Sebastián Mocorrea: “I don’t know anyone who is against the knowledge economy”

Sebastiano Mocorreapresident of Argencon, he participated in a panel of the Democracy and Development cycle of Clarione oriented to knowledge economyin which he talked about the challenges of the sector.

“I don’t know anyone who is against the knowledge economy. We have had important agreements but also many ups and downs. And one wonders: Is there clarity about what we want to promote?“, Launched the representative of companies.

According to their data, the country today exports approximately $ 6,400 million in services, although he estimates that there are another 1,800 million more that are not registered. If you count them, it would be the “third sector of exports”.

But he argued that it could be even higher. “A country like Polandsimilar to ours, exports 32 billion dollars, six times more. Romania exports 15 billion. Imagine it in jobs, in dollar income. Currencies will cease to be a problemMocorrea said.

At the same time, he listed the problems facing the industry. “We need long-term policies, for this activity the world is not an enemy. The gap is a problem. It is a sector that does not need subsidies, it needs them level the field with the outside. And you finally need people, talented in education“, he has declared.

It also listed the setbacks the industry has experienced, such as the imposition of export duties on knowledge services or the regulation of digital service companies as a public service during the pandemic.

Mocorrea participated in the round table entitled “The necessary framework, together with the Head of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta; the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Daniel Filmus; the Secretary for Strategic Affairs of the Presidency, Gustavo Beliz; and the national deputy Luciano Laspina.

Mocorrea is president of Argencon, a chamber created in 2020 to contain the main companies of the knowledge economy and generate the conditions that favor the “formation of digital talent”.

“There is a shared vision of the potential of the knowledge economy with almost the entire spectrum,” he said in a recent interview. In his vision, him could “double the amount of work” that the country has in the coming years.

Previously, he was YPF’s Executive Vice President for Corporate Affairs, between 2016 and 2020, and regional director of IBM, where he spent nearly 17 years in executive positions in Europe, the United States and Latin America. He is a lawyer and has a degree in political science.

Democracy and Development, a cycle to think about the country

The knowledge economy generates exports of 6,400 million dollars to Argentina, surpassed only by the soybean complex and the automotive industry. And it employs 450,000 people. But today the exchange rate gap and macroeconomic instability are holding back what is one of the most dynamic sectors of the national economy.

The Democracy and Development cycle it will continue with the tables on the other productive sectors that can drive the country’s growth through the generation of exports, foreign exchange 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.