MITIC is the Information and Communication Technology Innovation Map in Argentina. It is an initiative developed with free software and created to help to connect researchers, companies, universities and skilled organisms in information and communication technologies and to undertake collaborative projects of innovation in the sector.
Esteban Feuerstein, MITIC Coordinator
Source: MINCYT
We spoke with Esteban Feuerstein, PhD in Computing, leader of the project and the program “Who is Who” of the Foundation Sadosky.
P: In what consists the ICT Innovation Map that you are developing?
R: The ICT innovation Map of Argentina, that we have called MITIC, is a web application that allows to explore and to look for relations between researchers, companies, universities, projects and organisms on topics related with the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). We may say that it is a support for the open innovation of the sector.
P: Which kind of entities are promoting the project?
R: The initiative is developed by the Sadosky Foundation of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation of Argentina. Our aim is to promote the articulation between the scientific and technological system and the productive structure in all the ICT field, through distinct programs and projects developed to improve competitiveness.
P: How does this web application works?
R: In general, the MITIC gather information from diverse sources of public data, such as researchers and companies public social networks profiles, for instance Linkedin, and surveys, databases of publications and projects.
All this information is gathered and treated to afterwards be used as a base for relationships through designed and configured algorithms. The existence of a connection between two entities does not mean necessarily that there were a relation in the past but it could represent a potential bond to help and establish a collaboration or interaction.
P: How can a user use the application MITIC?
R: The application offers a picture of dialogue very complete that helps the user to indicate what is he looking for. For example, we can look for some companies, researchers, universities or projects, that work in some particular subject, or that are related with some people or companies.
P: Who can use this innovative application?
R: Any person interested can use it, it is free and of free access.
We expect that researchers that look for a partner to carry on an idea developed use it, the companies that need support or collaboration from an academic group, or the authorities that need to understand the structure of research around some specific subject of investigation, etc..
P: What kind of activities do you use to make MITIC well known?
R: We organise a presentation in society on 20th of November in the City of Buenos Aires, where we launched the tool. At present we are presenting it in distinct cities of Argentina, for example La Plata and Rosario.
MITIC Presentation
Source: MINCYT
P: Which possibilities of current development do you consider the information and the communication Technologies (ICT) offer to improve business development and to boost entrepreneur projects?
R: Well, in our particular case, MITIC is precisely a computer tool that pretends to support this kind of activities. We treat to use innovative knowledge in recovery of information, artificial intelligence, algorithms, to build our product, so I think that the ICT is the most useful tools for these ends.
P: To conclude, which reflections do you keep from your work?
R: The link between academy and industry is not an easy task, and in fact the presence of a Foundation devoted to this end it shows it. We expect that MITIC is useful to solve this problem that exists between two worlds that, although have a lot in common, many times speak different languages and think different. So, the Foundation and the MITIC team will keep working in this direction, treating to take advantage of the enormous possibilities that ICT offer.
We recommend these videos from iProfesional.com where Feuerstein explains the project details:
More information: MITIC