Over three hundred participants, several presentations and demos, and a collaborative spirit are the balance of the first day of the fifth edition of TICAL Conference, the only one addressed to the ICT leaders of the Latin American universities.
The first speech of the Opening session was the one of the Executive Director of the Chilean NREN, Red Universitaria Nacional from Chile (REUNA), Paola Arellano, who celebrated the importance of hosting TICAL in Chile, country that was the first one to connect to RedCLARA. Ernesto Chinkes, president of the Programme Committee of TICAL2015, highlighted the maturity that the Conference has acquired in recent years, while Florencio Utreras, CEO of RedCLARA drew the attention of the participants to the importance of developing collaborative projects through the network infrastructure of the association.
A special mention deserves the participation of the rector of the Universidad de Playa Ancha, Patricio Sanhueza, representing the Council of Rectors of the Chilean Universities (CRUCH) who stressed the importance that an event like TICAL has in the challenging environment faced by the higher education institutions in Latin America.
The first day of the event continued with the plenary sessions, which count on the participation of two of the five international speakers invited to the conference. In the morning, the Msc. Manuel Moreno Castañeda, Rector of the Virtual University System of the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, shared his experiences through the exhibition "Education Trends and digital environments". In the afternoon, the guest speaker was the colombian Andrés Holguín Coral, coordinator for Technological Research and Innovation and Information Security at the University of Los Andes, who brought to the audience in the auditorium of the Enjoy Hotel, in Viña del Mar, the exhibition "Information Security Management ".
Between the two presentations, in addition to the parallel sessions, there was another important moment for TICAL2015: the announcement of the inclusion of Microsoft to the business membership of RedCLARA. The aim of the alliance is the joint contribution to make and offer to the youth of Latin America and the Caribbean a better education with technology and new opportunities for learning, and strengthen the research in different sectors of the region.
Remember that TICAL2015 is broadcasting its plenary sessions via streaming arranged by REUNA. Get access to the live broadcast in tical2015.redclara.net. Follow us also on @RedCLARA and @TICAL2015.
