Universities are greatly responsible for the many technological advances in the world, providing innovations, discoveries and general improvements to society in all areas of knowledge.

Access to the latest technology results in a more complete and valuable academic experience for students, whether in laboratories and research centers as well as within their own classrooms.

“The institutions that seek to thrive in the expanding education ecosystem must leverage technology from the outset to enable them to become more innovative,” says the Director of Gartner Research senior Glenda Morgan.

In Brazil, Professor Ricardo Rodríguez Vélez reinforced the importance of technological universities for the development of the country. “Brazil has a fantastic talent for innovation. But where is the tail end for the creation of this innovation? The university is designed to be a technological development center that radiates through society.”

Research Center: where the innovation begins

Most Brazilian studies are carried out by public universities.

“Brazil needs public universities. Take for instance the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA), which is the most important university in the world. It is the most important because it develops research. And the Brazilian research is done in public universities. “

Classrooms in which robots walk and advanced mega research. This is the Massachusetts profile Institute of Technology (MIT), a Boston University that leads the US higher education when it comes to combining education and the use of technology by students and teachers.

At the top of the most advanced universities are also at Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology (CalTech). CalTech has formed an impressive number of 32 Nobel Prize winners, manages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA and maintains a global network of observatories and astronomical research facilities.

Key technologies for universities in 2020

Gartner revealed which are the top 10 strategic technologies that will impact higher education. Check out the most relevant:

1- Security and risk management

There is a wide variety of factors such as global regulatory compliance, the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) and expanded software portfolio as a service (SaaS), which are forcing institutions to treat security and risk issues a multidimensional strategy.

2-  Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chat Interface 

The chat interfaces based in Artificial Intelligence are a subset of the so-called Conversational User Interfaces, in which the interactions between user and machine occur in the user´s natural spoken or written language. These interfaces allow the machine to learn what you want, instead of making users have to learn to use the software.

3- Smart campus

A smart campus is a physical or digital environment in which people and technological systems can interact to create immersive and automated experiences, with services that meet all public universities. Buildings, transport, applications and architectures designed to bring maximum comfort, agility and sustainability users.

4- Nudge Tech

Nudge tech is a collection of technologies in cloud and data that work together to get personalized and fast interaction with students, staff, and faculty, as a real-time reminder text to the class. “The idea behind the ‘nudge’ is that institutions use the data to impact behavior, such as establishing good study habits or have time to do physical exercises between classes,” says Glenda, director Gartner.