Educating to innovate: designing public policies aligned with sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Guanajuato State

Abstract

A documentary research is presented that has the purpose of explaining the relationship that exists among the educational systems of a region, with the development of a regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, in order to propose guidelines in public policy that affect the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to Quality Education (SDG 4) as well as Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (SDG 9). The results show that a key indicator related to these two SDG objectives is school dropout; and to the extent that this phenomenon can be reduced, significant progress can be made towards achieving these aspirations expressed from the United Nations (UN). The study focuses on the Guanajuato case study, which is a political demarcation located in the central region of Mexico. Based on a comparative analysis when applying public policies based on flexible education in other regions of Latin America, together with the principles of participatory governance, a possible way to reduce the school dropout rate, which affects the achievement of SDGs 4 and 9, is proposed to achieve a better quality of life in the state of Guanajuato.