innovative - Fundación México-Estados Unidos para la Ciencia

Annual
Activities
Report
2012
© 2013 The United States-Mexico
Foundation for Science
Fundación México-Estados Unidos
para la Ciencia
San Francisco 1626 - 205,
Colonia Del Valle, 03100, México, D.F.
Printed and made in Mexico
www.fumec.org
Editorial Coordination: Rosario Taracena
Editorial Assistance: Stephany Hernández, Yamania Olivé and Jessica Borth
Design: Dinorah Mosqueda
Index
Board of Governors
4
Origins of FUMEC
5
Letter from the Chairman of the Board of Governors
6
Letter from the Immediate Past Chairman of the Board of Governors
7
Letter from the CEO
8
Innovation Based Economic Development
10
FUMEC and its support programs for technology SMEs11
Promoting innovative health technology companies
- Elemental Clinical Research: clinical research for a growing market
- CECYPE: clinical research for the global pharmaceutical industry
Supporting the growth of Mexican IT companies
- CloudSourceIT: a 100% mobile world
17
18
21
23
24
- Imagination Films: 3D dreams that become a reality27
Promoting the development of processed food SMEs
28
- Grupo Jaztea: natural fresh tea, from Sinaloa to the world
30
- Avideg de México: the unmistakable flavor of Mexican food33
Opening opportunities for advanced manufacturing firms
35
- Industrias Automotrices RC: innovative, but still traditional37
- Intercovamex: high vacuum equipment with very high added value40
Colombia looks to FUMEC programs to accelerate technology SMEs
41
Advanced Market-Oriented Research
- I/UCRC: A role model for academia-industry liaison in Mexico
Development of Human Resources in Science and Technology
43
45
- CECyTEQ: shaping competitive talent for the knowledge economy46
- Veracruz: children and young people building quality scientific education48
- Motorola and Intel: companies committed to science education
50
Health and Environment
- FUMEC supports U.S.-Mexico collaboration in
epidemiological surveillance
52
- Encouraging entrepreneurs in low-income communities
54
Strengthening our collaboration with Canada
56
58
59
60
- Directory
- Our Offices
- Financial Information
Board of
Governors
Warren J. Baker
Chairman
President Emeritus of the
California Polytechnic State
University
Juan Silanes
Vice-Chairman
President of the Bioclon Institute
Francisco Barnés de Castro
Immediate Past Chair
Commissioner of the Energy
Regulatory Commission
Karl Rüggeberg
Treasurer
Executive Director at
Chatsworth Securities LLC
Thomas Bowles
Executive Director at New
Mexico Computing Applications
Center
José Luis Fernández Zayas
Researcher at UNAM’s
Engineering Institute
William Harris
CEO of Science Foundation
Arizona
Silvia Hernández
President-Associate of Public
Strategy Consultants
Cristina Loyo Varela
General Director of the National
Laboratory on Advanced
Computer Science
Nestor Montoya
Advisor at the financial services
company TIAA-CREF
Bernard Robertson
Senior Vice President at
DaimlerChrysler Corp.
Leopoldo Rodríguez
Adviser and Partner of various
enterprises
Cipriano Santos
Senior Scientist at
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
Mary Walshok
Associate Vice Chancellor for
Public Programs at the University
of California, San Diego
Misael Uribe Esquivel
CEO at Médica Sur hospital
Guillermo Fernández
Secretary of the Board
CEO of FUMEC
Santiago Levy
Vice-President for Sectors
and Knowledge at the InterAmerican Development Bank
5
Origins of
FUMEC
“I believe that our countries have a shared path
and scientific cooperation is part of it.”
Congressman George E. Brown Jr.
The United States-Mexico Foundation for Science (FUMEC) is a nongovernmental organization created during
the preparatory proceedings for signing the North American Free Trade Agreement, based on a binational accord
with the aim of promoting and assisting collaboration in
science and technology between the two countries.
U.S. Congressman George E. Brown, Jr. played a key role
in forming and consolidating FUMEC. As President of the
Science and Technology Committee of the U.S. House of
Representatives, Brown defended the need to strengthen
binational exchange in these fields and his lobbying in the
United States achieved the integration of an initial endowment for FUMEC of close to 11 million U.S. Dollars,
which was an exceptional grant in assistance awarded to
a nongovernmental organization by the U.S. Government.
Congressman Brown was an untiring promoter of
science and technology. After his death in 1999, he left
an impor tant legacy of enhancements to science and
6
technology programs in the United States, standing out
collaboration with other countries in this field.
Two important players in establishing FUMEC were
the scientific advisors of the Presidents of both countries,
Guillermo Soberón Acevedo in Mexico and Alan Bromley
in the United States, who were in charge of organizing
work groups and ensuring that a commitment to create
the Foundation was reached by both governments, which
was formally established as an organization with legal status
in both countries since 1993.
The United States-Mexico Foundation for Science,
continuing with the spirit of collaboration that distinguished
the work of Congressman George E. Brown, Jr., is seeking
to become an entity that brings together binational efforts
by identifying opportunities, creating synergies, integrating
programs with objectives of binational interest, and searching
for results in the fields that it is working.
Letter from the Chairman of
the Board of Governors
The Foundation has been expanding and consolidating its role as
a catalyst for collaboration between the United States and Mexico
in science, technology and innovation in an
effort to help solve important problems that are of
interest to the two countries.
To this effect, it is very important to have available scientific
and technological training that allows all those involved to
be better prepared to contribute to finding solutions to
the greatest challenges faced by our countries. One of the
most pressing issues regarding competitiveness is undoubtedly improving education in regards to science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM education).
FUMEC understands that to achieve this goal it is
essential to work as a team and continue to generate
partnerships between academia, industry, government and
civil organizations.
Improving STEM education has been a major goal of the
United States and holds the highest priority within President
Barack Obama’s administration. As a result, great impetus
has been given to these activities and programs related to
them are being improved and expanded. Studies of STEM
education programs have shown that they promote the
development of critical and independent thinking skills,
teamwork and problem solving skills.These are all essential in
order for individuals to have more opportunities and make
greater contributions to the development and application
of scientific and technological advances.
In the last ten years FUMEC has promoted collaboration between the two countries in STEM education, and
in Mexico it has facilitated the use of experiential and
investigative basic level science education systems. This
has been done through Innovation on Science Education
(INNOVEC as abbreviated in Spanish).
INNOVEC has used the experience of institutions such
as the Smithsonian Institution Science Education Center
and other institutions in the United States and has drawn
on the experience of countries like France, Argentina and
Brazil, to name just a few. In the last decade, INNOVEC
has trained more than 30,000 teachers in 12 Mexican
states, now benefitting 425,000 students annually. The results obtained by this program have led to the backing of
federal and state authorities, as well as additional support
from companies such as Motorola Solutions Mexico, Dow
Chemical and Intel.
FUMEC has also supported collaboration between the
two countries in STEM education at the college level, through
the Engineering Basics program in High School Education
with the College of Science and Technology in the State
of Queretaro (CECYTEQ as abbreviated in Spanish). The
experiences of the South Texas Science Academy with
programs such as Project Lead the Way (PLTW), and the
University of California with its Mathematics Engineering
and Science Achievement program (MESA), have been
taken advantage of.This program has been very successful
and is now an excellent reference for FUMEC activities.
Throughout 2012 the Foundation opened new opportunities for collaboration between the two countries
in STEM education at the university level.The groundwork
for collaboration between CONACYT and the National
Science Foundation in an effort to promote collaborative
academia-industry cooperation was laid, creating partnerships with long-term vision.
I am very pleased to be part of the efforts of an organization such as FUMEC, which has the vision and commitment needed to propose solutions that allow us to move
steadily toward greater development and prosperity in our
countries. Its programs in education, innovative business
support and industry and health applied research show
this to be true.
Sincerely,
Warren Baker
President of the FUMEC Board of Governors
7
Letter from the Immediate Past
Chairman of the Board of Governors
In May of 2012 in Washington, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of FUMEC
in the United States. The Foundation was honored to have the participation of
many distinguished guests such as John Holdren, Advisor to President
Barack Obama on Science and Technology; Arturo Sarukhán, Mexican
Ambassador to the United States; Mario Molina, Nobel Laureate
in Chemistry and Martha Brown, widow of Congressman
George Brown, who was a key figure in the creation of FUMEC.
At the celebration, these individuals affirmed their support for the initiatives and projects of the Foundation and
recognized FUMEC as an organization that contributes
to the implementation of solutions and the creation of
opportunities for development in North America.
Throughout its history, FUMEC has been known for
being flexible and creative and for translating global experiences into actions and programs that promote social
and economic growth locally, nationally and internationally.
This role as an articulator of efforts has allowed FUMEC to
identify the interests and meet the needs of today’s knowledge economy, and to be a pioneer in developing initiatives
that both countries need to become more competitive.
The experience gained over the last 20 years has resulted
in programs that support successful technology companies
by taking advantage of the best experiences of programs
in the United States and Canada, to allow these companies
to grow and become sustainable in a highly changing and
competitive global market.
Thanks to the support of FUMEC and the TechPYME
program, hundreds of Mexican companies have been able
to identify existing market opportunities, and refocus their
business plans to take advantage of these opportunities.
