May 23, 2012 - May 25, 2012

Latin American Faculty Summit 2012

Location: Riviera Maya, Mexico

Venue: Grand Velas Riviera Maya Hotel

Past events:
Latin American Faculty Summit 2016
Latin American Faculty Summit 2014
Latin American Faculty Summit 2011
Latin American Faculty Summit 2010
Latin American Faculty Summit 2009

riviera-maya

The Riviera Maya (Image: Shutterstock/Actidea)

Microsoft Research hosted the eighth annual Latin American Faculty Summit in the Riviera Maya, Mexico, from May 23 to 25, 2012. The theme of the 2012 Summit was “Technologies in Action.” For the 2012 Latin American Faculty Summit, Microsoft Research united academic and government researchers, educators, and Microsoft researchers, product group engineers, and architects to explore new opportunities in computer-science research and advances that address world-scale challenges in such diverse disciplines as healthcare and wellbeing, energy and environment, and educational and social progress. The program consisted of a variety of keynotes, talks, panels, workshops, and demonstrations.

Technologies in Action

The need to solve real-world problems, whether social or scientific, has provided the impetus for technological advancements over the years. Computing research and technology provide novel approaches to meet these challenges. For years, multidisciplinary researchers have been employing computational innovations to advance investigations in the sciences. New developments in the world of computation have changed the landscape and offer new capabilities to scientists who are interested in increasing their ability to process and understand vast amounts of data. Increasingly, information is stored in the cloud rather than locally, scientists are looking at new ways to interact with data, and computational advantages are being applied to an ever wider range of disciplines.

About CONACYT

The National Council on Science and Technology (CONACYT) (opens in new tab) is responsible for the design and execution of science and technology policies in Mexico. CONACYT’s aims are to consolidate a National Innovation System that responds to the priority demands of Mexico, provide solution to specific problems and needs, and help raise the standard of living and social wellbeing through five core objectives:

  1. Establish short-, medium-, and long-term state policies to strengthen the links between education, basic and applied sciences, and technology and innovation.
  2. Promote the decentralization of scientific, technological, and innovation activities in order to help advance regional development.
  3. Finance basic and applied sciences, technology, and innovation.
  4. Invest in scientific, technological, and innovation infrastructure.
  5. Provide accountability to public investments in the development of science and technology, high-quality human resources training, research and development, and innovation.

By fulfilling these objectives, CONACYT—along with other Federal Government agencies and entities, as well as with the production sector—will help increase Mexico’s contribution to the generation, acquisition, and dissemination of knowledge, and to advance the sciences and technology in Mexico.

As part of its international collaboration agenda, CONACYT is pleased to partner with Microsoft to present the 2012 Microsoft Research Latin American Faculty Summit.