core of a successful entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“What’s unique is that we are connecting two separate communities geographically, but we are creating a community together, and you’re seeing that work with everybody here in this room today,” Woodin added.