Also, more mature companies have received very high level
business advising from the TechBA acceleration program
and as a result, have discovered new business openings in
global markets.
The effectiveness and robustness of the Foundation is
now recognized by many public and private actors due to
the impressive results achieved by their programs. After
20 years of work, FUMEC is certainly a major player in
8
science, technology and innovation in both Mexico and
the United States, and even in countries like Canada, who
see the Foundation as an ally for increasing collaboration
among North American countries.
This report details the progress achieved by FUMEC
during 2012 and recognizes the Foundation’s great efforts
in helping to create a better life through science, technology
and innovation.
One of the great strengths of FUMEC, is its ability to
foster cooperation with institutions and organizations that
rely on the Foundation’s experience and knowledge. I
would especially like to thank the Secretariat of Economy,
the National Council for Science and Technology and the
Mexican Institute of Industrial Property for their support.
These institutions have worked with FUMEC to benefit
technology companies and researchers, but also, to ultimately contribute to the creation of a culture of innovation.
I would also like to thank my colleagues on the Board
of Governors, for the support they have given us during
the time I was at the head of this body. Their experience
and knowledge have enabled the Foundation to achieve
greater focus and to have a stronger impact with their
programs. I am sure that this organization will continue to
make a strong contribution in achieving a better quality of
life for both our countries.
Sincerely,
Francisco Barnes de Castro
Chairman of the Board of Governors of FUMEC
from 2011 to 2012
Letter from the CEO
A central goal of FUMEC is to open new avenues of cooperation in science,
technology and education, and to promote the economic and social
development of Mexico and the United States, in the context of regional
cooperation in North America. During 2012, we made strong advances in the
innovation and internationalization of Mexican companies by facilitating
partnerships with organizations, companies and government agencies in the
United States, Canada and other countries.
This year, we also expanded educational collaboration in
science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)
and opened new opportunities for collaboration in research
oriented towards the needs of companies and government
organizations.We continued channeling program resources
from the United States government to Mexico for binational
health and environment programs.
A change of federal government in Mexico occurred
in 2012. As a result, part of our energy has been directed
at maintaining close contact with the transition team and
with those who will shape the new policies in Mexico.
These efforts have been to ensure that collaboration
with our allies in North America in science, technology
and innovation is central to addressing many of the great
challenges facing Mexico, including quality education, supporting entrepreneurs and boosting innovation as an engine
for development.
In 2012 in Washington DC, we celebrated the 20th
anniversary of the creation of the Foundation in the United
States.This celebration provided the opportunity to bring
our Board of Governors closer to the heads of government
offices and non-governmental organizations who have
worked with and supported FUMEC over the years. It also
helped to open new opportunities, for example, with the
National Science Foundation in the field of Industry-University Consortium with long-term objectives, and the
National Institutes of Health on research and development
to address diabetes and its complications.
The 20th anniversary celebration in Washington received
an excellent response from key organizations in the United
States, especially from the White House Office of Science
and Technology Policy, an organization that coordinates and
promotes science, technology and innovation activities in
the U.S. These interactions show a favorable outlook for
further advancing tri-national cooperation on these issues,
to generate a more competitive region in the global context.
We are pleased with the results we have achieved, both
with the companies we have served through our TechBA
and TechPYME programs, as well as with our programs that
promote childhood education in science and technology.
In addition, we welcomed the establishment of a new line
of action of FUMEC aimed at advanced market-oriented
research and are proud to see excellent results in our
surveillance and food safety programs.
The work in all of these areas favored new relationships
with local and federal associations, as well as with key
stakeholders who define regional development policies.We
have also expanded our collaboration with international
organizations such as the Inter-American Development
Bank and the World Bank and have maintained a close
relationship with the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.
The results shown in this report are reflective of the
efforts of more than 120 people who worked with us
throughout 2012. We appreciate the commitment that
they put forth every day to better position FUMEC as a
major player in binational collaboration
I would also like to thank the invaluable support we
have received from our Board of Governors, who have
provided guidance and support to us and have enthusiastically shared their knowledge, experience and contacts.
Last but not least, I want to thank all of the organizations
and individuals who have been allies of our projects and
initiatives, because without them we could not move forward in achieving our goals.
Sincerely,
Guillermo Fernández de la Garza
Chief Executive Officer of FUMEC
9
Results by
Programatic
Area
Innovation Based
Economic Development
Innovation is the motor of the transformations that will keep the
Mexican economy competitive. Mexico is way behind many of its
allies and competitors in innovation-related indexes.
There is an urgent need to step up the pace in technological and corporate ecosystems that support innovation
in businesses.
FUMEC has facilitated valuable interactions between
Mexican, U.S. and Canadian organizations that have expanded the view of Mexican experts, business leaders
and government organizations in terms of the mechanisms
and programs which can be developed and strengthened
by leveraging the best experiences of the three countries.
Some of these mechanisms and programs, such as
TechPYME and TechBA, have already been rolled out as
a preview to the kind of programs that might be implemented at national level with international partnerships and
referents. This involves the creation of sectoral innovation
networks in specific regions, and nationally, the alignment
of companies’ technological strategies with the development of education and research institutions, and with the
support of the relevant government programs both at
state and national level.
In other cases, there has been support for initiatives
like that of Dr. José Narro Robles, Rector of the UNAM,
to integrate a National Science, Technology and Innovation Agenda, and that of Antonio López de Silanes to
create the Business Foundation for Innovation, a clear
sign that innovation is a key issue for business leaders in
Mexico who are willing to build a collaboration program
with the Federal Government through this Foundation.
Furthermore, there has been collaboration with the
Science and Technology Advisory Forum in other initiatives,
such as the “National Innovation Agency,” and efforts involv-
ing the United States National Research Council (NRC)
and Canada’s Science, Technology and Innovation Council
(STIC), underlining the importance of mechanisms that
are independent from the organisms that operate innovation support programs, to study, propose, manage and
ultimately evaluate the country’s initiatives in innovation.
The following pages describe FUMEC’s work to promote
economic development based on technological innovation,
through local, national and international processes such as
the formation of innovation networks to facilitate interactions between academia, industry and government, and
through specialized programs for technology firms who
work in market niches with high growth potential.
11
FUMEC and its support programs for
technology SMEs
In 1997 the Foundation began activities to leverage the
best experiences of the United States and Canada, to
boost the growth of small and medium-sized technology
businesses with the help of universities, research institutions
and specialized organizations.
Through the years, we have been able to build programs
directed at technology businesses with rapid growth potential, to help them find counseling and support to develop
internationally, taking full advantage of opportunities for
technological and business improvement, and join innovation networks focused on strategic economic niches.
Around 12 years ago we adopted different elements from
programs like the Small Business Technology Development
Center (SBTDC), the Pennsylvania Technological Assistance
Program (PENNTAP) from the United States, and the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) from Canada, which
have enriched the way in which we provide our services
to companies, enabling us to be more timely and effective.
Through the years, we have
been able to build programs
directed at technology
businesses with rapid
growth potential.
In 2004, following an in-depth investigation of the most
successful international mechanisms of business support,
and in conjunction with the Secretariat of Economy, we
created TechBA, the Technology Business Acceleration
Program for Mexican technology companies, which today
has eight sites in highly dynamic business ecosystems: five
in the United States, two in Canada and another in Spain.
The experience gained over the years has enabled us
to mature our service models and organize the services
we give to firms in two programs: TechPYME and TechBA.
TechPYME (PYME is the Spanish equivalent of SME) is a
program focused on building national innovation networks,
particularly with state governments, supporting businesses
12
in strategic economic niches through coordination mechanisms with local institutions and organizations.TechPYME
studies and develops the capacities and development potential of technology-business ecosystems in those niches.
TechBA is the network that facilitates the internationalization of technology SMEs in the strategic economic niches in which the Foundation works, and is also
the point of contact for national innovation networks
with the international ecosystems where it operates.
Innovation networks: key to the
growth of businesses
One of the key components of our work through TechPYME and TechBA is the creation of innovation networks,
connecting firms with all those players who can support
their growth, such as universities, research centers, state
and federal governments, clusters, business chambers and
tractor companies, among others.
Firms that join either of these programs not only gain
access to a support program, but also come into contact
with different innovation networks in which FUMEC participates, in order to support the firms in the best way possible.
We at the Foundation know that an isolated SME must
face a series of challenges which can be overwhelming
without the support of organisms and actors helping them
to grow. However, when a business accesses a support
network and an adequate coordination system, it can
receive technical assistance, specialized assessment and
information and a wide variety of services which enable it
to better define its path to strengthen and be successful.
FUMEC collaboration
networks contribute
to the development of
technology companies and
to the growth of strategic
economic niches.
Throughout this report we will show how the local networks created by FUMEC support the growth of technology
SMEs and how these networks are also effective mechanisms to promote economic development in several states.
A clear example of how FUMEC support networks
operate occurred in 2012 with our Health Technologies
Coordination, which worked in close collaboration with
the Mexican Consulate General in Boston to take a group
of Mexican companies to BIO 2012, the world’s biggest
biotech convention. After the event, the General Consul
sent a letter which read, in part:
Thanks to the work of FUMEC, it was made clear to the
other participating countries and industries that Mexico is
also a major player in biotechnology and the life sciences,
which contributed significantly to improving our country’s image, enabling different actors to see firsthand the
quality and abundance of scientific research in Mexico.
