Penn State University professor presents Learning Factory, a project that revolutionizes academic training and industry in the United States
SANTO DOMINGO- Invited by the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), the director of the Learning Factory of the Engineering Area of the penn state university, United States, visited the country to present to business authorities the project that seeks to satisfy present and future needs of the industries in a practical way.
LearningFactory o learning factory It is a space in which students take companies as study models and develop initiatives such as proposals for improvement, methodology that includes the implementation of new technologies, transfer of skills and the promotion of research and innovation at the business level.
Matt Parkinson, also a professor of Design Engineering, spoke about the creation space of the factory, in which the students of design and careers of the Engineering Area can create any project they want, in any season of the year, since they have materials for their free use. “We organize the multidisciplinary design program sponsored by large clients,” he explained.
In his meeting with INTEC academics, Parkinson explained the main strategies used and their effectiveness in the multidisciplinary development of students when collaborating in teams with people from different careers. Julio Sánchez Maríñez, rector of INTEC, He expressed the advantages of this collaboration, which he assured that it will contribute to the development of the country from the university level.
Parkinson also presented a lecture to representatives of private companies and to the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD), a meeting that allowed them to document the initiatives that the INTEC will develop with Penn State University, as well as what it would represent for companies to receive collaboration with student projects, which will be based on their main needs.
Celso marranzini, economist, businessman and president of the AIRD He expressed his satisfaction with the project. “It is one more step forward in the transformation of both our productive model and also, to a large extent, of the academic sphere, creating a united ecosystem that will provide feedback to both the academy and the companies,” he said.
He added: "It is also an invitation for each AIRD member, each company, to increase its investment in innovation and we can contribute to the goal of becoming an industrial power."
About the Penn State University Learning Factory
Design projects are carried out one per semester, twice a year. He stated that there are currently more than 130 companies sponsoring projects and approximately 1,400 students carrying out this type of initiative.
"It has been realized more than 230 projects per year, of which the 95% include at least two disciplines and 65% three disciplines”, mentioned Matt Parkinson when highlighting the multidisciplinary works of the university.
The government and large companies support 50% of the project expenses for small companies and entrepreneurs. The sponsoring industries support the Learning Factory in the teams, construction nights, materials, the creation space, among other contributions they make.