tandil it has become the “Silicon Valley” of Argentina, as far as the Knowledge Economy is concerned. And it wasn’t long after that. A few years ago, the number of companies based in that area that were related to technology were incipient. However, for some time now, everything exploded. To the point of turning it into a kind of “model” that could be replicated in another 100 cities in Argentina.
“16 years ago, tandil counted only with 15 companies and no more than 300 people working in the local technology market. Today there are more than 2000 professionals HE, in some 60 companies and more than 1,100 students enrolled to start their first year of Exact Sciences, this being a historical record,” he says. Wanda WeigertExecutive Director for Argentina and Chief Brand Officer of globant.
Argentina grows as an exporter of “knowledge economy”
This company was the one that allowed the development of the knowledge industry in that Buenos Aires city, turning it into a the third most specialized in software in the entire country, only behind CABA and Vicente López. AND into a role model.
“When I needed to disembark in Tandil, we did it with the strong conviction of developing the knowledge industry and decentralizing employment opportunities. The technological sector is the great bridge that Argentina has to be a world reference; reduce the social gap with quality, inclusive and federal employment”he claimed Martin Migoya, CEO and co-founder of Globant.
That is why Tandil has become a case of interest, since with only 150,000 inhabitants, changed to develop one of the most dynamic ecosystems of the knowledge economy in the country.
The key to success
from Argenconthe chamber that brings together the companies in this industry, assured PERFIL that the fundamental condition for this to happen was the close cooperation between the private sector, the public sector and academia.
“The joint work of these three actors to achieve common goals has been key to success,” he said. romina gayaconsultant specialized in knowledge economy.
Its benefits
By driving the innovation and technological development the knowledge economy it has spawned important fields such as medicine, information technology, and sustainable energy.
In addition, it is closely linked to greater productivity: The access and efficient application of knowledge allow Optimize production and management processes.
Sujarchuk and the win-win combo of the knowledge economy: “It generates foreign currency, employment and is federal”
Another notable aspect is the high-quality job creation. Knowledge-based job sectors offer well-paid jobs with good conditions, attracting highly-skilled people and encouraging continuing education and training.
It also drives the internationalization and globalization of economic activities.
Thanks to information and communication technologies, companies can access international markets, collaborate with partners in different countries, and tap into talent and resources from around the world. This creates business opportunities without borders and increases competitiveness in the global arena.
Argentina’s opportunity
The knowledge industry stands out among the most dynamic sectors of the world economy and everything indicates that it will continue to be so for the next few years.
“Argentina has been a net exporter of knowledge-based services (KBS) since 2005,” Gayá said in dialogue with PERFIL.
In this regard, he explained that exports of the item reached in 2022 the US$7,834 millionwhich meant a growth of 19.4% compared to 2021, and represented a new annual record.
Likewise, the country positioned itself as the second at the regional level with the highest level of exports of this type, behind Brazil, and the number 38 worldwide, according to the figures of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Argentina grows as an exporter of “knowledge economy”
Regarding employment, currently, there are more than 480,000 jobs formal private sector and wages are higher than in the rest of the economy.
“Most SBCs do not require large investments in physical capital, so they can be carried out in any place where there is access to qualified human capital and connectivity”, Gayá operated. And he added: “This is key in countries with a territory as extensive as Argentina,” said Gayá.
In this sense, the Network of ICT Poles and Clusters brings together 23 entities present in 13 provinces. Some are in the main cities, such as CABA, Córdoba and Rosario; but there are also several in smaller towns such as Tandil.
Regarding the latter and according to data from the Chamber of Companies of the Tandil Information Center (CEPIT), there are more than 50 software companies that have a monthly billing of $6.7 million.
Besides, the sector employs 1,700 people -mostly young– whose salaries are between US$ 2,000 and 2,300 and approximately 150 new jobs are created each month.
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Replicating the model: the next 100 knowledge cities
Argencon made a report in which he analyzed which localities could become is the next cities of knowledge,
“We take as a basis the demographic parameters of tandil before the development of the ecosystem and we identified 107 ‘medium’ localities. Based on this, we examined the presence of a series of basic conditions to define the situation in which these departments are for the emergence and/or consolidation of knowledge economy activities”, explained Gayá, who was in charge of the study.
“In particular, We focused on the availability of face-to-face university and/or tertiary education offers related to computer software and services and in the quality of connectivity”, he stated. This will allow them to classify the locations into four groups.
What are the four groups in which they classified the localities
1) The first one includes the 19 best positioned districts, that is, those who have university and tertiary education or only university education and high-very high or medium-high connectivity.
These belong to departments
- Buenos Aires (La Costa, Campana, Junín, Necochea, Luján, Pergamino),
- the NOA (Capital in Catamarca, Ledesma in Jujuy, Capital and Chilecito in La Rioja),
- Patagonia (Rawson in Chubut, Maracó in La Pampa, Deseado in Santa Cruz and Río Grande and Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego),
- Central Region (General San Martín in Córdoba and Diamante and Uruguay in Entre Ríos) and
- the NEA (Comandante Fernández in Chaco). In several of them there are already SBC ecosystems with different levels of development.
2) The second group comprises 32 departments offering higher education and medium connectivity, or with tertiary offer and medium-high or high-very high connection quality. These towns could make better use of their potential through improvements in connectivity, or through the introduction of university training offers.
3) The third unites 4 departments where there is specialized training but connectivity is medium-lowwhich makes evident the need to increase investment in infrastructure to improve this indicator.
4) There is a fourth group of 52 departments that have low connectivity and/or do not have specialized higher education. In 30 of them, the lack of technological educational offer could be compensated with virtual training since there are good levels of connectivity, but in the rest greater efforts are required to develop the SBC.
In short, the Argencon study shows that in Argentina there are locations with the potential to take advantage of the many benefits offered by the knowledge economy.
However, and as Gayá commented to PROFILE, “for that action is required designed to improve connectivity, strengthen and expand specialized training, promote greater links between the private, public and academia sectors and, of course, to create a good business environment”.
LR
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