Jalisco Is Building Mexico's Very Own Silicon Valley Sonia Corona - El Pais
go to original March 14, 2017

Kueski, a startup in Guadalajara (Karlo Reyes)

“Guadalajara is closer to San Francisco than New York is,” says Eliazar Parra, a 32-year-old freelance computer programmer who works for clients such as AT&T and Facebook, explaining the US technology industry’s growing interest in the city of 1.5 million in the western state of Jalisco.

After being deported from Silicon Valley in 2008 when her visa ran out, Parra says she has no intention of returning to the United States: “Life here is very good,” she says. Like Parra, hundreds of young Mexican engineers, developers, mathematicians and computer programmers have found a thriving ecosystem in Guadalajara.

Over the last three decades, Jalisco has emerged as a center for research and development in highly specialized technologies, some of it carried out by large corporations, others by garage-based startups, and is now the country’s leading technology node, attracting growing numbers of people unable or unwilling to try their luck in an increasingly anti-migration United States.

“Mexico has a policy of attracting talent, inviting people from other countries that can add value to the industry, something that is very difficult in the United States right now,” says Raúl Martín, head of technology headhunters Campus Party Mexico, which moved to Guadalajara four years ago, finding there a rich source of engineers and computer scientists. Martín says that the city has found its vocation and that the current situation is providing opportunities for global players.

“It is possible to divide a company: research and development can be located here, with the financial and sales division in Silicon Valley. We have to create hybrid models to allow companies to take advantage of Jalisco,” he argues.

Over the last decade, Mexico’s Silicon Valley has attracted 15 large corporations, mainly from the United States. There are also some 600 small and medium-sized companies, many of them start-ups that export 70% of their materials and content. Firms such as Oracle, HP, Motorola and IBM have found a second home in Jalisco. The state government says that companies are attracted by local talent and world-class infrastructure in Guadalajara and its environs.

...A Mexican computer engineer can easily earn $6,000 a month, allowing for a very good standard of living. If growth rates continue, the state government wants to develop a technology corridor along the 160 km from Guadalajara down to the coast at Puerto Vallarta.

Read the rest at El Pais | En Español

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