New research and education center to promote logistics in Panama

It may be a small country, but Panama has big dreams. With its canal expansion slated for completion in 2014 and U.S.-Latin American trade on the rise, Panama—situated midway between North and South America—is looking to transform itself into the main trade and logistics hub for the region.

The Georgia Institute of Technology's Supply Chain & Logistics Institute (SCL) hopes to facilitate Panama's development as the crossroads of the Americas through its new Panama Logistics and Innovation Center, located in that country's capital, Panama City. SCL will operate the center, which will focus on education and applied research, under an agreement negotiated with Panama's National Secretariat of Science, Technology, and Innovation.

According to SCL, the center will establish formal degree programs and executive education in logistics; develop databases and models to support trade analytics; and develop innovations that will lead to new logistics services and jobs. The first educational program, launched in November, is third-party logistics specialist LeanCor's Lean Supply Chain Professional Certificate program.

Dr. Dario Solis, former director of research and professor of mechanical and electrical engineering at Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, is the center's managing director.

For more information, visit www.panama.gatech.edu.