Today’s complex, dynamic, interconnected world presents the field of education (“Education 4.0”) with significant challenges in developing competencies for reasoning for complexity. This article analyzes complex thinking as a macro-competency with sub-competencies of critical, systemic, scientific, and innovative thinking in educational environments. We worked with the systematic literature review method, selecting 35 articles in the Scopus and Web of Science databases using keywords words of interest and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. Seven research questions guided the data analysis. The results highlighted that: (a) there are common characteristics of studies linking complex thinking, critical thinking, and creative thinking; (b) there is predominance of the qualitative method in the studies; (c) the critical thinking competency has been the most addressed in the research; (d) the predominant components of Education 4.0 are teaching methods and techniques; and (e) the three challenges that stand out for educational research are project feasibility, research opportunities, and required skills. This article is intended to be of value to academic and social communities and decision-makers interested in developing reasoning for complexity within the framework of Education 4.0.

The global challenges and problems that threaten sustainability and human well-being demand the provision of creative, innovative, and affordable solutions so that they are within the reach of different levels of society. From the point of view of Higher Education, this is a major challenge since it is responsible for training new generations with the competencies and knowledge that allow them to respond to contemporary challenges and problems. This study provides a framework to promote sustainable entrepreneurship through transdisciplinary and abductive thinking. This combination of approaches will allow students to identify, analyze, and understand contemporary problems and, through a systematized process based on the “design thinking” design model, propose creative, innovative, and affordable solutions that can be implemented through entrepreneurship mechanisms. The identified findings that will be presented in this work are (i) the relevance of the Education 4.0 model as a reference to promote transdisciplinarity in a current teaching-learning context, (ii) The relevance of “design for sustainable development” as a trigger for sustainable entrepreneurship, (iii) The formation of desirable competencies in the profile of the higher education student based on transdisciplinarity and abductive thinking within the active learning process, and (iv) quantitative and qualitative measurement that allows measuring acceptance and evaluation of the long-term sustainability of the solutions obtained. This work will present the implementation of the proposed framework through a case study. This case study allowed us to identify elements of the proposed reference framework. The case study will address the problem of water scarcity and pollution, describing initiatives to achieve ODS 6, where it explains how sustainable and visionary solutions can be forged through transdisciplinary collaboration and abductive thinking. The project named “STEAM-mural fountain” done by a transdisciplinary working team between academia-society-industry is described, which aims to make technological advances in water treatment and monitoring visible to society.

Entrepreneurial thinking is considered a desirable competency in the profile of today’s professionals because it includes sub-competencies that strengthen individuals’ leadership capacity and stimulate the development of creative solutions that present a high impact on society. However, it has been detected that disadvantaged communities located in areas with underdeveloped conditions and rural areas present a significant disparity in access to training models, current infrastructure, and activities that promote entrepreneurship compared to developed communities frequently found in large cities. Through a comparative analysis with quantitative methods, we seek to argue the need that these types of communities have. In addition, the design of a training model based on the design framework for Education 4.0 is presented; this training model seeks to train in the sub-competences of entrepreneurial thinking using the “push and pull” technique with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as its central axis. This seeks to close the existing gap, provide affordable resources to these types of disadvantaged communities, and, at the same time, promote local solutions through the SDGs. The study is conducted in the eastern region of Michoacán, Mexico, and will present the preliminary results.

Today, new teaching-learning models, methods, and programs are emerging to guarantee academic continuity in response to the current situation caused by the global health emergency (Covid-19). This work presents how the Flexible-Digital Model of Tecnologico de Monterrey University in Mexico was designed and implemented during this emergency in this institution. This work also addresses the relevant role that technology has taken during this situation, and the concept of Education 4.0 is offered as a framework to model the presented study. Finally, two case studies that were applied at the secondary education level are presented as an example of how higher education is supporting academic continuity at the secondary level.