FUMEC continues to work with ProMéxico and the
Consulate General in Boston to take a group of businesses
to this great event again in 2013, further spreading the
potential of the country and its biotechnology companies.
In a similar way, in April 2012, a Mexican delegation
of six companies attended the SAE Congress, a major
international automotive convention held in Detroit, Michigan. This time the delegation included three companies
supported by TechBA in Michigan, and who, in turn, received suppor t from ProMéxico to attend the event.
These and many more examples presented throughout
the report show how FUMEC collaboration networks
contribute to the development of technology companies
and to the growth of strategic economic niches, connecting
Mexican regional ecosystems with international business
ecosystems, thereby opening endless opportunities for
the companies themselves and the actors who drive
economic development in Mexico and North America.
Focus on high growth potential niches
As mentioned earlier, central to the work we do in FUMEC
is the organization of innovation and business support
networks, which are formed around economic niches or
subsectors with the potential to generate new development
opportunities. The Foundation has identified more than
15 industrial niches or subsectors which have undergone
considerable growth and which offer incomparable business opportunities for SMEs seeking to consolidate and
win new markets. A breakdown of these strategic niches
is given in the following table.
13
Strategic Niches Identified
by FUMEC
SEC TOR
Information
Technologies
Automotive
Aerospace
N ICHE S
Cloud computing
Mobile technologies
Multimedia
Advanced manufacturing
Advanced manufacturing
Overhaul and maintenance
Airport services
Health
Technologies
Medical devices
Clinical trials
New drugs
IT for health
Food
technologies
Nutraceutics
Manufacturing processes
Sustainability
Clean technologies
(air, water, earth)
Alternative energy
Microsystems
Embedded systems
FPGAS
FUMEC participates in and promotes networking in each of
these niches, allowing us to broaden the horizons of activity for
companies through national and international actions such as:
• liaison with other government and private programs,
• experience and expert knowledge in areas related
to their own,
• association with similar companies with whom
they can build partnerships,
• interaction with tractor companies seeking to
strengthen their supply chain, and
contact with potential investors to finance their
projects.
14
TechPYME
As already mentioned, the TechPYME program works with
technology SMEs in Mexico and forms innovation networks
to help businesses develop their capacities. As well as working directly with businesses, another key objective of the
program is to strengthen regional ecosystems that work in
strategic niches to enable them to generate and mature an
ever greater number of companies, in turn boosting new
knowledge industries.
To achieve this, TechPYME works alongside the state
Secretaries of Economic Development to create collaborations which encourage the growth of both businesses
and the business ecosystems where they operate.
This program also analyzes growth opportunities in the
strategic niches in which we work and develops studies to
gain insight into market opportunities which businesses can
take advantage of. These studies help businesses discover
the challenges and opportunities in their industries, and
also serve to attract new companies looking to grow in
those niches.
TechPYME begins by identifying companies eligible to
receive support from FUMEC. It then does an evaluation
of needs and growth opportunities and draws up an action
plan for each company. Later, the companies receive all kinds
of services ranging from training and assessment in specific
areas, to help obtaining certifications and liaison services
with actors and programs to help them grow.
Furthermore, this program encourages the development
of innovation strategies that the companies can present
to federal and state organisms when seeking funding, and
facilitate the registration of patents and utility models with
national authorities.
TechPYME works through a network of Business Technology Advisors who are responsible for identifying the
companies, evaluating them and introducing them to the
services they need to boost their growth. These advisers
work at local and regional level, have areas of specialization,
and use tools that are of great use to the companies, including road maps, cash flow evaluation and management skills
assessment. The TechPYME service model is summarized
in the next graphic.
TechPYME Service Model
NEEDED INFRASTRUCTURE FOR EACH NICHE
Trends and
Opportunities Studies
Training of
Human Resources
-Academia
-Enterprises
Integration of
the Business
Technology Advisor
Development of a
Innovation Network
for the Niche
DEVELOPMENT OF STRENGTHENING PROGRAMS FOR THE COMPANIES
Market opportunity
analysis workshop
BUSINESS STRENGTHENING
• Diagnostics
• Roadmap
• Entrepreneurial tools
• Liaison with other support
programs and institutions
ACTION PLAN
BY COMPANY
INNOVATION STRATEGIES
• Innovation networks
• Calls for companies and
presentation of projects
• Intellectual property
• Technological monitoring
IDENTIFICATION OF
COMPANIES WITH POTENTIAL
TO BE INTERNATIONALLY
ACCELERATED
COMMERCIAL AND TECHNICAL
READINESS
• Technical advice
• Certification advice
• Interaction with commercial and
• Networking events
• Integration to the
technological networks
TechBA program
Results in new products, new markets, access to innovation funds, new organization
culture and measurement of impact on sales.
TechPYME results
In 2012 TechPYME continued to search for and evaluate
technology companies with growth potential in an effort to
find the SMEs that work in the niches detected by FUMEC
and that could be integrated into this program. This was
done to combine the portfolio of companies to be worked
with in the 2012-2013 period, adding businesses with
growth potential to those that had already been identified.
TechPYME reviewed and analyzed state, regional and
national business directories, and subsequently made several
calls to interview and learn more about the companies
interested in entering the program.
As a result of these efforts, a portfolio of 361 companies that entered TechPYME starting in August 2012 and
that will continue to receive services until July 2013 was
created.The following table shows the distribution of these
companies and the niches in which they work.
Results of the TechPYME Program
S ECT O R
N u mb er of
comp a ni es
Information technologies
92
Automotive
29
Aerospace
4
Other advanced
manufacturing areas
55
Health technologies
68
Food technologies
54
Clean technologies
32
New materials
27
Total
361
15
TechBA
The TechBA program was designed to help Mexican technology companies gain access to the most dynamic business
ecosystems in the world and expand their operations into
international markets, primarily the United States, Canada
and Europe.TechBA has eight locations in cities with highly
competitive and specialized economic activity: Arizona,
Austin, Madrid, Michigan, Montreal, Seattle, Silicon Valley
and Vancouver.
The TechBA acceleration model is aimed at catalyzing
the development of companies, facilitating access to a wide
network of high-level international advisors and experts with
profound knowledge of the technological processes and
markets of each sector. The guidance from these experts
enables companies to improve their value offer to ensure
international success and guarantee long-term permanence.
This program facilitates the interaction of Mexican
SMEs with different business environments, allowing them
to achieve accelerated growth by creating partnerships,
generating new sales and attracting investment. Each TechBA site has a wide network of experts in their economic
fields, and key actors and organizations from the region
who support the growth of the Mexican companies.
In addition to their acceleration services,TechBA offers
businesses a pre-acceleration process that consists of ana-
lyzing their potential for penetrating international markets
and the advantages that would imply for each company
from a technical-commercial angle. Pre-acceleration informs
companies about their strengths and weaknesses, and improvement opportunities should they want to enter the
global marketplace.
During acceleration, work centers on improving the
value offer of each business. On many occasions this implies deep adjustments to the products and services they
hope to launch on new markets. Another relevant aspect
is improving the way the value offer of each company is
presented to potential buyers, and familiarizing business
owners with how business is done in global markets. The
TechBA service model is shown below.
TechBA Service Model
Incorporation and
work plan
Initial market
penetration plan
Sales support
Business
maturation
Review of value
proposition and
market penetration
strategy (investment
and alliance search)
Implementation of
“beta test” and
interaction with
“friendly” clients
Directory
development and
client profiling
Integration of an
Advisory Council
Adaptation of the
product or service to
the new market
(certifications, IP
protection, etc.)
Consulting and
access to network
of contacts
16
Refinement of
marketing and
commercialization
strategies
Implementation of
commercialization tools
(campaigns, demand
generation, distributor
development, etc.)
Sales coaching
Sales channel
development
Customer service
Evaluation of
company’s
development
Implementation of
complementary financial
strategies, innovation,
and business model
review
The TechBA program has
played an outstanding role
in the internationalization
of innovation networks
involving Mexican
companies.
The TechBA program has played an outstanding role
in the internationalization of innovation networks involving Mexican companies, and in introducing innovative
support models to Mexico for the creation of new businesses and the strengthening of technology companies.
An example of this is the Bootcamp model, designed
to help companies establish successful, sustainable business
in a few weeks. Bootcamps allow companies to quickly
evaluate whether their business ideas have market po-
tential or need adapting. Bootcamp is an opportunity to
conduct market research, develop and refine business
ideas and build prototypes, as well as validate clients
and investment possibilities to ultimately take sustainable
products to market.
Results of the TechBA Program
During 2012, the TechBA program worked with 185 businesses which generated international sales in excess of
$140 million dollars.
When compared to the resources invested by the
Secretariat of Economy to operate the program, this figure
gives a $22.88 dollar return on every dollar invested. The
following table shows that the return rate of the TechBA
program has increased consistently over the last four years.
