Ibero University Innovation Hub
Leveraging leadership, innovation and co-creation to advance ecosystem building
Our team partnered with the Universidad Iberoamericana’s Office of Strategic Planning and Innovation to strengthen leadership’s ecosystem building capacity and define a strategy for the university’s Innovation Hub. We integrated perspectives from university leadership, faculty, staff, and students, as well as voices from the surrounding Santa Fe community. Through interviews, student focus groups, and a workshop series, we created an inclusive process that deepened innovation capacity and supported the development of a shared vision for the Innovation Hub’s role in bridging research and community impact. In my role as Design Lead, I developed and facilitated the research and visioning process, from interviews and workshops to synthesis and strategy development. I also supported internal team capacity building, particularly around research and design methods, ensuring a cohesive process that delivered an actionable innovation strategy.
Years
2024
Industry
Higher Education & Innovation
Location
Mexico City, Mexico
Scope
Design Strategy, Co-Design, Workshop Design & Facilitation
Project Background
As one of the leading academic and research institutions in Mexico, Universidad Iberoamericana (Ibero) seeks to establish an Innovation Hub that enhances its innovation capabilities and positions the university as a leader in Latin America’s broader innovation ecosystem. A key question for this project was: How might the Innovation Hub become a center for interdisciplinary research, experiential learning, and a platform for innovative, socially impactful solutions?
Approach
In order to answer the above question, we took a step back to co-create a shared vision for the Innovation Hub. This phase focused on aligning diverse voices, strengthening leadership capacity for innovation, and co-designing a strategy to activate the Hub as a platform for innovation, technology, and social impact. Our approach combined secondary research, interviews, focus groups, and workshops with stakeholders from across the university to ground the work in community priorities and opportunity areas. Secondary research and in-depth interviews helped us build an initial understanding of the regional higher education and innovation landscape, while a series of in-person and virtual workshops enabled knowledge-sharing, co-creation, and collective visioning.
The Impact
Ultimately, this process laid the foundation for an aligned, multi-stakeholder strategy to position Ibero as an innovation leader in Mexico and the wider region.
