Human capital is the decisive variable.
IYEN coordinates the Iberoamerican academic response: a consortium of universities from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal working across research, instruction, and outreach on the transformation of entry-level work.
The Inter-American Development Bank's prospective scenarios for 2030 indicate that adaptive integration of artificial intelligence in Latin America requires sustained productivity growth above 1.5% annually — a threshold currently out of reach. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has documented a decade of stagnant regional productivity through its 2025 Latin American Artificial Intelligence Index. The OECD, the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), and ECLAC have jointly called for an urgent reformulation of regional productive and educational policy.
This regional condition compounds a global transition. The World Economic Forum projects 92 million roles displaced and 170 million created by 2030 — a net gain that conceals an asymmetric impact. Empirical research by Erik Brynjolfsson and corroborating studies show that generative artificial intelligence does not strike the labor force uniformly: it impacts hardest the young worker entering through entry-level positions, where codified knowledge — the very content of credentialed graduates — is most readily absorbed by algorithmic systems. The traditional gateway from university to professional career is contracting in real time. The International Labour Organization, in its 2025 update on generative AI, frames this transition as a question of social justice and decent work.
Read the Full Diagnosis →A coordinated research agenda on the impact of artificial intelligence on Iberoamerican youth employability. Researchers from partner universities contribute to peer-reviewed working papers, joint publications, and a shared empirical infrastructure. The network addresses a documented gap: most current evidence on AI and entry-level labor originates in the United States and Europe, not in Iberoamerica.
The network designs and delivers academic programming on the transformation of entry-level work. Faculty ambassadors from each partner university lead instruction; the curriculum is co-designed by the IYEN Academic Council and transferable to partner institutions in their home programs. The Madrid 2027 immersion is the network's inaugural manifestation of this mandate.
The Iberoamerican Forum on Talent and Employability is the network's principal vehicle for institutional outreach. A formal academic convening with peer-reviewed proceedings and a published annual journal, distributed actively to partner institutions, reference libraries, and corporate and policy actors across Iberoamerica and the European Union.
Madrid 2027 is not a fourth pillar but the network's inaugural materialization of its three missions. A six-week experience that combines instruction with leading academic and industry references, applied research through professional engagement with real challenges, and scholarly outreach through the Iberoamerican Forum. One program, three dimensions, working together.
Two weeks of intensive formation in Madrid with leading academic scholars and senior industry references on the transformation of entry-level work. A curriculum designed for undergraduates of every discipline — because the reconfiguration of work is not a problem of one career, but a condition that crosses all of them.
Four weeks of structured corporate placement in Madrid at organizations active in the very sectors being reshaped by artificial intelligence. Students work on substantive business problems and produce a final evaluation report — applied research as a vehicle for forming professional capital and for documenting the real edges of the transformation.
The convening space where the network's research circulates. A formal academic event with peer-reviewed sessions, presentations of student and faculty work, and the consolidation of an Iberoamerican community of researchers engaged with the future of work. The Forum publishes an annual journal that becomes the network's principal scholarly output.
Submitted papers, blind review, formal panels, and published proceedings. The Forum is constituted as a working academic event with verifiable scholarly output.
An annual journal synthesizing the network's findings on youth employability, human capital formation, and the impact of artificial intelligence. Distributed to partner institutions, reference libraries, and policy actors across the European Union and Latin America.
Partner universities are formally credited in the Forum program, the published proceedings, and the network's annual research index — a citable academic output that contributes to institutional rankings and faculty evaluations.
During 2026, IYEN is being formally constituted in coordination with prospective partner institutions across Latin America, Spain, and Portugal. The network is governed by two bodies: the Executive Secretariat, which directs operational coordination and external representation; and the Academic Council, the network's principal scholarly authority — composed of representatives designated by each partner university of the consortium.
This dual structure reflects a deliberate institutional choice. The Executive Secretariat ensures continuity, agility, and clear accountability; the Academic Council guarantees that every strategic, curricular, and editorial decision rests on the collective scholarly judgment of the partner universities themselves. The founding cohort, the inaugural research agenda, and the first journal volume will be announced upon formal constitution of the network.
Universities interested in joining the founding cohort are invited to contact the Executive Secretariat. Detailed institutional information is available to prospective partners on request.
For inquiries regarding institutional partnership, research collaboration, or program participation, please contact the IYEN Executive Secretariat. Inquiries are reviewed by the network's directors and routed to the appropriate working body.
Or use the institutional form on the right for a formal inquiry routed to the appropriate working body of the network.