Crow leads ASU delegation in meetings with top Mexican officials

ASU President Michael M. Crow led a delegation to Mexico in mid-March to meet with high-level government, industry and foundation officials about strengthening potential economic ties between Arizona and Mexico. A funded partner of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Mexico, ASU sent its leadership team to advance proposals for joint sustainability efforts and binational laboratories.

“This visit is on behalf of Arizona State University’s role as a partner of USAID, which supports initiatives to improve Mexico’s economic competitiveness,” Crow said. “The Mexican government, Mexican industries and Mexican foundations are all important allies in our efforts to enhance Arizona and Mexico's bilateral economic relationship and competitiveness in the global economy.”

ASU administrative, faculty and research leaders making the March 11-13 trip met with Mexico’s environmental and economic secretaries to suggest ways of funding shared U.S.-Mexico efforts that would convert technology-based ideas into sustainable and marketable products and businesses. Crow said that Mexico’s Secretary of the Environment Juan Jose Guerra was particularly interested in the ongoing research and capacities of ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability.

The ASU delegation also discussed ways to build economic opportunities that benefit both Mexico and the U.S. with Mexico’s Secretary of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal. Additionally, the ASU group spoke with Under Secretary for Economic Development Enrique Jacob Rocha about development of small- and medium-sized enterprises in his country. Crow said that Mexico recently launched an institute for entrepreneurship and officials there are interested in ASU’s leadership in this area, citing the university’s new entrepreneurship major, 10,000 Solutions program, Edson Student Entrepreneurship Initiative and Changemaker Central locations on all four campuses. An ASU alumni gathering was hosted Tuesday evening.

Additionally, ASU representatives met with executive director Enrique Cabrero of CONACYT, Mexico’s Council of Science and Technology, which is similar to the U.S. National Science Foundation. The meeting focused on binational research opportunities. 

Also during the trip, ASU leaders visited Tecnológico de Monterrey campuses in Santa Fe and Mexico City. ASU has partnered with the private, nonprofit multi-campus university system in Mexico for more than a decade. During the campus visits, talks between ASU and Tec focused on major joint funding initiatives and long-term collaborative research projects that further a shared vision of sustainability spanning the Arizona-Mexico border.