Patricia Castillo Galván, full-time professor in the Department of Engineering in Industrial Systems and Technologies (ISTI), of the Polytechnic University of San Luis Potosí (UPSLP), together with her doctoral thesis advisor, Dr. Juan José Méndez Palacios, participated in the International Conference on Ergonomics and Applied Human Factors (AHFE, for its acronym in English), with the article “Digital Technology as a Tool for the Growth of Mexican Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in San Luis Potosí”, which received the award for the Best Article in the area of Human Factors in Management and Leadership.

This year, the event was held at the Sheraton Hotel in New York, Times Square, USA, from July 24th to 28th.

The AHFE consists of a series of international conferences that involve research associations and participants from more than 5,000 universities, academic institutions, companies and research centers located in 64 countries. It also has the participation of more than 28,000 international researchers, of which 29% come from Latin America. Its objective is to provide an international forum for the dissemination and exchange of scientific information on theoretical, generic and applied areas of human factors and ergonomics. It should be noted that the articles submitted are peer reviewed by three independent referees from the international program boards.

The article by Patricia Castillo presents the challenges that SMEs must face in a world of constant change and accelerated growth. It analyzes the new technologies available and establishes how digital technologies (Analytics and Big Data, the use of the Cloud and Organizational Integration, among others) implemented based on their most basic principles are tools that allow SMEs to boost their growth due to the low amount of physical investment required, thus overcoming the barriers of the globalized world.

The Polytechnic University of San Luis Potosí congratulates Patricia Castillo Galván on winning this important international award!