Tec boosts innovation district with EXPEDITION FEMSA opening

The EXPEDITION FEMSA building has been inaugurated on Monterrey campus as one of Tec de Monterrey’s most significant projects for making its innovation district the most powerful in the country.

This space is part of the Tec’s Monterrey Innovation District, which will seek to encourage the interaction of researchers, entrepreneurs, and industry to design solutions to global problems.

During the inauguration ceremony held on December 2, David Garza, President of Tec de Monterrey, said that this building is the start of where the institution wants to go.

“Today, we’re taking a decisive step. We’re also making an important statement. Tecnológico de Monterrey is making a commitment to applied research, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

“Just as our founders made a commitment to education, we’re starting with EXPEDITION FEMSA; we hope that it has a future impact on innovation, research, and entrepreneurship just as the Tec has had on the sphere of education,” he remarked.

Juan Pablo Murra, Rector of Tec de Monterrey, pointed out that EXPEDITION FEMSA will encourage a new way of doing things.

“These new spaces invite us to find a new way of working, influencing, innovating, and making an impact. They invite us to work more collaboratively, in an interdisciplinary fashion, thinking about the impact they can achieve and yielding results from the dreams that led to their creation,” said Murra.

The rector remarked that this space houses 29 initiatives from the Tec’s national schools, as well as three projects from interdisciplinary research institutes.

Feniosky Peña-Mora, Vice President of Research at the Tec, explained that this could be a moment that defines the future.

“In ten years’ time, we’ll refer to EXPEDITION FEMSA as a turning point because it’s an ecosystem, a way to think, a way to work, and a way to live,” he said.

The Tec executives acknowledged the support of FEMSA in making this project happen.

Eva Garza Lagüera Gonda, Committee Chair of distritotec at Tecnológico de Monterrey, said that this space is not only a building but also reflects the vision for 2030.

“Leading people to take on new risks shows our commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship. I’m convinced that many challenges will be transformed into solutions within these walls.

“It’s a trigger, a catalyst designed to make ideas converge, blur the boundaries between disciplines, and bring about initiatives with a positive impact on the world,” she added.

One of the goals of EXPEDITION FEMSA is to combine the knowledge from applied research, the creativity from innovation, and the power of entrepreneurial leadership to collaboratively design solutions to global challenges.

Another aspect mentioned during the opening of EXPEDITION FEMSA is that of academia and industry working together to enhance their capacities based on dialogue, collaboration, and trust.

Monterrey Innovation District

The Monterrey Innovation District is located within distritotec and is a space focused on generating an environment of research and innovation with the objective of providing solutions to the major challenges humanity faces.

José Antonio Torre, Director of the Center for the Future of Cities at the Tec, said that EXPEDITION FEMSA marksthe start of a new era in Monterrey.

“This building is not only a physical space; it’s a platform that will drive the creation of an innovation district, where ideas, talent, and sustainability converge.

“We believe in the potential of our cities to be more human, sustainable, and prosperous, and EXPEDITION FEMSA will be the engine driving us to that future,” he said.

“This building is not only a physical space; it’s a platform that will drive the creation of an innovation district, where ideas, talent, and sustainability converge.” - José Antonio Torre

Mario Adrián Flores, Vice President of the Monterrey region and General Director of Monterrey campus, said that it took 733 days for this new space to come into being.

“Today, we celebrate not only the inauguration of EXPEDITION FEMSA as the first tangible milestone of this vision but also the consolidation of a visionary effort: the Monterrey Innovation District.

“This project is the result of a decade of constant work and transformation in distritotec, which has revitalized its urban surroundings and woven a collaboration network that is the only one of its kind,” he said.

Located in distritotec, the Monterrey Innovation District currently has two global partners: Venture Café and Science Gallery, as well as the participation of municipal and state authorities and other institutions.

Meanwhile, distritotec is an urban transformation project in the municipality of Monterrey that covers an area of 452 hectares and consists of 24 neighborhoods with 30,000 inhabitants.

This initiative seeks to create a safer and more inclusive urban environment by aligning university infrastructure with the needs of the community.

Innovation districts around the world

The Monterrey Innovation District joins others like it around the world, enabling a more strategic relationship with these.

“Tec de Monterrey is going to be the primary champion of a new innovation district in this space. I got the chance to see that the work carried out here is not only focused on specialization but also on democratizing innovation.

“This is one of the most important elements that innovation districts need in the future,” said Julie Wagner, President of the Global Institute on Innovation Districts (GIID).

A smart building

EXPEDITION FEMSA is on Monterrey campus and has seven stories, each of which is focused on one of Tec de Monterrey’s key purposes.

Its goal is to bring together specialists who propose solutions to social challenges such as: performing scientific and innovative activities for the next 100 years; fostering a better society with significant changes to the teaching-learning process; and promoting healthy living.

The EXPEDITION FEMSA building is structured as follows:

• Level 1 will be known as “The Doorway to the Future,” which will house the following spaces: Science Gallery, Conceptual Restaurant, and an experimental store.
• Level 2, or “Community with Purpose,” will seek to develop high-impact projects to unite entrepreneurs, researchers, and creatives. It will have the first Venture Café in Mexico, as a space for bringing together the global learning and innovation community with a mission to make creative people’s initiatives happen; an Incubator; and a Maker Space.
• Level 3 will be known as “Knowledge in Action” and will have private laboratories, as well an accelerator and a Fintech lab.
• Level 4 will house the Institute for the Future of Education, a space to drive research, innovation, and entrepreneurship by collaborating with professionals from around the world.
• Level 5 will be the headquarters of the Institute for Obesity Research, whose objective is people’s physical, mental, and emotional good health.
• Level 6 will be a space assigned for the Institute of Advanced Materials for Sustainable Manufacturing.
• Level 7, or Feasible Life in 100 Years, will generate solutions to the planet’s environmental, social, economic, and political issues.

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