Operation costs of the TechBA program vs. international sales generated by
companies in the program (figures in U.S. dollars)
2009
2010
2011
International sales
$40,958,171
$95,579,760
$145,024,881
Supported companies
160
228
209
Resources coming
from Mexican Secretariat
of Economy
$5,673,600
$7,432,000
$8,037,037
7.22
12.87
18.04
Rate of return
(international sales generated
per dollar invested)
2012
$147,761,921
185
$6,459,090
22.88
17
Promoting innovative
health technology companies
Mexico has enormous growth potential in numerous areas related
to health technologies, including medical devices, clinical trials
and pharmaceutical industry, medical tourism and information
technology applied to health.
This section describes the opportunities that FUMEC has
identified for the growth of health SMEs in the country,
and how we had worked in those niches to boost the
competitiveness of businesses and enhance the capacities
of the ecosystems in which they operate.
Medical Devices
In recent years, the country has become increasingly attractive for the global medical device industry and this is
reflected in the accelerated growth of domestic production
and the growing number of investments received in this
area. Mexico is the seventh biggest exporter of medical
devices in the world and, according to data from INEGI
and ProMéxico, produced $8.56 billion dollars in medical
devices in 2011. By 2020, production is expected to reach
$14.91 billion dollars.1
In 2011, Mexico exported $6 billion dollars in medical
devices and attracted 23 investment projects in the same
area.2 This industry has grown at a rate of 6.4%, well above
traditional producers like Germany, Japan and Switzerland.
According to data from CANIFARMA, between 2007
and 2010, Mexican medical device companies increased
sales by 24.2%. Similarly, from 2002 to 2011, jobs in this
niche grew from 17 to 32 thousand and are expected to
continue to grow with the presence of new companies.1
In early 2013, DHL Supply Chain revealed a study which
indicated that the robust domestic demand and a forecasted annual growth rate of 5.2% for 2020, have turned the
Estrada Cortés, Jesús (2012). “Medica Devices, a Healthy Business”, in Negocios ProMéxico. October.
1
18
country into “an attractive option for many medical device
manufacturers from the United States and other parts of
the world seeking to serve the domestic market or improve
manufacturing costs with a maquila strategy in Mexico.”
Beyond the numbers, Mexican business owners are
ready to face a greater demand for their products; in the
words of Miguel Ángel Félix Díaz Alonso, treasurer of the
Medical Device Cluster of the Californias, “In this region
we are used to putting up a fight.The mentality of business
owners here is to find the way to do things right.There are
many regulations in medical devices and the process for
being a supplier can be slow, but we will come on board
because by being authorized suppliers we will be on a path
towards success.”
This cluster includes the majority of medical device
companies in Baja California Norte and Sur and maintains close ties with the cluster in San Diego, California,
Juárez López de Nava, José Mario (2012). “Medical Devices en Mexico: Opportunities for Baja California”, in Negocios ProMéxico. October.
2
Mexican business owners
are ready to face a
greater demand for
their products.
forming one of the most complex and diverse groups
of medical products in the whole of Nor th America.
Since 2010, the cluster to which Félix Díaz belongs, has
been a FUMEC ally, providing support to health companies
in Baja California. When asked how the work was going,
he said, “In Tijuana we have had a very healthy relationship;
through FUMEC some companies have benefitted from
help obtaining certifications, attending seminars and courses
on project portfolio management, and getting more information about the sector.”
Other benefits of being in contact with FUMEC has
been broadening the cluster’s spectrum of relationships
and getting to know new business environments. “In 2011
we took a trip to Spain,” says Félix Díaz. “We were met by
TechBA Madrid and through them we made visits to get
contacts, talks and see the kind of support we could get.”
This business owner appreciates the Foundation’s work
in putting the cluster in touch with new actors because,
“The relationships have shown us how we might achieve
a different projection. I think we were focused too locally,
very much within the region, but FUMEC has allowed us
to see things more globally, to see that as a group we need
to be related to other sectors and countries, and that we
must have greater openness with government, education
and other entities.” hacetouch with nwts, chat and see the
kind of support we ogoing, the enter the ie accelerate
Although this relationship did not immediately bear
fruit, in the medium term the companies who participate
in the cluster have seen results: “As a sector, it would never
have occurred to us to go to Madrid to explore business
opportunities, because the whole world naturally tells
you ‘we have the United States right next door,’ but this
relationship has enabled us to get help for seminars and
courses and that is a very valuable result, beginning as a
group to have joint initiatives,” concludes Félix Díaz.
Elemental Clinical Research: clinical research
for a growing market
In 2010, six Jalisco doctors decided to develop an
intraurethral catheter to administer drugs to parts
of the body which are inaccessible by traditional
catheters. They realized they needed to do clinical
trials and opted to conduct them themselves.
And so Elemental Clinical Research was born, a
company specialized in clinical research and services
for the pharmaceutical industry.
To consolidate their project, the doctors attended an incubator of the Tecnológico de Monterrey,
where they learned the basics of creating a business.
They soon realized they were getting into a very
little known area in Mexico, because “even the Tec
people struggled to understand our business model,” remembers Luis René González Lucano, Operations Director of Elemental Research.
As they continued the incubation process, they
discovered that FUMEC offers support to health
companies, in particular those conducting clinical
research. With the help of Michelle Otero, FUMEC’s
FUMEC helped us make
many contacts, have
opened many doors for
us and that is why we are
here now.
Health Technologies representative in Jalisco, they
contacted the Foundation and began to see
Mexico’s enormous potential for growing businesses like theirs.
In 2012, Elemental Research responded to an
invitation from FUMEC to attend the 3rd International Life Sciences Convention, where they met a
company called CECYPE, also supported by FUMEC, and began to analyze ways to partner. Today
the partnership is a reality and their primary objective is “to strengthen clinical research in our zone,”
said González. “We want to offer comprehensive
services like CECYPE and CIATEJ to expand the
19
cover to Jalisco which is the second most
important zone for the pharmaceutical industry,
after Mexico City.”
And so, almost without forethought, Elemental
Clinical Research entered the clinical trial business
at a very opportune moment when there was already a demand for their services. “New medicines
are coming into the country because the population has grown a lot, and investors see Mexico as
an area of opportunity. Furthermore, we have a
privileged position right next to the United States
and that enables us to conduct studies very quickly,”
explains González.
The growth of the industry has meant the
consolidation of this company which, despite being
only two years old, has already more than doubled in sales and the number of employees. For its
founders, part of the success is due to the support
received from FUMEC. “They have helped us make
many contacts, have opened many doors for us and
that is why we are here now,” says González, who
predicts that the company “will grow even more,
because we have projects ready to sign and that
makes us optimistic.”
Clinical Trials and Pharmaceutical
Industry
Another great area of opportunity in health has to do
with the development of preclinical and clinical trials for
drug development. In 2008, investment in the global drug
industry rose to 86 billion dollars. Investment in clinical
trials was $54.8 billion dollars in 2009, with a 9.1% growth
over the previous year and prospects of reaching a value
of $81.2 billion in 2014.3
Today the drug industry is facing the need to develop
new products, but is struggling to do so in developed
countries because of high costs and problems recruiting
volunteers for their trials. As a result, large firms have begun
to pass preclinical and clinical trials on to specialized companies known as clinical or contract research organizations
(CROs) which develop different stages of the process in
certain developing countries.
This situation suggests a favorable setting for clinical research in Mexico, since the country has excellent conditions
for creating and consolidating companies that function as
There is a favorable setting for
clinical research in Mexico,
since the country has excellent
conditions for creating and
consolidating companies that
function as CROs.
CECYPE, 2011. Ensayos clínicos en México: retos y oportunidades. Estudio
elaborado por CECYPE a solicitud de FUMEC.
3
20
CROs. A study performed in 2011 for FUMEC found that
Mexico underutilizes its capacity to generate this kind of
company, and occupies a marginal position (26th in the
world) in the conduct of clinical trials in spite of its privileged
geographical location, internationally competitive regulations,
good number of inhabitants and skilled professionals.3
Furthermore, Mexico is listed among the so-called pharma emerging countries, but the growth of its drug market
is below the average for this group and will drop from 11th
place in 2005 to 17th in 2015. It is worth remembering that
there are more than 200 drug companies in Mexico with
the infrastructure to produce drugs to supply a domestic
market of $14 billion dollars.
Through its TechPYME and TechBA programs, the Foundation has helped develop companies seeking to enter the
clinical trial market and the pharmaceutical industry, giving
them advice and resources to do so.The support network
for health companies that TechPYME has formed in Jalisco
is shown in the next page.
Support network for health companies in Jalisco
A .Clusters
1. Medical Tourism Cluster
2. West Bioclúster
3. Association of Private Hospitals of Jalisco
B.Universities and research centers
4.
5.
6.
Guadalajara University
Center of Research, Technological Assistance and
Design of the Jalisco State
Center of Research and Advanced Studies of the
National Polytechnic Institute
C.Government institutions and other
entrepreneurial support organizations
7.ProMéxico
8. Jalisco Institute of Information Technologies
9. Council on Science and Technology of the
Jalisco State
10. Regional Chambe of the Transformation Industry
11. Jalisco Secretariat of Economic Development
12. National Chamber of Commerce
13. Jalisco Institute of Quality
14. Institute for Development and Innovation
within the SMEs
In Jalisco, the representative of the Health Technologies
Coordination, Michelle Otero, has provided support to
32 health companies with help from the local Ministry of
Economic Development and the organisms that form part
of the network created by FUMEC.
