What is IFI
The Innovation Futures Initiative (IFI) at Universidad de San Andrés is a transdisciplinary innovation initiative that addresses complex challenges and generates high-impact solutions through applied research, innovation capability building, and proprietary methodologies.
We co-create solutions with partner organizations and build the conditions for innovation to emerge.
Why we are here
The IFI is grounded in years of research and evidence around a clear insight: innovation is more difficult than it is risky. It requires method, practice, collaboration, and the ability to identify problems worth solving — and to turn ideas into sustainable, high-impact solutions.
Principles that guide our work
The innovation gap in Latin America
Latin America faces an innovation gap that limits its competitiveness, productivity, and ability to generate high-impact solutions. The region has talent and real opportunities but faces persistent constraints in transforming knowledge into sustainable results.
This gap is not explained solely by a lack of resources. It also emerges when innovation is approached without method, without built-in capabilities, and without coordination among key stakeholders.
The IFI works to contribute to a different agenda: more capabilities, more innovation methodologies, more applied research, more collaboration, and better tools to reduce the risks of innovation.
Backed by Universidad de San Andrés
The IFI operates within Universidad de San Andrés (UdeSA), an institution with more than 30 years of academic and research excellence in Argentina. From this foundation, it expands the university's role in innovation: not only as a space for learning or reflection, but as a platform to research, experiment, coordinate, and support the creation of solutions with real impact.
Innovation ecosystem
UdeSA brings together innovation centers, specialized laboratories, and over 25 PhD-led research lines. This infrastructure can become an active partner of the IFI's operating model.
Data Science Lab
Laboratorio de IA y Robótica
LITERA
Centro de Innovación en Negocios
Centro de Innovación en Tecnología Aumentada
Centro de Estudios en Tecnología y Sociedad
Centro de Emprendedores
Centro de Innovación Social
Centro de Innovación Pedagógica
How we think about innovation
At the IFI, we understand innovation as a philosophy that requires discipline, a process that demands method, and an outcome that translates into meaningful change.
Innovation goes far beyond generating ideas. It is about developing the ability to explore problems, test approaches, learn quickly, integrate multiple perspectives, and build more robust solutions.
We are an innovation hub that works across three complementary dimensions: capability building, methodologies and tools, and applied research. This combination enables the transition from intention to action, and from exploration to sustained results.
This vision shapes every decision we make: which programs we launch, who we partner with, what research we advance, and how we measure impact.
In essence, the IFI is UdeSA’s innovation hub: a space to connect knowledge, capabilities, and collaboration around complex challenges. We operate across three complementary axes: innovation capabilities, methodologies and tools, and applied research.
From Latin America, with a global outlook — driving innovation that is more rigorous, more connected, and more capable of delivering real results.
Frequently Asked Questions
