EXPEDITION FEMSA: A New Hub for Interdisciplinary Research
The building has seven levels dedicated to developing topics related to the future of entrepreneurship, health, education, and sustainability.
Ricardo Treviño
December 2, 2024
Researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, and creative minds now have a new physical space within the Tecnológico de Monterrey to collaborate and develop solutions to humanity’s major challenges: EXPEDITION FEMSA.
This seven-story building is designed with a clear purpose: to provide spaces for collaboration, advanced technology laboratories, and research and innovation centers on each floor.
Located within the Monterrey Innovation District (DIM), the goal of this space is to serve as a platform for connecting society, industry, and academia, says Laura Segarra, the district’s Experience Director, in an interview with TecScience.
“Innovation is a team effort. We need to be interdisciplinary to make a meaningful contribution. The concept of ‘expedition’ is because we want to push the boundaries of knowledge, discover new things, go beyond our capabilities, and collaborate with many different actors to make a meaningful impact,” Segarra explained.
She emphasizes the platform’s potential to bring together a wide range of talent in one place, where various disciplines and technical research skills can converge. It also offers great promise in promoting innovation and fostering tech-based entrepreneurship.
The Seven Levels of EXPEDITION FEMSA
The EXPEDITION FEMSA building was designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration across seven levels, each with a distinct purpose. These are:
Level 1: The Gateway to the Future
The first level aims to become a community gathering spot. It features the Science Gallery, an international exhibition that blends science, technology, and art. There are also spaces for socializing, including a concept restaurant and an experimental store.
Level 2: A Community with Purpose
Entrepreneurs, researchers, and creatives will find spaces designed for connection, including initiatives like Venture Café, Rapid 3D Lab (a specialized prototyping lab), and Entrepreneurship Gateway, which connects people to the innovation ecosystem. This level will also house Ruta Azul and Digital Humanities Lab.
“The first two levels are open to the public, so they can be spaces the community can enjoy. They feature initiatives that help create the experience we want to offer,” says Laura Segarra.
Starting from the third level, EXPEDITION FEMSA offers private spaces and specialized laboratories where researchers and corporate partners gather knowledge and develop projects in various fields.
Level 3: Knowledge in Action
This floor hosts initiatives such as Business Intelligence, Futures Design Lab, the Public Opinion Lab, the Behavioral Research Lab, and the C+Lab for urban studies.
Level 4: Research and Development in Education
On the fourth floor, you’ll find the Institute for the Future of Education (IFE), a space dedicated to advancing research, innovation, and entrepreneurship in education. It includes spaces like the IFE Experiential Classroom and the Core Lab Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.
Level 5: Holistic Health
This level aims to enhance quality of life through science and technology. It houses the Institute for Obesity Research (IOR), and laboratories focused on genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics: the Core Lab Genomics, Omics Discovery Lab, and the Laboratory for Advanced Analytics and Decision Science (LADS). Additionally, the oriGen project is based here.
Level 6: Sustainable Manufacturing
This level aims to transform the future of manufacturing through sustainability and innovation. It includes the Institute of Advanced Materials for Sustainable Manufacturing (IAMSM) and nanotechnology labs, such as SHIELD, the Advanced Biofabrication Lab, IoT Sensors, and the Microfluidics Lab.
Level 7: Viable Life in the Next 100 Years
This floor is dedicated to accelerating sustainable entrepreneurship to create a positive environmental impact. It features the Conscious Business Center, the Center for the Future of Cities, and the Early Childhood Center. It also houses labs focused on climate change, carbon reduction, and energy efficiency, such as the Innovation Facility for Water, Sanitation, and Solid Waste by the IDB and FEMSA Foundation.
One of the goals of this distribution is to promote interdisciplinary collaboration through an experience in which the expeditioners can discover different things as they explore all the levels.
“The building floors were designed to encourage collaboration, creating a mix between our institutes, school initiatives, a corporate entity aligned with our philosophy, and collaborative spaces with mechanisms that facilitate this type of interaction,” says Laura.
A Platform to Foster Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Marco Rito, director of the Institute for Obesity Research (IOR), says opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration are as easy to find in this building as stepping out of a lab to grab a coffee or simply walking through the hallways of the different levels to see the work of other colleagues.
“It may seem trivial, but when professionals from different fields meet in a physical space —whether it’s to grab a coffee or attend a session— the potential is huge. You start talking to someone about what you’re working on, and interest sparks; many great projects have begun from these casual conversations,” explains the director.
He adds that obesity is a multifactorial issue that must be tackled from multiple angles and perspectives. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, solutions can be found in areas such as healthcare, public policy, data management, artificial intelligence, and more.
Marco also highlights that projects can be scaled and transformed into products or services that reach the market and benefit people by generating knowledge and synergizing with other institutes, researchers, entrepreneurs, and industry partners.
Rito says the IOR occupies a space on the fifth floor equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure. This includes units focused on integrative biology, medical devices, and experimental medicine and workstations with high computing power designed to collaborate with other units in the space, such as the oriGen project.
Rita Fuentes, interim director of the Institute of Advanced Materials for Sustainable Manufacturing (IAMSM), explains that the goal of this space is to strengthen the institute’s relationships with businesses to carry out long-term projects. It will also serve as a platform to promote Tec’s research capabilities to industry and government, encouraging them to collaborate on joint solutions.
Companies such as CEMEX, Xignux, and Daikin, among others, will have dedicated spaces on different floors, where their research teams will develop projects and engage with Tec scientists as innovation partners.
“Having these different entities all present in one place, and being able to bring companies in and say, ‘We’re collaborating with the IOR, with the Futures Design Lab, with other centers, and they’re right here, get to know them,’ is something that will help us. But what’s even more exciting is the immediate visibility into what they’re working on. This is where the communication happens,” Rita shares.
Fuentes also points out that EXPEDITION FEMSA will serve as a critical meeting point for students from different fields interested in conducting research and getting involved in interdisciplinary projects.
The director adds that the laboratories on the sixth floor will complement those already available at other campuses. Additionally, the IAMSM is looking to expand into new areas within this space, including nanotechnology, advanced biofabrication, IoT sensors, and microfluidics.
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