According to Ernesto Baez López, Director General of
Sectoral Development and Integration of Jalisco, this state
“is the second most important corridor in the country for
human pharma and the first in animal pharma,” so support
for health companies is vital for the local economy. In the
Baez’ experience, “Companies which have participated in
FUMEC programs have been satisfied.” Nevertheless, he
feels that FUMEC “has tools which as an institution we
could leverage a lot more.”
Two clear examples of the support that FUMEC provides to health SMEs are Elemental Clinical Research of
Jalisco, whose success story was presented on page 20
NN, and CECYPE of Morelia, whose case is given below.
Medical Tourism
In mid 2012, The New York Times published an article
which spoke of the influx of United States citizens who
travel to Mexicali seeking medical care.4 The text described how in 2011 more than 150 thousand patients
traveled to that city to see a doctor, generating an economic spillover for the local economy of $8 million dollars.
The publication of this article was no more than the
acknowledgment of the growing popularity of Mexico
among United States patients who need low-cost medical
care and travel south for everything from dental care to
heart surgeries to cosmetic weight-loss procedures.
According to the United States-Mexico Chamber of
Commerce (USMCOC), medical tourism in Mexico has
enormous growth potential, made popular by rising health
costs in the United States and improvements in other countries in the standards of care and the technology they use.5
USMCOC (2011). Tourism Development, Medical Tourism, and Safe and
Secure Tourism in Mexico. Issue Paper 3. Retrieved from http://www.usmcoc.
org, on February 2013.
5
Medina, Jennifer (2012). “Mexicali Tour, From Tummy Tuck to Root Canal”
artículo publicado en The New York Times el 27 de junio de 2012.
4
21
CECYPE: clinical research for the global
pharmaceutical industry
CECYPE executives are convinced that Mexico can
become a world leader in preclinical and clinical
research. “We need to create an environment that
converts the country into a hub, because the best
way to grow this industry is to have more people
developing research,” explains the engineer Jorge
Herrera, CEO of the Morelia company.
A couple of years ago, at FUMEC’s request, CECYPE made an analysis of Mexico’s opportunities
in this industry and found that the country did not
leverage its growth capacities and is in a secondary
position, 26th in the world, despite its incomparable geographical location, competitive regulations,
a good-sized market and competent professionals.
“Hence, we’re looking for the opportunity to develop that capacity in Mexico,” continued Herrera.
We need to create an
environment that
converts the country
into a hub for
clinical trials.
It all seems to indicate that the pharmaceutical industry will continue to demand specialized
research services, which motivated CECYPE to
partner with the CIATEJ research center in Jalisco
to start new preclinical, clinical and analytical trial
units, and generate new units as growth demands.
The said units will be built in two or three cities
and serve to evaluate biotechnology and bioequivalent medicines, pharma chemicals, medical devices,
new treatment schemes and even functional foods.
Paradoxically, this national expansion plan is the
result of the CECYPE’s exposure to international
markets which they had the opportunity to explore
thanks to TechBA Madrid, a program it entered in
2009 and that helped it set up a company in the
22
Volunteers on a study conducted by CECYPE.
Photo courtesy of the company.
Basque Country by the name of CECYPE Europe.
There, the company is about to begin an investigation on the genetic factors which predispose renal
impairment, through an alliance with the University
of Euskadi.
Although CECYPE has been well received in
Spain, things were different in the beginning; the
Spanish were skeptical. “There had been total
incredulity about Mexico’s capacity to conduct
studies. They even asked us questions that might
seem offensive: ‘Do they know what good clinical
practices are in Mexico? Do they work with ethics
committees?’” recalls Herrera, who adds, “You can
understand their attitude because in the recent past
it didn’t exist, but when we started to show them
that we had clients like Sanofi and Bayer, who know
our capability and recommend us, they changed
their attitude and went from doubt to awe.”
For CECYPE, having presence in Spain is part
of its strategy to get into the European market.
“We are still seeking out new markets and we have
allies in Spain with knowledge of the French and
Swiss markets. We are also definitely interested in
the United States, Canada and Germany, above all
with the new biotechnology services and functional
foods,” said Herrera.
Tijuana is another key site for developing medical
tourism. Thanks to its geographical location, thousands of
patients from California and the West Coast often visit
the city. Since 2010, Minerva Avelar, representative of the
FUMEC Health Technologies Coordination in Tijuana, has
worked with a group of local hospitals to help them obtain
certification as a Medical Care Facility authorized by the
Mexican General Health Council. This certification shows
that the hospital is internationally competitive, allowing it
to receive patients from the United States.
One of FUMEC’s allies in the city is the Medical, Dental
and Hospital Cluster of Baja California, whose President,
Karim Chalita, comments that three years ago this cluster
and FUMEC began a process for hospitals to become certified.Together with the Foundation, a situational diagnosis
was made for16 hospitals, which Chalita describes as “a
watershed, because we were lost.We knew we needed the
certification, but we didn’t know what shape our hospitals
were in. Then on a second occasion we received help to
review the hospital infrastructure and that has been a great
support and an enormous help.”
For Chalita, the cluster’s collaboration with FUMEC has
triggered new projects in benefit of the hospitals. “Today
there are already eight hospitals in the region that have
fully entered the certification program. They found a federal resource where the government provides 66% and
the remaining 33% comes from the company, but it was
FUMEC who laid the foundations and sparked it all off.”
Health Information Technologies
Information Technologies (IT) are powerful tools for
managing information related to medical treatments, and
nowadays can be used to exchange information not only
between doctors and hospitals, but also between doctors
and patients and even between national and international
health institutions.
IT are seen as tools which enable better quality, security
and efficiency in the handling of health information, obtaining benefits such as: improved care quality, reduced costs,
improved administrative efficiency and even an increase in
accessible health services.6 The world healthcare IT market
is expected to grow from $99.6 billion dollars in 2010 to
$162.2 billion in 2015, at a Compounded Annual Growth
rate (CAGR) of 10.2% from 2010 to 2015.7
Some of the areas with most growth potential are: electronic clinical records, mobile applications and telemedicine.
FUMEC, through its Health Technologies Coordination
(hereinafter TecSalud), has engaged in a series of activities to
promote the use of IT in medicine, from training in the use
of electronic clinical records to boosting the development
of mobile applications designed to resolve health issues.
An example of this was seen in Nuevo León, where the
Health Cluster has worked in collaboration with FUMEC
and CANIETI on an electronic clinical record project to
be used in state hospitals to provide communication and
accurate information to other hospitals when a patient
needs to be transferred.
TecSalud has given workshops on electronic clinical
records in states including Baja California, Jalisco and State
of Mexico, given that this tool is already part of international
quality standards that must be met.
As far as boosting mobile applications for health, since
2011 TecSalud and FUMEC’s Digital Media Coordination
have worked with Health Services of Oaxaca to promote
a call for tenders to push the use of mobile technologies
for following-up on patients in remote areas. As a result,
Neoteck, a company from Aguascalientes and with the help
of TecSalud, developed a pilot program of mobile monitors
which allow patient follow-up for maternal mortality, arterial
hypertension and vaccination, among other issues.
Chaudhry, B. Wang, J., & Wu, S. et al., (2006). “Systematic review: Impact of
health information technology on quality, efficiency, and costs of medical care”,
in Annals of Internal Medicine, 144(10), 742–752.
6
Markets and Markets (2011). World Healthcare IT. Retrieved from http://
www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/healthcare-information-technology-market-136.html in February 2013.
7
23
Supporting the growth
of Mexican IT companies
Information Technologies (IT) have brought about radical changes
to everyday life, to such a extent that most of us would struggle
to imagine what work was like before computers and before data
processing became as natural as breathing.
The pervasiveness of IT makes it an ever-growing industry all over the world. According to IT consulting firm,
Gartner, global spending on IT for 2010 was $3.4 trillion
dollars and for 2020 will reach $3.67 trillion dollars.8
In Mexico, IT is a highly dynamic sector which is growing by leaps and bounds. The AMITI organization says the
Mexican IT services market has doubled in the last six years
and another firm, Select, estimates an annual growth rate
of 10% between 2011 and 2015.9
As part of its work to promote the growth of small and
medium-sized enterprises, TechPYME has identified three
niches within IT that offer unique development opportunities for SMEs: mobile technologies, cloud computing
and multimedia.This section summarizes the Foundation’s
work in these niches and how we help the companies
that work in them.
QFinance (s/f). Information Technology Industry. Retrieved from http://www.
qfinance.com/sector-profiles/information-technology, in February 2013.
8
Rodriguez Abitia, Guillermo (2011). “Mexico: IT Just Makes Sense”, in Negocios ProMéxico. April.
9
24
Mobile Technologies
The use of mobile technologies is growing at an exponential rate throughout the world. A report from GMSA
and A.T. Kearney states that half the world’s population (a
little over 7 billion people) use mobile communications
and in the last four years one billion have subscribed to
mobile services, bringing the total to 3.2 billion worldwide.10
This growth and constant innovations in the field have
led representatives of leading mobile operators to believe
that significant growth will continue in this market in the
coming years. Some 700 million new subscribers are expected by 2017, surpassing the 4 billion mark by 2018.3
In Mexico, the number of mobile connections is estimated to reach 98 million, converting the country into
the second largest market in Latin America, after Brazil.11
FUMEC, through its Multimedia Coordination, promotes
the growth of companies seeking to develop mobile device applications using a strategy which gives them direct
attention and connects them with industry giants in Mexico
like Nokia, RIM and Qualcom.
