Entry Date:
February 5, 2008

Center for Latin-American Logistics Innovation (CLLI)

Principal Investigator Yossi Sheffi

Project Start Date March 2008

Project End Date
 February 2018


In 2008, the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and the logistics education and GS1 firm LOGyCA, signed a multi-year agreement to create the Center for Latin-American Logistics Innovation (CLI) as part of the MIT Global SCALE Network of supply chain research centers. Through this partnership, the MIT Global SCALE Network has developed a vibrant academic and research network throughout Latin America.

Innovative Educational Programs

The SCALE Latin America flagship student program is the Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management (GCLOG), the most extensive non-formal education program of its kind in Latin America.

The GCLOG program started in July 2009. Presented by MIT CTL faculty, the program’s overarching goal is to train aspiring logistics and supply chain professionals in the region. Top-performing students, who are attending specialization or master-level programs in logistics, business management, and industrial engineering, or similar programs in universities throughout Latin America are eligible for the program. Through 2013, the GCLOG program has graduated four cadres that include 66 students from 19 universities in eight countries in the region (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru & Mexico). The 2014 class of the GCLOG program, the largest to date, includes 39 students selected from 94 applicants from 17 universities in six countries in Latin America. Learn more about the GCLOG program here.

Other educational accomplishments include:
(*) Completed six open enrollment and executive education events reaching close to 1,000 professionals in Colombia and Brazil
(*) CLI hosted five MIT students in Colombia to support active research projects in diverse topics of logistics and supply chain management including sustainability

MIT CTL and CLI have cultivated deep relationships with 27 top Latin American universities. The SCALE Network is using this network to provide opportunities for academics from the region to improve teaching methods and program content in the supply chain field at their local universities. This is achieved through a series of English-language academic workshops that take place annually at various venues in the region. The vision is to make these events pre-eminent conferences where research ideas and educational experiences further develop logistics and supply chain management faculty across the region.

Through 2012, MIT CTL and CLI have hosted seven workshops with faculty from 27 academic partners in Latin America. Workshop locations include Cambridge, Colombia, Brazil, Panama, Chile and Ecuador. These workshops aim at strengthening the educational programs of the local universities as well as jump-start collaborative research projects in the region. Over 100 faculty members from the region have participated in these events. The Fall 2012 workshop, hosted in Quito, Ecuador, brought together 28 academics from 17 different institutions across nine Latin-American countries. The Fall 2013 workshop will be hosted in Lima, Peru.

MIT CTL has also hosted faculty and advanced graduate students from Latin-America for three-to-nine month research stays. In the past five years, seven faculty from Colombia (2), Chile (2), Panama (1), Ecuador (1) and México (2) have taken advantage of this program. All these stays have resulted in joint research projects and collaboration in the region in the region.