Educational Alternatives, Volume 20, 2022

Rezumat: The National University of Rafaela is a young university whose development activities started in 2017 and that quickly created its Technology Transfer Center, UNRaf Tec, with the purpose of linking the academic and research world with the rest of the regional ecosystem, with the main focus on the private sector and helping in its development. The objective of the present work is to describe the process of the design and development of the Center. This process was conducted with a negative macroeconomic context but relayed on a strength related to the local and regional productive and institutional ecosystem. The planning of UNRaf Tec included understanding the literature on innovation systems and regional development, mapping the rest of the institutions located in the region and their capabilities, creating new structures and new administrative circuits in the university, setting up laboratories with their human resources, infrastructure and equipment, creating a brand, develop a funding strategy, and actively collaborate with academic, private and government institutions. After three years of work, UNRaf Tec is already a functional center with dozens of researchers, technicians and experts in different competitive fields. Although there are still many challenges to keep improving the Center, nowadays UNRaf Tec is a known and dynamic player in the regional ecosystem and will continue to get better to keep bringing value to the private sector and keep the fast pace of the digital transformation.