In a visit that could mark the beginning of a strategic alliance, executives of the Colombian Geological Survey (SGC) toured the facilities of the laboratories of the Guatiguará Technology Park (PTG) of the Universidad Industrial de Santander, in order to learn about its installed capacity and explore possible lines of cooperation.
The delegation, headed by Julio Fierro Morales, general director of the SGC, together with Angélica Candela, director of Laboratories of the Service, held meetings with university authorities and researchers to identify synergies in scientific research applied to the subsoil, strategic minerals and geodynamics of the country.
“We came from the Colombian Geological Service to talk with the directors and researchers of the Universidad Industrial de Santander in a concept of alliances between public entities that carry out research”, said Fierro Morales. The executive highlighted the coincidence of interests between both institutions: “We are talking about a great amount of possibilities of collaborative work, of possibilities in research; we are absolutely in tune with each other”.
The tour took in the laboratories of various faculties, where the visitors were able to see the quality of the university’s infrastructure and scientific capacity. “To be honest, envy, but really good envy, because what we are seeing here is an example of how the public university is thriving, how the public university has absolutely enviable facilities,” said Fierro.
For her part, Angélica Candela, UIS graduate and current director of Laboratories of the SGC, expressed her enthusiasm after the visit: “I am pleased to tell you that we took away with us a fabulous impression of all the technology that the Universidad Industrial de Santander has, of all the potential that we can realize at the level of public entities to respond to all the needs that the government and, above all, our nation currently has”.
Candela also emphasized the interdisciplinary strength of the research teams of the UIS: “It has been surprising to find all the articulation that exists in the different research groups, in the different laboratories, and precisely this interdisciplinary collaboration that they have among them serves us and shows us that we can articulate in many lines and have better results”.
From the university, Jaime Alberto Camacho Pico, coordinator of the Coatiborá Technological Park Project, positively valued the interest shown by the SGC: “We have received the National Directorate of the Colombian Geological Service interested in knowing the capacities we have installed in some laboratories of the Guatiguará Technological Park. The intention is to sign a collaboration agreement to develop topics of interest to the Geological Survey related to the strengthening of the Colombian mining sector, in strategic minerals for the development of the national industry”.
The areas of joint work include the characterization of strategic minerals, the strengthening of the lithotechnical library -unique in Latin America-, the study of geological faults in seismically active zones, and the investigation of potentially hazardous elements in agricultural soils.
The visit culminated with the firm commitment to advance in the construction of an agreement that articulates the strengths of both entities, aiming at medium and long term research projects that contribute to the scientific, industrial and social development of the country.
