Name of the Project: ERASMUS-PUENTES - Portal Regional para el Fortalecimiento de Capacidades Digitales Avanzadas en Universidades Latinoamericanas

Project Number: GAP 101324686

Project Coordinator: Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain)

Type of Project: Erasmus Capacity building in the field of higher education (ERASMUS-EDU-2026-CBHE-REGION-10)

Project Lifetime: 2026 until 2028

Partners:

Instituto Politécnico do Porto (Portugal)

Cooperación Latino Americana de Redes Avanzadas (Uruguay)

Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (Argentina)

Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Argentina)

Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (Peru)

Universidad de Ingeniería y Tecnología (Peru)

Universidad Galileo (Guatemala)

Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (Guatemala)

Aims and Objectives:

The project aims to strengthen the institutional capacity of Latin American higher education institutions to sustainably integrate advanced digital technologies — including High-Performance Computing (HPC), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and cybersecurity — into teaching, research, and innovation activities. Through a regional unified access portal, a subsidised credit-based access model, and a structured capacity development programme, the initiative reduces the technical and financial barriers that currently limit the effective use of advanced computational infrastructures across the region.

The project builds on infrastructure already deployed with support from the European Union (BELLA/BELLA II, Copernicus) and on structured cooperation among Latin American universities, National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), and European higher education institutions. Its focus goes beyond access to resources, placing strong emphasis on the transfer of competences, operational practices, and governance models that enable beneficiary institutions to appropriate and institutionalise these capacities beyond the funding period.

The project is named ERASMUS-PUENTES (“Bridges”), as a bridge connects territories and people; similarly, the purpose of this proposal is to facilitate interconnection among institutions, platforms, technological resources and academic communities, overcoming technical, organisational, and geographical barriers. ERASMUS-PUENTES acts as a strategic enabler for knowledge exchange, educational innovation and sustainable scientific collaboration.