Washington, DC — The Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue today announced strategic partnerships with the Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas (UNACH) and the Institute for the Promotion of Quality (IFC) that will bring the Institute’s Tech Diplomacy Academy (TDA) to learners across Mexico and Central America. Designed to scale education and workforce development across the region, these collaborations will equip students, professionals, and industry leaders with the skills needed to lead in critical technologies while ensuring that innovation advances freedom – not authoritarian control. 

Through these agreements, UNACH students, IFC evaluators, and members of both organizations’ networks will receive access to the Krach Institute’s Tech Diplomacy Academy, the world’s first global online education platform dedicated to preparing leaders across government, industry, and civil society to understand how emerging and critical technologies shape national security, economic competitiveness, and freedom. 

For years, UNACH and IFC have played influential roles in advancing education, leadership, and organizational excellence in Mexico. UNACH – one of the country’s leading public universities – will be making the Tech Diplomacy Academy’s courses a required component of its curriculum, ensuring that all students graduate with foundational competencies in critical and emerging technologies, digital policy, and tech diplomacy. By embedding Tech Diplomacy directly into the classroom, this partnership ensures graduates are not only workforce-ready, but future-ready – equipped to navigate and shape an increasingly complex digital landscape. UNACH President Oswaldo Chacón Rojas, who also leads the Asociación Mexicana de Educación Continua y a Distancia (AMECYD) for 2025–2029, will help expand access to the Tech Diplomacy Academy across a network of nearly 50 higher‑education institutions. UNACH formally launched the agreement and introduced the new curriculum at a dedicated event on April 29.

Pictured from left to right are Janice deGarmo, Chief Global Engagement Officer at the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue, José Israel Mendoza García, Chair of the IFC Technical Committee at el Instituto para el Fomento de la Calidad (IFC) , and Alessio Hagen, Chief Executive Officer of Oakwise.  

The IFC agreement marks the Krach Institute’s first industry‑focused partnership in Mexico to provide the Tech Diplomacy Academy to companies and corporate evaluators. IFC – a national leader in organizational quality with more than 3,000 companies participating in its evaluation frameworks – is exploring future models that integrate the Tech Diplomacy Academy into its professional development pathways. Its network of expert evaluators, specialists in leadership, technological and digital transformation, and organizational performance, will incorporate Tech Diplomacy training into their work with organizations pursuing excellence. Together, these partnerships bridge education and industry – creating a seamless pipeline of talent equipped to lead responsibly in high-growth, high-stakes technology sectors. 

These partnerships come at a pivotal moment as governments, companies, and educational institutions seek to prepare workforces for rapid advances in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced telecommunications, semiconductors, quantum technologies, and other emerging fields that increasingly determine economic and national power. At a time when nations face a defining choice between trusted and untrusted technology ecosystems, these partnerships ensure that Mexico and Central America are equipped with the human capital needed to make informed decisions that protect their data, infrastructure, and democratic institutions.

Oakwise Consulting, a Mexico-based firm and Tech Diplomacy Academy partner, played a key role in bringing these partnerships to fruition as part of its broader effort to advance the Krach Institute’s mission to ensure technology advances freedom across Latin America and the Caribbean.

“Technology is reshaping global leadership and the rules of competition,” said Lee Rubenstein, Chair of  the Krach Institute’s Tech Diplomacy Academy. “By partnering with UNACH and IFC, we are empowering tens of thousands of students, professionals, and industry leaders across Mexico and Central America with the tools to understand and shape the technological, ethical, and security challenges of the next decade. This is how we build trusted technology ecosystems that advance freedom and opportunity.”

The partnership also connects UNACH and IFC to the Krach Institute’s Global Trusted Tech Network, facilitating participation in U.S. and allied policy discussions, workshops, and roundtables. This rapidly expanding network fosters collaboration with like-minded countries to promote trusted technology and counter authoritarian models. 

These partnerships further expands the Krach Institute’s growing footprint in the Western Hemisphere, building on partnerships with the Dominican Republic’s telecommunications regulator, INDOTEL, as well as ongoing collaborations in El Salvador and Honduras – deepening a regional network committed to ensuring that technology advances freedom across the Americas while strengthening alignment with U.S. national security priorities.

About the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue

The Krach Institute is the world’s preeminent trusted technology accelerator. As the leader in the new category of Tech Diplomacy, the Institute integrates technological expertise, Silicon Valley strategies, and foreign policy tools to build the Global Trusted Tech Network—a network of governments, companies, organizations, and individuals committed to accelerating the adoption of trusted technology and ensuring technology advances freedom.

Visit the Krach Institute online at TechDiplomacy.org and follow on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and YouTube. Enroll in the Tech Diplomacy Academy to learn what you need to know now about key emerging technologies and their impact on business, policy and the global economy. Subscribe to the Institute’s weekly newsletter Tech Diplomacy Now for the latest news at the intersection of high tech and foreign policy. 

About Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas (UNACH)

UNACH is a public Mexican university dedicated to accessible, high‑quality education and professional training. Through degree programs and continuing education initiatives, UNACH equips students and professionals to lead in an increasingly interconnected and technology‑driven world. As part of this partnership, UNACH is incorporating Tech Diplomacy Academy course completion as a required component within its academic programs, ensuring graduates are prepared to navigate the challenges of the digital age.

About the Instituto para el Fomento a la Calidad (IFC)

The Institute for the Promotion of Quality (IFC) is a nonprofit association that advances the transformation of Mexican companies and institutions to become benchmarks for a new way of creating value: with purpose, coherence and a commitment to building lasting legacies. Through the collaboration of business leaders, change agents, evaluators, researchers, and specialists, as well as its participation in the Ibero-American Network for Excellence in Management and the Global Excellence Council, IFC develops models, recognizes exemplary organizations, and shares learnings that inspire more organizations to contribute to foster human flourishing and contribute to Mexico´s competitiveness and prosperity. www.ifc.org.mx

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For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Megan Stencel at megan@javelindc.com or 703-490-8845.