This relationship has allowed companies like RIM, the
maker of Blackberry, and Nokia to discover the potential
of Mexican SMEs and leverage their capacities. “FUMEC is
a unique point of contact that contributes to building this
community of developers and facilitates our efforts as an
10
GMSA y A.T. Kearney (2013). The Mobile Economy. (s/l). Retrieved from
http://www.gsmamobileeconomy.com/, in February 2013.
11
eMarketer (2013). Challenges and Opportunities in Mexico, a Concentrated
Mobile Market. Retrieved from http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Challenges-Opportunities-Mexico-Concentrated-Mobile-Market/1009075, in February
2013.
industry to bring our technology into the marketplace,”
comments Carlos Silva, Senior Alliance Solutions Manager
for RIM, Mexico.
For Rafael Olvera, Developer Marketing Manager for
Nokia in Mexico, FUMEC has been a good ally to the
company because “they filter and channel companies that
are really useful to us and let us focus on what we want
to achieve. The clearest example is the company Ironbit.
When we started to work with them they already had
developments for Nokia platforms, but through FUMEC
we sat down to build a partnership and have done many
things, like applications for brands that benefit our targets
and generate business for them.”
And indeed, Ironbit is a mobile company that has leveraged FUMEC’s support and grown considerably in the
last few years, so much so that we included it as a success
story in our 2010-2011 report. Similarly, CloudSourceIT has
capitalized on the assessment and resources FUMEC has
provided and is another of the success stories presented
in this year’s report.
Another initiative from FUMEC’s Multimedia Coordination has been to invite companies to events such as the
Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, taking 12 firms
in 2011 and a few more in 2012, and preparing a special
liaison agenda with the developer community in Spain.“We
held business meetings with firms; we were with Telefónica,
Nokia and BlackBerry in Spain, who are the key players
in the ecosystem there, and we also met with a group of
Austrian and French companies who do innovation,” says
Mariano Contreras, leader of TechPYME’s attention program
for mobile companies.
FUMEC’s knowledge of firms in the sector has created
an unexpected demand; some companies from Spain,
Canada and Central America have sought assessment from
TechPYME to analyze their opportunities to penetrate the
Mexican market.Two firms from Spain are now operating
in Mexico, one of which has partnered with a company
being helped by FUMEC to enter this market.
CloudSourceIT: a 100% mobile world
If anything distinguishes CloudSourceIT from the
hundreds of other Mexican software firms fighting
for survival, it is that two years ago its founders decided to focus on one niche of opportunity, specialized in it, and are today growing at a phenomenal
rate thanks to that decision.
“We are a niche company,” says Director, Gustavo García. “We live and eat mobile.” And indeed,
the company offer clients a wide range of applications for mobile devices including: mobile banking,
comprehensive corporate travel tracking, medical
applications that benefit patients and doctors alike,
and highly sophisticated marketing solutions.
Shortly after the CloudSourceIT founders made
the decision to focus on mobile applications, they
got in touch with the TechPYME program which
supports businesses in this niche. The meeting
FUMEC taught us that
we are on a par with
international companies
and we have lost our
fear of doing big things.
could not have gone better and FUMEC invited the
company directors to the Mobile World Congress
in Barcelona. It was there they began to realize the
opportunities that might open for them in Mexico.
“In Spain we met with La Caixa bank and saw
there was a niche that wasn’t being exploited in
Mexico because banking applications were not
100% native. When we got back we were the first
to offer them,” said García proudly.
Today, the firm works with two major Mexican
25
banks to develop their entire mobile banking, which
will make any transaction possible in fewer than four
clicks. “What we learned in Barcelona is that there
are features of online banking that should not go into
mobile banking. For example, mobile cannot capture
1500 transactions because users should perform all
their movements in between 5 and 15 minutes.”
One of the enormous advantages of CloudSourceIT is that all its projects are conceived and
developed on native mobile platforms, which results
in highly efficient applications that give end-users a
unique experience, unlike those which simply
adapt web-based solutions to make them
mobile accessible.
Another example of how the firm is innovating
is through the use of a sound called “GhostWave”
which is only detectable by mobile devices and
which, when activated, will allow applications to
deploy that will offer users all kinds of information
from shopping tips to the latest news.
Cloud Computing
In 2011, the cloud computing services market was worth
$79.6 billion dollars and was forecast to grow at an compound annual growth rate of 23.21%, to reach a value of
$148.9 billion dollars in 2014.12
A United States study calculated that cloud computing
would increase the use of servers by between 12% and 60%,
generating scale economies that would lead to significant
economic, social and environmental benefits.13
For Mexico, it is estimated that these savings could be
equivalent to 0.31% of the national GDP, of which 0.23%
corresponds to private and 0.08% to public sector savings.
(This last figure would be similar to the saving of 0.05%
of the GDP estimated by the Federal Cloud Computing
Strategy for the public sector in the United States.)13
FUMEC works in alliance with Microsoft to promote
the migration of Mexican IT SMEs toward cloud computing schemes, since by offering cloud services they
can become more competitive against the big companies without investing too much in infrastructure.
Transparency Marketer Research (s/f). Cloud Computing Services Market Global Industry Size, Market Share, Trends, Analysis And Forecasts, 2012-2018.
Retrieved from http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/cloud-computing-services-market.html in February 2013.
12
26
The CloudSourceIT staff. Photo courtesy of the company.
Specialization has allowed CloudSourceIT to
embark on ever-bigger projects and increase sales
up to 700% in the last year. “Before we were a very
small company with a national vision, but the experience we had with FUMEC taught us that we are
on a par with international companies and we have
lost our fear of doing big things,” García concludes.
For Ricardo Medina, Liaison Manager for Microsoft Mexico, cloud computing “represents an advantage for companies,
because they are going to be able to get down to what
really interests them, which is seeking clients and having
better products, and they won’t have to worry about the
server going down, getting the latest software versions, etc.”
The efforts of FUMEC and Microsoft in cloud computing
complement each other well; both organizations push the
growth and internationalization of Mexican businesses. Microsoft identifies both young entrepreneurs and businesses
with certain experience seeking to make developments in
the cloud, and collaborates with FUMEC so companies that
so require receive reinforcement services, reach a certain
maturity and are able to offer competitive services within the
country, and even prepare them for the international market.
FUMEC works in alliance
with Microsoft to promote
the migration of Mexican
IT SMEs toward cloud
computing schemes.
13
Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad y Microsoft (s/f). “Cómputo en
la nube”: nuevo detonador para la competitividad en México. Retrieved from
http://imco.org.mx/images/pdf/Computo_en_la_Nube-detonador_de_competitividad_doc.pdf in February 2013.
National resources together with the international
support networks created by FUMEC make a decisive
contribution to this collaboration. In Medina’s words, “the
support of the ecosystems, partners and technical consultancy services that Microsoft can give and the business
and market consulting from FUMEC, is an extraordinarily
good combination for anyone seeking to go beyond domestic markets.”
Among the cloud computing companies receiving
support form FUMEC are:
• Netmark. This firm has specialized in the design, development, deployment and adaptation of web-based
products and services, and offers advanced cloud
computing solutions to help reduce IT costs.The firm
operates in four countries including the United States,
and thanks to its services has been able to generate
value for around 500 businesses and organizations.
• Scio. Scio is an expert in Microsoft technologies for
solutions as diverse as email archives to algorithm
systems for betting on horse races. Its team of 13
in 2006 had grown to 50 people by 2011. Sales in
that period increased by more than 400% and it has
already taken the leap to becoming a global company.
14
PricewaterhouseCoopers (2011). Global entertainment and media outlook
2011-2015. Events and trends Vol. 250. (s/l).
15
FUMEC (2010). Sector de medios interactivos. Programa de Innovación
Orientada. Mexico.
16
Mojica Navarro, Alfonso (2012). “Mexico: A Key Player in the Videogame
Industry”, in Negocios ProMéxico. March.
Multimedia
Multimedia is the name given to those cultural products
that result from the combination of contents such as text,
images, sound, animation and video. Multimedia technologies, their applications and products form part of what
John Howkins in 2011 called “creative economies,” referring
to the economic activities where ideas are both the raw
material and the main product.
Multimedia industries are in full expansion around the
world. For 2015, world spending in entertainment and
media industries is forecast to reach 1.9 trillion dollars, a
5.7% increase on the 1.4 trillion dollars spent in 2010.14
Latin America is the region with most growth in these
industries with 10.5%, an increase from 66 billion dollars
in 2010 to 109 billion dollars in 2015.7 The total value of
the media industry in Mexico climbs to almost 54 billion
pesos and records growth of 8%.15 In addition, according to
ProMéxico the country is the biggest video game market
in Latin America and is fast becoming one of the countries
with most potential for industry development.16
As in other market niches, FUMEC promotes the growth
of Mexican multimedia SMEs by offering services to improve
their value offer and increase domestic sales, and even to
conquer international markets if they are prepared to do so.
