Knowledge bridges: the Ecuadorian talent already innovating in the North

Knowledge Bridges event in the Embassy of Ecuador in Stockholm

The Embassy of Ecuador in Sweden brought together an uncommon group of Ecuadorians. Gabriel Calderón, a PhD from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, develops lubricants capable of operating in the vacuum of space and free of PFAS, substances harmful to the environment; his company, Sverion, entered in 2025 the annual list of Sweden's 100 research projects with the greatest potential, compiled by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. Iván Acosta, a PhD in engineering sciences, leads industrial solar energy projects from Uppsala, among them Coal Zero by Green Steam, funded by UNIDO to replace coal with steam generated by the sun. Nadia Alarcón, with an MBA from Germany, plans from Fagersta the regional supply chain of a Swedish drilling tools multinational.

Gabriel, Iván and Nadia during the event

None of them has cut their ties with Ecuador. That is the idea behind “Knowledge Bridges” (Puentes de Conocimiento): our talent abroad is not a brain drain, it is a knowledge network ready to be activated.

Why the Nordic countries? Because they prove that a country can live off its knowledge. Innovation thrives here because universities, companies, research and public policy work together, not in isolation. That articulation is precisely what Ecuador needs to strengthen.

And we are not starting from scratch. Juan Pablo Carvallo, Executive Director of CEDIA, the corporation that articulates Ecuador's research ecosystem, travelled from Finland to join us. CEDIA connects 43 universities, 4 polytechnic schools, 12 technological institutes and more than 530 campuses linked by over 7,200 kilometres of fibre optics. With CEDIA we discussed something very concrete: how to bring Ecuadorian researchers based in this region into collaborative projects with universities back home, and how to jointly tap international funds and calls.

Juan Pablo Carvallo, Executive Director of CEDIA

More results are underway. Together with KTH and several Ecuadorian universities, student mobility and joint research programmes are being prepared. And the gathering took the first step towards a permanent network of Ecuadorians in science, technology and entrepreneurship across Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, with the Embassy as its connecting platform.

The most important results will not be measured tomorrow. They will be measured in projects, publications, students crossing the Atlantic in both directions, and companies born from these conversations. Physical bridges connect territories. Knowledge bridges connect futures. Ecuador has already begun to build them.