Mexico, a bridge for innovation?

In Mexico, interesting things are happening. Soon, we will hear about major success stories of technology-based companies generating significant wealth.

In 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $22 billion with a team of only 55 people. That same year, Honduras, with a population of 7.9 million, had a GDP of $19.3 billion. Additionally, according to the renowned investor Carl Icahn, in 2015, Apple was valued at $1.3 trillion, with approximately 110,000 employees. In 2014, Mexico's GDP was $1.2 trillion, with a population of around 125.4 million.

While such comparisons between a country's production and a company's market value may only serve as a reference, they indicate how there is now a new group of companies with small teams utilizing technology, generating an enormous amount of value equivalent to entire countries. According to Dominic Barton, global CEO of McKinsey, "Technology companies are the new oil," suggesting that in the coming years, technology companies will take the lead in the global economy, surpassing those in the oil industry. For Mexico, this is particularly interesting, given that the largest company in our country is Pemex (Mexican Petroleum). However, with the constant decline in oil prices, it seems that the era of managing oil wealth is coming to an end, and it is time to innovate as a nation.

This is where both national and foreign entrepreneurs become key players, seeking opportunities in our country, leveraging the competitive advantage we have as an innovation bridge to sell to the world, given our extensive trade agreements and privileged geographical location. Though there is still much ground to cover, our country has seen the emergence of very interesting events such as Switch, the first acceleration festival in Latin America, held in San Miguel de Allende. This event hosted guests from 15 nations, including investors, mentors, and speakers like Steve Cardigan, Vice President of Talent at LinkedIn.

Events like Switch aim to solidify Mexico as an innovation bridge, allowing some of the most interesting Mexican startups to pitch to both national and foreign investors, as well as attracting startups from various parts of the world, primarily from Latin America. During this festival, prizes worth $800,000 were awarded, bringing together key players such as incubators, accelerators, successful entrepreneurs, developer communities, and government officials.

Moreover, on January 14th, 2016, our country hosted the Latin American finals of the "The Challenge Cup" competition by the Washington-based accelerator 1776. This competition featured some of the most attractive startups in Latin America aiming to address issues in areas such as food, health, energy, sustainability, fintech, and smart cities. These companies competed for a chance to advance to the global finals in Washington and the opportunity to receive investment.

Events like Switch, Challenge Cup, among others, demonstrate that Mexico's competitive advantage in the digital age could lie in serving as an innovation bridge to sell to the United States, Latin America, or any part of the world. And while there is still much to be done to achieve huge success stories like WhatsApp or a company like Apple, it is evident that interesting developments are taking place in Mexico, and soon we will hear about major success stories of technology-based companies generating significant wealth.