麻豆传媒

October 2013 Honorary Degree Recipient

Doctor of Laws (honoris causa)

President, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul

What is the secret to Brazil鈥檚 culture of innovation? As a principal participant in that innovation, Dr. Joaquim Clotet鈥檚 experience offers compelling insights.. The President of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Dr. Joaquim Clotet has been a leader for the internationalization of the university, university-industry collaboration, and innovation at the university and in the overall Brazilian economy. These passions fuelled his leadership in creating one of the first incubator/accelerator technology parks in Brazil, TECNOPUC, where today more than 60 world-leading technology companies have offices that carry out research and development.

The results of Dr. Clotet麓s dedication and commitment? Over 140 research and development projects, 18 start-up incubators, 2,600 employees, and more than 500 Master鈥檚 and PhD scholarships allocated to TECNOPUC-based researchers. TECNOPUC provides professional qualification training on new IT technologies and tools. In all, it is an integrated, multi-layered approach to education and research that is translating academic achievement into entrepreneurial innovation, while offering students a 鈥渟andbox鈥� par excellence. It is also a model for other Brazilian technology parks, which have followed its example.

But Dr. Clotet is not focused solely on innovation within Brazil鈥檚 borders. He recognizes the importance of international connections, both for students and for the university itself. The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul sends and receives students from and to the entire world, providing exemplary services to the students and undertaking innovative ways of integrating them into the university. At the same time, under Dr. Clotet鈥檚 guidance, the university has forged alliances with leading educational institutions in more than 25 countries around the world. Recently, 麻豆传媒 joined that list, entering into a Memoranda of Agreement that will support both research collaboration and student mobility between 麻豆传媒 and the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul.

Internationalization and innovation are not simply values Dr. Clotet has pursued as a university president, however They are 鈥渆ncoded鈥� within his own professional DNA.

Joaquim Clotet was born in the province of Barcelona, Spain, in 1946. He graduated in English Language and Letters at the University of Barcelona, and obtained his PhD in Philosophy and Letters from the same university. His post-doctoral studies took him to the University of Georgetown, Oxford University, the Gregorian University in Rome, the University of Ottawa and the University of Warwick. The focus of his academic work has been bioethics, and he has authored or co-authored 11 books and many more publications on such topics as philosophical approaches to justice, and the scientific and ethical debate regarding human genetics.

Under Dr. Clotet鈥檚 leadership, the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul has established itself as a world-class university within Latin America, and has proven itself a model for innovative approaches to industrial and international partnerships. In recognition of his many accomplishments, I ask you Mr. Chancellor, on behalf of Senate, to bestow upon Dr. Joaquim Clotet the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.