A delegation led by the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining, Carolina Cosse, and made up of more than 30 public and private institutions travelled to the United States this week to visit the headquarters of Google, Facebook and Apple. The objective: to position Uruguay as a technological port, to show how its energy and telecommunications matrix has changed, as well as to illustrate the implementation of government flagships such as the Ceibal and Ibirapitá plans and e-government.
The delegation is composed of representatives from Uruguay XXI, ANTEL, National Administration of Public Education (ANEP), University of the Republic (Udelar), Centre for Technical Professional Education (CETP-UTU), National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII), National Institute of Employment and Vocational Training (Inefop), Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technology (CUTI), Chamber of Digital Economy of Uruguay (CEDU), Scientific and Technological Park of Pando (PCTP) and the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay (LATU).
The delegation is completed by a group of entrepreneurs linked to the ICT industry who are being received by senior executives from leading companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Cisco, Deloitte, and renowned universities such as Stanford and Berkeley. The delegation will also visit 500 Startups in Silicon Valley, to learn first-hand about the acceleration programme for Uruguayan companies in that country. The agenda also includes meetings with PuenteLabs and Meltwater, among other companies.
"It is a delegation that makes me feel very proud of my country because they have a very large participation from the private software sector and also from the public sector, both from public companies and education," Cosse told Radio Sarandí.
The minister highlighted the fact that the entire delegation is in the "same boat". In a very extensive agenda, Cosse bets to "show what Uruguay is and the possibilities that exist to work in this area", to get to know each other better in order to "advance much more". "Uruguay has a software industry that is mature enough to come to Silicon Valley to showcase projects. What I am saying is strong," she stressed.
Apple's interest
For Cosse, it is important to make many more trips, not only to the United States but also to China, and that the businessmen who join these trips are changing. This Monday, she participated in a meeting with a large team from Apple.
The meeting aroused the firm's interest, which is why it will open up a space for future exchanges. "Companies like these are always looking for something interesting in Latin America and what they asked us is that they want to know more" about Uruguay, she said. "The truth is that I was happy, with work to do. We are going to continue this correspondence with Apple, making Uruguay better known," the minister added.
Source: The Observer
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