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CTA

Technological Cluster of Aguadas

Technological Center supporting data management from environmental field studies

Status
Funding Sponsorship
Starting date
Second semestre of 2023
Country
Colombia
Location - Region
Aguadas - Caldas

The Biological Station Aguadas (EBA), located in the heart of the Andes Mountains in Colombia, will implement a Technological Cluster that will manage biodiversity-related data obtained from research and monitoring field studies, thus promoting the region’s social, economic, and environmental development.

Why and How

Why

  • Inexistence of up-to-date and reliable data about the environmental status of the region.
  • Community is not actively involved and fully aware of environmental preservation.
  • Data from field studies must be securely stored in a cloud-based platform and managed by an operative unit.
  • Socially, due to its remote location in the rural area of the Andes Mountains, young people are forced to emigrate if they want to pursue a professional career in the technology industry.

How

  • The TCA will be an on-site operating unit ran by local school students pursuing a career on a technological field.
  • A web-based platform will be developed using the latest technology to manage and share data with the scientific community worldwide.
  • Providing training for the local youth in the platform’s development, implementation, and future operation.

Impact of the project

Overview:

The project illustrates how technology can profoundly impact rural areas, promoting environmental, social, and economic sustainability.  With the implementation of the TCA as a working group, new jobs will be created for the development and management of the platform, allowing:

Social Development: 

  • The senior students can be accepted after signing an educational agreement, enhancing learning opportunities and experience during their internships. Likewise, local and regional authorities will be involved, as they will sponsor the cluster’s operations once the project is completed.

 

  • Organizationally, the CTA will become an operational unit led by an Operations Manager under the supervision and support of Awaq’ PMO, adding the operations model to the existing structure. 

Environmental Management:

  • The project will support the execution of environmental censuses, surveys, and field studies. The data collected will be used for up-to-date analyses, predictions, and reports. 

 

  • The project implementation will be crucial for environmental decision-making policies since it is the first time such a study will be carried out in the region.  

 

  • The project also aims to create awareness of environmental sustainability among the local community, true warrantors of preservation and sustainability. 

Economic Model:

  • The project will raise the local population´s awareness of the need for biological research activities and preservation. It will also generate a new source of income for the local community as new jobs will be created in the technological field, settling the local population and generating a new economic model. 

 

  • The project singles out technology as a vital tool in bridging the gap between rural and urban areas facilitating access to technology-related jobs and carriers. 
Focus Area
  • Environment
  • Research
  • Academic
  • Social 
Status of the Project

Case study

Starting Date

Second semester 2023

Completion Date

December 2023 

Country

Colombia

 

Place of Development

Aguadas Caldas

Project Objective

Developing an online platform to securely store the data from our field studies and to give young generations access to the technical labor market.

Project Description

The TCA will have an on-site operating unit to provide technical training to senior high school students aiming for a job in the industry. They will acquire new skills through constant training related to their future career without emigrating. Settling in their hometowns will gradually stop the aging of the population in mountainous regions. From a virtual level, such a technological environment will securely collect biological data on a cloud platform, open to the international scientific community.

Focus Area

Environment – Research – Academic – Social

Development Plan

The project will progress by applying the PMI methodology of Agile software development. Currently, in the Case Study stage, the project consists of the following elements:  

Phase 1: Initiation: Presentation of the high-level project overview (Triple Constraint: scope, time, and budget), workflows, tentative schedule, and stakeholders to the project team. The roles and responsibilities of the project team are defined/determined-confirmed during this process.  

Phase 2: Consolidated scope, schedule, final budget planning, risk assessment, risk plan design, and stakeholder engagement implementation.  

 Phase “Phase 3: Application development using the Agile Scrum methodology and training of developers. Monitoring and control of the overall project performance, issues, and risk assessment.”

 Phase 4: All operators will receive specialized, in-group training on the new web-based platform.  

Phase 5: Validation of Scope of Closure, deliverables sign-off, and closing/signing contracts with outsourced suppliers. Delivery to the Aguadas Biological Operations Station.

+Info

– From the physical point of view, the TCA will be a group of young people (the public faces of the project), each with an assigned workspace and specific task assignments. Since the TCA will handle all data processing, the operators must be trained during project implementation.

– From the virtual point of view, the project will create a new platform to store, share and manage biodata securely, all in a virtual census inventory. Our new members will receive training to carry out environmental data analysis, implemented in an on-cloud manner.

-The Project Management Office (PMO) will provide support and management virtually from the team leader’s support.

– Once the project is completed, the current proposal will generate new projects based on the collected biological data.

Sponsor

Alliances