Brazil vs. Mexico: Who Will be Latin America's Leader in Technology? Stephen Keppel - ABC-Univision
go to original June 25, 2013

Technology demonstration of augmented reality during the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour 2013 (Buda Mendes/Getty)

A global race is on to create the next Silicon Valley, and Latin America is rapidly embracing technology and innovation as it vies to be the epicenter of the next tech boom. The stakes aren’t trivial. It’s clear that the countries that can develop new ideas and technology will be the economic winners of the 21st century.

That’s why the Brazilian government, for instance, recently launched Startup Brazil, a business accelerator that aims to attract local and foreign talent to build tech companies in Brazil.

The program, which will provide entrepreneurs with up to $100,000 in grant money as well as office space and access to investors, is modeled after Startup Chile, the pioneering business accelerator launched by the Chilean government a few years ago.

Chile was the first Latin American country to focus on attracting startups and developing an ecosystem of innovators. Other countries in the region, like Colombia and Peru, have followed their lead.

Ideally Latin America will create a network of mini-hubs (the US has a handful of innovation centers like this including Seattle, Austin and Boston) that will help drive regional innovation. However, we are years, maybe decades, away from that happening. Someone will need to stand out and lead the pack.

So who will dominate the innovation game in Latin America?

Read the rest at ABC-Univision

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