FUMEC’s Multimedia Coordination works with businesses
locally and, together with the TechBA sites, identifies those
with the potential to enter international markets.
Among the companies that FUMEC has helped is Nuflick, which offers an online transmission platform through
the Internet for Mexican and Ibero-American independent
films and documentaries that are not widely distributed by
the major cinema chains in Mexico.
Likewise, the work of FUMEC has boosted companies
like Kaxan Games, which went through an acceleration
process in TechBA Seattle that helped it make contact with
Chillingo, a leader in the publication of video games for
the iPhone. This liaison was evident in August 2011 when
“Taco Master,” a video game created by Kaxan, became
the most sold on iTunes Mexico for iPhone and iPad,
surpassing international brands like “Plants vs Zombies”
and “Angry Birds”.
In 2012, Alucina Studio, a company also helped by TechBA
Seattle, won a contract to develop a game for the NFL in
the United States, and at the end of that same year signed
a contract with toy giant Mattel to include a videogame in
its special edition of the American Girl doll.
27
Another site that has helped the development of multimedia companies is TechBA Vancouver. Among their consultants are experts like Paul Gertz, who was vice-president of
animation house Hanna-Barbera and has a long trajectory
as the executive producer of television series and movies.
TechBA Vancouver has provided advisory services to firms
like Matzin Game Studios, JB Entertainment, Cluster Studios
and Imagination Films, creator of the first 3D stroboscopic
feature film made entirely in Mexico.The achievements of
Imagination Films are presented in this report.
Imagination Films: 3D dreams
that become a reality
They say that “when dreams go on too long, there’s
a danger they’ll become nightmares,” and that
might have happened to Ricardo Gómez, Director
and founder of Imagination Films, who in 2008
embarked on one of the biggest projects of his
career: to make the first 3D, computer generated
imagery and stroboscopic film manufactured entirely in Mexico.
After almost two challenging years of struggling
to dominate the technology required to make the
film, Gómez decided to go to TechBA Vancouver,
where he presented the progress of Z-baw, his
ambitious full-length film, to Paul Gertz, an American consultant with vast experience as an executive
producer of film and television. Gertz made some
very good comments about the project and gave
Gómez just one recommendation: concentrate on
finishing the film.
“It was advice that I had tattooed in my head:
FINISH, because if not I would have nothing, despite
the enormous efforts and investment I had made,”
recalls Gómez. Finally, in March 2012, the new
production was released. It had little commercial
success but marked a milestone in the history of
Mexican animation.
Imagination Films organized a screening for
friends, partners and sponsors of Z-baw, which was
attended by Federico Goroztieta, Director of TechBA Vancouver, along with Paul Gertz, and “there
began a love story between TechBA and us, and
fortunately we now have their backing and advice in
almost everything we are doing,” says Gómez.
Encouraged by the film’s excellent reception by
the North American consultant, Gómez decided to
invite him to take part in their next adventure: the
feature film Upgrade. Gertz accepted the proposal
and became the executive producer
28
Poster of the movie
Z-baw. Image
courtesy of the
company.
and script doctor of the film which is currently
under pre-production.
Finishing Z-baw, and a second film to be released at the end of 2013, left Imagination Films
with invaluable knowledge and experience which
the firm seeks to capitalize on with the opening of
a new center fully dedicated to the development of
3D animation in the state of Querétaro.
The center is the product of the collaboration
that Gómez found between the Government of
Querétaro, the Autonomous University of Querétaro and private investors. In its first five years, the
center plans to generate 50 jobs and three productions per year (movies, TV series or videogames),
whether of Mexican origin or by attracting investment from other countries like the United States.
“I believe that in five years we can reach a quality similar to Pixar and Dreamworks,” says Gómez,
explaining that his own experience has convinced
him that Mexico has the talent required to successfully compete in international markets.
Promoting the development
of processed food SMEs
In six years Mexico will be producing 75% of the food consumed by
its inhabitants. The country is also the second largest food supplier
in the United States and the third in continental America, all of
which makes the food industry a promising sector.17
In 2011, production in this industry reached a value of
$119.707 million dollars, an increase of 13.2% over 2010.
The sector contributed 22.7% to the manufacturing GDP
and 3.9% to the national GDP leading to an estimated
annual growth rate of 6.3% between 2011 and 2020.17
These figures demonstrate that the food industry has
business opportunities that SMEs can leverage, providing they modernize and follow innovation-based growth
models. This is the only way they will be able to satisfy
market demands and become competitive players inside
the country and elsewhere.
The growth of this industry, which today employs more
than 800 thousand people, will depend on current consumer
17
ProMéxico (2011). “Industria de alimentos procesados”. Retrieved from
http://mim.promexico.gob.mx/wb/mim/agroalimentaria_perfil_del_sector in
February 2013.
18
FUMEC and COMECYT (2011). Estudio de tendencias y oportunidades
para el sector de alimentos procesados del Estado de México. Mexico.
demands, which mark four major trends identified by a
study conducted by FUMEC with help from the State of
Mexico Council for Science and Technology (COMECYT).18
1. Health and well-being. This is the biggest trend and
covers three categories: a) functional foods, which are
those to which a component is added or modified
to raise its nutritional quality; b) organic foods, which
are produced without chemical additives, and c)
natural foods, which are made with as many natural
ingredients as possible and contain no artificial flavors
or colorants.
2. Convenience.Those foods which are easy to come
by, quick to prepare and low-cost, and respond to
the urban pace which leads people to spend less
time eating.
3. Sophistication. Consumers are increasingly more
demanding and seek new food experiences; therefore they are more open to trying new foods. The
middle and upper classes are the ideal consumers
for this kind of product.
4. Senses. The food industry tends to manipulate the
senses through the use of colors, flavors, textures
and aromas to generate sensations that are remembered by consumers. This is a growing tendency in
the food market.
As you can see, current consumer demands require
growing innovation, as well as quality-enhancing processes
and business owners who are interested in meeting market
needs. In this context, the Foundation, through its TechPYME
program, has created a strategy aimed at strengthening
the business and innovation capacities of processed food
SMEs. In recent years, this program has obtained state and
29
federal support to work with companies in this sector in the
states of Jalisco, Sinaloa, State of Mexico and Nuevo León.
The strategy with these SMEs begins with the identification of businesses with innovation potential and, from
there, develop a work plan tailored to each business which
includes specialized local attention and, where applicable,
help getting into international markets through preacceleration and acceleration services provided by TechBA.
Among the states where TechPYME has worked are
Sinaloa and State of Mexico. Both had strong support
from local authorities who were keen to promote the
growth of food companies and relied on FUMEC to do so.
and Liaison, said, “the Foundation has helped us for some
years to attack different strategic sectors in State of Mexico,
among them, food. Without their collaboration we would
not be able to reach our businesses so directly because
FUMEC has the approach and the tools to work with the
companies.”
State of Mexico has a long culinary tradition and has
produced businesses with great growth potential both
inside and outside the country. Below are some of the
most promising SMEs that TechPYME has identified and
supported:
State of Mexico: traditional flavors for
new markets
State of Mexico has the largest number of food sector
production units in the country,18 however, the majority
manufacture products using traditional methods, making
it essential to introduce mechanisms which broaden their
horizon and share with them the market opportunities
they might exploit.
Since 2010, FUMEC has worked alongside COMECYT
in the State of Mexico to boost the growth of food SMEs
that use some component of innovation technology or
that are willing to make changes in their processes with
the help of technology; part of COMECYT’s mission is to
promote innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises.
Collaboration with this organization has provided help to
The Foundation has helped
us for some years to attack
different strategic sectors
in State of Mexico, among
them, food.
48 businesses in the state between 2010 and 2012, through
training and advisory services designed to strengthen their
capacities as well as consulting services for innovation projects, help registering with CONACYT to access government
funding, and liaison with research centers and universities
which help them develop their innovation projects.
Speaking of the collaboration with FUMEC, Elsa Blum,
former director of COMECYT’s Technology Development
30
• Rancho San Andrés. Dedicated to the breeding
and marketing of products derived from ostrich. In
addition to the meat, the company sells the eggshells
for use in handcrafts, and the skin, which is used to
make bags and shoes. In 2011 it received government
support to build a new plant that is about to open
and will be TIF (Federal Inspection Type) certified
to cover international demand.
• Red Mariachi Food. This firm specializes in spicy
gourmet sauces that are distributed in chain stores
and restaurants. In 2012 it discovered it had huge
growth possibilities in the United States where it
has since doubled sales.
• Comercializadora México Fresco. Produces, processes and sells cactus (“nopales” in Spanish) in brine and
pickled nopales, and has begun to have presence in
France, Mexico, Canada, Switzerland and the United
States. The company is currently looking to bring
clean technologies into the manufacturing process.
Grupo Jaztea: natural fresh tea,
from Sinaloa to the world
The Fong-Payán family’s restaurant, which served
jasmine tea to refresh its diners, was the beginning
of a journey that would culminate in the creation of
Grupo Jaztea, a Sinaloa business that produces the
only iced tea in the world without preservatives or
artificial flavors.
After studying architecture and working at Arca
Continental (a Coca-Cola bottling plant) Edna
Fong, daughter of the founders of the restaurant
and now company Director, convinced her mother
to concentrate on producing tea and distributing
it as a bottled refreshment. This simple idea would
convert her into the first woman to be recognized
by Expansion magazine as a High Growth Entrepreneur in 2012.
