Knowledge Economy: Entrepreneurs warn Argentina is missing the train

This Tuesday took place the fourth edition of Democracy and Development, the cycle of seven meetings that Clarione organizes to discuss consensus that allow to recover a sustained growth, that this increases exports and supports the domestic market. The debates also reflect Argentina’s position in the world. And this last chapter focused on the Knowledge Economy for Development.

With in previous and upcoming meetings, officials, leaders, businessmen and personalities met in the auditorium of the Museum of Latin American Art (MALBA)

In the first panel this Tuesday were present the head of the government of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, and the secretary for foreign affairs of the Presidency, Gustavo Béliz; the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Daniel Filmus; the national deputy Luciano Laspina; and the president of Argencon, Sebastián Mocorrea.

Two other panels followed, with the managers of the main unicorns born in this country, which however, due to the conditions that prevail here, operate more abroad, making Colombia, Mexico and Brazil in more attractive and reliable places.

“There is a lot of potential, but we have to accept that it is an area that has the handbrake on. The macro context does not help at all due to very high inflation, labor legislation, stocks of securities, everything that stands in the way “, launched Rodríguez Larreta who was the last to talk about the final round but did it with a candidate footprint in which he got up, walked, talked to the audience as if he were looking for direct communication, made jokes about football and then he took the microphone from a lectern specially mounted on the stage of a speech conducted by the editor-in-chief of Clarione Daniel Fernández Canedo and TN journalist Carolina Amoroso.

The second segment was attended by Martín Migoya, of Globant; Alex Oxenford of DeRemate, OLX, Alpha Capital and LetGo; and Emiliano Kargieman, of Satellogic. In addition, Juan Martín de la Serna, president of Mercado Libre Argentina; Damián Scokin, CEO of Despegar; Wanda Weigert, Executive Director of Globant Argentina, and Marcelo Carrique, President of Bioceres. It is moderated by the editor of Clarione Silvia Naishtat with Amoroso.

The knowledge economy is the same as entrepreneurs generates exports of US $ 6,400 to Argentina. They are second only to the soybean complex and the automotive industry. It employs 450,000 people. But it is known that the exchange rate gap and macroeconomic instability are holding back what is one of the most dynamic sectors of the national economy.

Suffice it to mention two examples. One of the Globants who in 2014 accounted for 70 percent of the so-called “Argentine talent” and today that percentage has been reduced to 20 percent. On the contrary, Colombia has managed to maintain stability for 20 years. Another example is that offered by de la Serna, of the Mercado Libre. He said he had to to the blocks of their warehouses by the Moyano truck drivers has decided to leave only one of its fields in Argentina while in Brazil it already has nine and in Mexico it has six, in addition to planes to speed up the transfer times of goods.

After a while it would be Filmus who, after making his presentation, wanted to respond to the mayor of Buenos Aires. “It is not true that the professionals are leaving now and not in the previous four years”, he told him because Rodríguez Larreta had also turned that the young people who have the talent were leaving. “Let’s go to Ezeiza and see hordes of young people leave. Today we block the sun with our hands “, held. And also that there is a brake because “thousands of Argentines who work on their own and could export their talent, today do it almost secretly for fear that the government will confiscate their jobs, through the exchange gap and high taxes.

“We are proposing greater investments in science and technology. With the productive sectors we are working on ten key points for 2030,” said Filmus, who also asked for a long-term look and asked the opposition to accompany the project to Congress so that it is approved unanimously.

“Do not doubt that our block will look at it with the best will. Now we must make a commitment that after fixing them we will keep them over time. The rule is as important as its continuity”, concluded Larreta.

Laspina had one of the coincidences that, in the context of the differences of this Tuesday morning: The importance of education and the deterioration of education levels in Argentina. But she also warned: “It is very difficult for any industry to innovate in a volatile and uncertain environment like that of Argentina,” Laspina said.

“The reason Argentina suffers from this volatility is because it doesn’t have a huge consensus.” And he exemplified: “I can mention the fiscal balance, the independence of the Central Bank, the integration in the world”. A contradiction between the micro and the macro. I urge you to broaden the debate on state policies to include the major themes of Argentina’s long-term development “, she noted.

Meanwhile, Beliz talked about the reflection of the consensus on some of the initiatives carried out within the Economic and Social Council and his management in international finance as part of his duties in the Executive, where he marked the “enormous opportunities” that are generated for the country.

listed on food security, based on the scenario generated by the post-pandemic and the war in Ukraine; energy security, where he stressed the need to deepen Vaca Muerta’s resources and expand the matrix by incorporating knowledge; and a social inclusion of working class neighborhoods, based on a digital approach.

Democracia y Desarrollo is sponsored by Pan American Energy, Techint, Globant, Banco Macro and Telecom. The third D&D talk, entitled “Knowledge economy for development”, will be held this Tuesday in the auditorium of the Malba Museum.