The Social Innovation Laboratory model of Fundación Universitaria María Cano has been recognized by the European Public & Social Innovation Review as a relevant proposal in the field of higher education, fostering the connection between the university and society. This work has been led since 2023 by professors Ana María Pérez Naranjo, Ana Isabel Páramo Uribe, and Marleny Arcila Aristizábal from the Faculty of Business Sciences, along with professor Jhon Freddy Santos Gómez from the Faculty of Health Sciences. This highlights an interdisciplinary effort that strengthens institutional engagement and outreach.

The María Cano Social Innovation Laboratory is a center that integrates teaching, research, and extension activities, aimed at solving problems that impact the local, regional, and national environment. Through co-creation processes with communities, actions are proposed that lead to the analysis of challenges, the definition of roles according to needs, and the design of prototypes that become proposals and alternative solutions.

This work is led by the Office of the Academic Vice President and relies on the commitment of all the institution’s research groups, as well as the participation of students from different academic programs, with the aim of demonstrating the social commitment that is a hallmark of María Cano’s institutional mission.

The journal EPSIR (European Public & Social Innovation Review) is published by the Concilium Research Group of the Complutense University of Madrid. It is an open-access publication that operates under the Diamond Open Access model, with no fees for publishing or accessing its contents, thereby promoting the free and equitable circulation of scientific knowledge. It stands as the first Euro–Latin American journal in the field of Innovation, as innovation is the very raison d’être of academia.

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