In New York, the Government and technology companies promote Argentina as a global center for the knowledge industry

Based at the Argentine Consulate in Manhattan, the call takes place from Monday to Friday. “Argentina Tech Hub”, organized to boost the visibility of Argentina in innovation, taking advantage of the fact that the global protagonists of the sector are in the city.

“New York Tech Week is a giant, annual event. It is the great Technology Fair in the United States and the Government managed to have a local chapter,” he told Clarion Leandro Mora Alfonsín, president of Argencon, the chamber that brings together the main companies in the knowledge economy and who spoke on the first day of the event that began on Monday.

Throughout the week at the Consulate headquarters, in charge of Gerardo Díaz Bartolome, Talks, panels, conferences and networking events will be offered to facilitate connections between Argentines and founders, investors, accelerators, venture capital funds and local corporate innovation leaders. The idea is that representatives of large companies that are already in New York Go listen to what Argentina offers and find opportunities.

There will be conferences on Fintech, Artificial Intelligence, supply chain, creative industries, technology for security, health, agriculture, sports and entertainment and the potential of the “mini RIGI”, an incentive to attract medium-sized investments.

As a sign of the strategic importance of the initiative for the country, Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno officially launched it at the San Martín Palace on May 21. For the Government, the Knowledge Economy is one of the central pillars of the economic diplomacy strategy and international repositioning.

In addition to Argencon, the Chamber of the software industry (CESSI), the Chamber of Fintech companies and the Argentine Association of Private Capital, Entrepreneurship and Seed (ARCAP) and Carolina Bustos, Director of Export Promotion of Knowledge-Based Services, Creative Industries, Tourism and Sports of the Foreign Ministry, participate.

One of the first panels was to explain why Argentina aspires to become a “global hub” of the knowledge economy. Mora pointed to Clarion that Argentina occupies 23rd place in the world in knowledge economy and first in the region, cThere are exports in the sector for about 9.7 billion dollars annually.

“It is a new sector, which did not exist 25 years ago and today it is the third export complex in the country”he stated. He explained that “64% are professional services, accountants and lawyers,” and stated that firms such as JP Morgan, EY, PWC, Chevron, Exxon and others have their service headquarters in Argentina. ““We have more than 100 service centers and that implies more than 80,000 jobs”he points out. In total, the sector employs 348,000 people, equivalent to 7% of the economically active population, says Mora.

The sector is expanding, beyond the fluctuations in the exchange rate. “There is enormous demand, the global economy and knowledge market it’s 4 trillion dollars and we only export 9.7 billion”, meaning there are great opportunities.

The sector brings together more than 9,000 companies in Argentina linked to software, fintech, biotechnology, professional services, creative industries and emerging technologies. In the last two years, exports of knowledge-based services grew by 18%, the Foreign Ministry stated.

The advantages that Argentina offers is that it is the country with the greatest knowledge of English on the continent, there are high-quality professionals, cultural affinity and a time zone similar to that of the United States. They also point out the tax facilities for those who want to invest in this industry that encourages the Knowledge Economy Law of 2019 and the so-called “mini RIGI”.

“Our goal is that in 5 years we will reach 15.1 billion dollars in exports”says Mora. And he risks even more: that in 10 years they will reach 30,000 million. “The same thing that is exported in soybeans is exported in services, taking advantage of the fact that the demand is infinite.”

Companies such as Beyond, Pyplan, Servipro, Purple Atlas, Globant, Beaufest, Aconcagua Software Firm (ASF), Khem Labs, Pines, Futboltalent.pro, Odaclick Game Studio, Media Party, Lemon, N5, Persea Ventures, Kamay, Conexa, Ripio, CLO, Bind psp, Wootic First will participate in the days Flight, DeepAgro, Innventure, BAC, Draper, Exomindset, Vortex, Squad, Tangonet, Quadion, Gosys, Avenga, LeanMote, WillDom, Southern Code, Bale, Loop, Nodus, Glocal, Ekoparty, Agriconsult Latam, Anden Tech, Avedian and Open Food Chain.