SUMA 2015, the First International Engineering Summit was attended by local and international leaders in the fields of engineering.

SUMA, the first International Engineering Summit took place in Peru. This two day event was organized and designed by Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología (UTEC) to drive innovation and development in the country, and was attended by Piero Ghezzi, the Minister of Production and Jaime Saavedra, the Minister of Education in addition to other international guest speakers and local leaders and professionals in the field of engineering education.

The first day of SUMA was addressed to the country´s executives, businessmen and engineers, and the following day, a free symposium was held for university presidents, deans and engineering teachers so that this group could also have access to an interdisciplinary space to engage in the discussion and exchange of new knowledge.  Inaugurating this important summit was Eduardo Hochschild, Chairman of the UTEC board of directors.  Hochschild highlighted SUMA’s purpose which seeks to provide the country with an opportunity to have a space devoted to the exchange of experiences, ideas, thoughts and debate, emphasizing how important a role innovation plays in Peru’s development.  

“According to the 2014 Global Innovation Index published by Cornell University, Peru is the least innovative country in the Pacific Alliance. Moreover, according to PRODUCE, Peru must invest around 2.8% of its GNP in innovation if it wishes to move to the forefront in the region in innovation, instead of the 0.12% that we currently invest. This statistic reveals just how serious our situation is.  Therefore, UTEC wants to become part of the solution and this is why we organized SUMA, given that we firmly believe that Peru’s development will occur through a steady, determined and aggressive process of innovation.”

During his speech, Minister Piero Ghezzi explained the advances achieved in the National Plan for Productive Diversification, launched by the Government a little more than one year ago. He highlighted six primary lines of action in this plan, which include facilitating the emergence of new growth engines of the economy, the development of Centers for Innovation and Technology Transfer (CITE) and the strengthening of the Instituto Tecnológico de la Producción (ITP) (Production Technology Institute), in addition to the implementation of the National Policy on Innovation and the National Policy on Quality.  Added to this are those lines of action that seek to develop and promote modern Industrial Parks and to reduce the cost of financing provided by Mipymes (A branch of the Ministry of Production dedicated to promoting small and medium sized businesses).  

Furthermore, during the second day of the Summit devoted to the Deans of the Schools of Engineering and Directors of Centers for Innovation in Peru, the Minister of Education inaugurated the day’s program by addressing the teachers and deans of the schools of engineering encouraging them to continue on the path of providing a good quality education to the nation’s future engineers.  “You as teachers and deans carry quite a significant challenge since you will shape and educate the country’s next engineers, and for this reason, the responsibility you carry in solving the challenges associated with the country’s development is enormous.  The country needs engineers who work both for people and on behalf of people. The common citizen must feel that engineering lies behind day to day solutions”.

In addition, he stated that education in Peru is on its way to comprehensive reform. “Peru needs a reform in which it simultaneously works on different fronts: with teachers in their training and instruction; in school infrastructure; and in managing the academic system and universities” 

Included among the international guest speakers who participated in SUMA is Fawwaz Habbal, Dean of Harvard’s School of Engineering, who stated that research benefits a country’s economy but that this is not enough: “Research alone does not suffice, one has to transform and create impacts through innovation because this is the key to a society’s prosperity”.  Habbal points out that when seeking to provide solutions and new ideas to problems that affect industry or society, it is essential that we work in groups, both as students and as professors, because this is how innovative proposals are achieved.  “It is important to generate integration between the students and different universities to produce solutions to problems that affect a society”.

Likewise, David E. Goldberg, a scientist and professor at the University of Illinois, referred to SUMA as an outstanding initiative.  I think that this is a new way to promote changes that impact the lives of those who today form part of SUMA.  UTEC is doing a fine job because this type of event enables us to share experiences and create change through thoughts and dialogue between different stakeholders and leaders in society”. 

For his part, Alberto Yépez, a Peruvian investor in Silicon Valley and executive director of Trident Capital, expressed praise for what the Government has been doing to encourage investment in innovation, but he recommended that Peru needs to innovate more if it wants to stop being a third world country.  “Peru has a strategic position with its geography, climate, raw materials and human capital. We should make use of these strengths to develop and innovate.  The foundations for driving innovation are being laid in this country and companies must take risks and invest in technology and innovation” said the Trident Capital executive. 

It is worth emphasizing that there is no other event such as this one in the region and this is why SUMA is seeking to become the most important SUMMIT in engineering. This year, the summit also featured three international speakers and panelists of the highest caliber along with educational professionals of major Peruvian companies and universities such as: Roque Benavides, (CEO and General Manager of Minera Buenaventura), Carmen Rosa Graham (a Member of the Board of Directors of Ferrerycop, Interbank and Entel), Mario Alvarado (CEO of Graña y Montero), Alberto Ikeda (Board Member at San Fernando S.A.), Gisella Orjeda (CEO Concytec), Alba San Martín (CEO Cisco Peru and Bolivia), Ricardo Fernández (CEO IBM Peru and Bolivia), Elia King (Executive Director at Saysi Peru), Gonzalo Begazo (Vice President, AJE Group), Karl Maslo (Regional CEO, Exsa S.A.), Dante Guerrero (Dean of Universidad de Piura School of Engineering), Rodrigo Contreras (General Director of Belcorp Peru), Bertha Díaz (Director of the School of Engineering at Universidad de Lima), Jorge Alva (President of UNI  - Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería), Jorge Rendulich (Dean of the School of Production and Services Engineering at Universidad Nacional San Agustin in Arequipa). All of them shared their strategies and the best practices that are applied in their companies and universities in terms of innovation, technology and development).