The knowledge economy, a decisive step in promoting Argentina’s development

The knowledge economy in Argentina generates exports for $ 6.4 billion, surpassed only by the soybean complex and the automotive industry. Y employs 450,000 people. But today the exchange rate gap and macroeconomic instability are holding back what is one of the most dynamic of the national economy.

The School level It also became another topic of business concern. The next meeting of Democracy and development summoned by Clarionein which the founders of the great local unicorns, officials and specialists will analyze how to promote one of the sectors that has shown more dynamism in recent years.

This year, the Democracy and Development cycle is aiming for debate how to get Argentina back on track development. The first two meetings have already taken place. In the first, on May 17, the Foundations for growth, with one table focusing on the economy and another on the subject legal certainty. The second was on June 16 and dealt with the Human and physical capital, education and infrastructure necessary for development. This is the fourth edition of the Democracy and Development cycle.

This year’s focus is “The engines of Argentine growth “, and is sponsored by Panamericane Energy, Techint, Globant, Banco Macro and Telecom. The third talk of D&D 2022, called “Knowledge economy for development” will be held next Tuesday 12. Like the previous ones, it will be in the auditorium of the Malba Museum.

This Tuesday there will be a first titled table “The necessary framework”: the Head of Government of the City of Buenos Aires will participate in this debate, Horacio Rodriguez Larreta: the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Daniel Filmus; the Secretary for Strategic Affairs of the Presidency, Gustavo Beliz; the national deputy Luciano Laspina; and the president of Argenton, Sebastiano Mocorrea.

At the end of this month the current one expires biotechnology law. There is a new one in the management, which has already had half a sanction from the Deputies, but it will hardly be voted by the Senate before the expiry of the current one. The software law It was replaced during Mauricio Macri’s administration by a knowledge economy law, passed unanimously, but the current government refused to send another project to Congress, which was also sanctioned later. Today there are more than 1,000 companies marked for the benefits of both regulations. Regulatory stability, science promotion, educational quality will be the central parts of the first debate.

The second part of the meeting is dedicated to The protagonists of the sector. Argentina has already spawned 12 tech unicorns, companies worth more than $ 1 billion. The founders of some of the most important companies in the sector will participate in this segment: Martin Migoyafrom Global; alex oxford, from DeRemate, OLX, Alpha Capital and LetGo; Y Emiliano Kargiemannby Satellogic.

Also Juan Martin de la Sernapresident of Mercado Libre Argentina; Damien ScokinCEO of Take Off; Wanda Weigert, Executive Director of Globant Argentina, and Marcelo Carriquepresident of Bioceres.

This segment will discuss how Argentina can continue to be the birthplace of new unicorns, of companies that generate high value based on knowledge, software, biotechnology. But it will also concern the situation of companies, one of whose main challenges today is to generate and retain qualified personnel. On the one hand, the results of the training tests show a drop in the level of graduates, on which the competitiveness of the country is based when it comes to human resources. On the other hand, the exchange gap causes those same talents to constantly try to migrate to foreign companies: today a large Argentine company in the Knowledge Economy can have a turnover of up to a third of its staff per year.

The Democracy and Development cycle will continue with tables on other productive sectors that can boost the country’s growth through the generation of exports, foreign currency and employment: agriculture and food, oil and energy, mining and industry. These are areas in which the country has advantages and has shown its capacity for innovation. But they undoubtedly require macroeconomics, institutional settings and the quality of education as platforms to unfold their full potential and competitiveness.