By Carlos Mataix, Javier Carrasco, Sara Romero and Marcel Bursztyn

2. Javier Carrasco (biography)
3. Sara Romero (biography)
4. Marcel Bursztyn (biography)
A Spanish version of this post is available
How can universities more effectively address complex real-world problems, especially in sustainable development? What’s needed is not only disciplinary expertise, but also an ability to deal with systems problems involving wicked dynamic interrelations and a diversity of stakeholders, with varying levels of power to design and implement solutions. Researchers need to interact with a diversity of actors, inside and outside the academic community and to take into account diverse mental frameworks, languages, cultures and interests.
The Innovation and Technology for Development Centre at the Technical University of Madrid (itdUPM)
A growing number of faculty members at the Technical University of Madrid have sought to address this challenge, leading to the creation in March 2012 of the Innovation and Technology for Development Centre (itdUPM).