Edna Fong in the cover of
Expansión magazine
“From the beginning I knew that Jaztea would
not only position in Mexico but also abroad. That is
the vision that led me to poke around in different
places,” says Fong. One of the places she looked for
opportunities was TechBA Vancouver, where she
enrolled in 2010 with the intention of entering the
North American market.
Since then, Grupo Jaztea has received specialized
consulting services to familiarize them with a new
way of doing business and find the right partners to
reach their goals. Thanks to that assessment, Jaztea is
about to partner with a Portland company that will
distribute its tea in the United States and Vancouver
from 2012. “We are looking for a new name for the
Manufacturing of tea at the Jaztea plant.
Photo courtesy of the company.
product because we did a market study and saw
that it should be a multicultural name for all our
target groups,” Fong explains.
Although they are close to internationalization,
the business owner believes that the support they
received will still be useful. “Being in TechBA has left
me with a lot of experience because they taught
me how to negotiate with retail people and improve my elevator pitch and because of the feedback I got.”
One feature of Grupo Jaztea is that it looks for
ways to innovate in all its processes. For example,
when the company saw there was no machine for
squeezing lemons on the market, it developed its
own, and it strives to constantly renew its product
image: Jaztea original, Jamaite, Hawaiian Tea and
Jaztea Kids.
In 2011, Jaztea sold $147 million pesos and
in 2012 will grow 12% reaching a production of
50,000 liters of tea. But expectations are still high;
besides selling to North America, the company
intends to market its products throughout Mexico.
Fong is aware that she is up against a very
competitive market dominated by giants such as
Coca-Cola, Nestlé and PepsiCo, but she is not
intimidated. “Here is where you can show that you
can do things, and you shouldn’t be deterred by big
competitors. You have to find the way to get ahead.”
31
Sinaloa: hotbed of global food
companies
Since early 2011, the Foundation has worked in Sinaloa
alongside the Secretariat of Economic Development, through
its Department of Foreign Trade, to strengthen a group of
52 companies whose primary goal is to penetrate international markets.
The Department of Foreign Trade has several instruments to help companies enter international markets but
strives to ensure that the SMEs who receive its help are
mature enough and have the tools they need in terms
of skills and certifications, to guarantee their successful
incursion. FUMEC has helped it achieve that.
The government of Sinaloa expressed interest in leveraging FUMEC’s experience with food SMEs because the
Foundation’s programs have methodologies to strengthen
and broaden the capacities of companies so that, after
evaluating their strengths and overcoming their weaknesses,
they are ready to make the leap into external markets.
FUMEC has become a strategic ally to Sinaloa, above all
because the state has a good number of businesses willing
32
FUMEC have
methodologies to
strengthen and broaden
the capacities of
companies.
to internationalize their operations. Among the services that
the Foundation has provided to businesses in the state are:
• Advice on acquiring good manufacturing practices
through the use of Standardized Operating Procedures (SOPs).
• Help in obtaining HACCP certification for company
managers.This system ensures food safety, facilitates
inspection by health authorities and is essential for
companies seeking to export.
• Workshops on diverse topics, such as: strategic
management, marketing, retail, supply chain, financial
controls and smart capitalization, among others.
• Specialized consulting services to improve what
companies consider their priority areas, such as:
costs, logistics, packaging, etc.
The suppor t network that FUMEC has woven for
companies in this state is shown in the next page.
Among the most promising companies that TechPYME
has identified and helped in Sinaloa are:
• Vinata Santa Clara. A company that produces distilled
agave, the same as tequila but without the designation
of origin. It has won three international awards for
quality and was honored in New York in 2011 for
the best distilled spirit out of 22 contestants. The
company is preparing to export.
• Osako. Develops and produces honey and different
versions of honey which vary in color, taste and smell
depending on the vegetation. It also manufactures
honey derivatives such as balsams, lollipops, candies
and propolis syrup.
• Grupo Jaztea and Avideg de México. The first manufactures iced tea and the second traditional dishes.
The success stories of these two companies are
described in this report.
Support network for food companies in Sinaloa
A. Support at the local level
1. Secretariat of Economic Development
in Sinaloa
2. Monterrey Institute of Technology and
Higher Education
3. PyMExporta Sinaloa
4. GS1
5. Mexican Institute of Professionals
on Bottling and Packaging
6. Sinaloa Center of Sciences
7. Gestales Group
8. National Science Foundation
B. Support at the national level
9. National Science Foundation
10. Monterrey Institute of Technology and
Higher Education
11. Center of Research and
Advanced Studies
12. Chapingo Autonomous University
13. Association for Standardization
and Certification
14. National Polytechnic Institute
15. Salvador Zubirán Nutrition and
Medical Sciences National Institute
16. National Autonomous University
of Mexico
17. Center of Advanced Technology
18. Nuevo León Autonomous University
19. Metropolitan Autonomous University
20. Research Centre on Food
and Development
21. University Program on Food****
C. Support at the
international level
22. TechBA Austin
23. TechBA Vancouver
24. TechBA Madrid
D. Support at the national and
international levels
25. ProMéxico
26. National Council on Science
and Technology
27. Secretariat of Economy
Mexican food companies breaking
into global markets
The food sector has been fertile ground for the collaboration between our TechPYME and TechBA programs.
This has meant that several food companies have received
support from these two programs and pushed ahead in
tandem in their local growth strategy, as they prepare to
go out and conquer global markets.
TechBA Vancouver has been the spearhead for a score
of food companies that have begun to go to Canadian and
United States markets with its support and advice. The
previous FUMEC report presented the success stories of
two companies who were helped by the TechPYME Food
Coordination and TechBA Vancouver and who have grown
considerably in 2012.
These companies are Nekutli and Endotzi.The first produces organic and functional foods based on agave syrup
which, besides being nutritional, improve body functions
and benefit health. The second produces and packages
mushrooms and fungi for the gourmet market. Like these
two companies, Grupo Jaztea has also been assessed by
TechPYME and TechBA Vancouver, and its achievements
are described in this report.
The services offered by TechBA Vancouver to food
companies are shown in the following graphic.
33
TechBA acceleration process for food companies
• Market Research
• Distribution Channel Audit and Review
• Cost model development
• Legal compliance, regulatory evaluation and testing
Market and
Product Assessment
• Company’s objectives (Short and Long Term)/ define metrics
• SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses/Limitations,
Opportunities, and Threats)
• Financial Analysis
• Action Plan: Critical Path
Strategic Plan
Product
Development and
Compliance/ Marketing
Plan
Brand Launch
Dedicated Business
Manager
• Business StrategyàMarketing Strategy
• Branding: the 6 M’s
• Packaging (Design and compliance)
• Marketing Targets
• Marketing and distribution network appointment
• Organize/Manage fulfillment, warehousing and
distribution logistics
• Presentations to buyers across distribution channels and
negotiations of terms
• Key Account Management
Avideg de México: the unmistakable
flavor of Mexican food
Making products which captivate the consumers’
palate is just the first step to conquering the food
market. Javier Avilés, CEO of Avideg de México,
knows that very well. The Sinaloa company produces and markets a line of delicious processed foods
such as refried beans with corn, chilorio, red pepper,
clams, sardines and snails.
Judging by the figures, Avideg is well received. In
2012 the company grew 26% and is expected to do
even better in 2013. Avideg knows it is on the right
track not only because of the good numbers but
also because its products are distributed in national
chains including Wal-Mart, Comercial Mexicana,
Soriana, Sam’s Club and Chedraui.
Still, the company’s 49 employees are working
day after day to grow even more. “We are building
a future to 2017, which means selling 100 million
pesos, and that’s what motivates us,” says Avilés.
“We imagined an extraordinary future with what
34
A sample of the Avideg products. Photo courtesy of the company.
we really wanted and we have been surprised at
how we have been able to accomplish things.”
A key piece to achieving this goal is to ensure
that their products meet the highest quality standards, which they will achieve in part through Haz-
We imagined an
extraordinary future with
what we really wanted and
we have been surprised at
how we have been able to
accomplish things.
ard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)
certification, a system that guarantees food safety.
In 2012, FUMEC’s TechPYME program started to
assess and train Avideg personnel in food safety to
speed up their HACCP certification. With FUMEC’s
help, two members of the company obtained certification and with that they can adapt the new plant
to be built on the outskirts of Culiacán so that it
meets the required standards.
Another crucial issue for the company is the
packaging, which can go a long way to reaching
sales goals. “Often consumer perception is wrong,
but it turns out to be real because it determines
the impulse to buy. For example, people think that
a can lasts longer than a bag, but they both last just
as long, or people believe that there are no preservatives in the bag, but there are none in the can,
either,” explains Avilés.
With the help of FUMEC, this company obtained assessment in packaging allowing it to adjust
the sizes to lengthen the shelf-life of their products.
Avideg also adopted the use of retort pouches for
clams, being the first in Mexico to offer the product
in this packaging.
For the director of Avideg, the collaboration with
FUMEC has been good, but feels it is just beginning:
his sights are set on the international market. “FUMEC is going to be an essential ally for exporting.
The real change will be when we can go abroad,
that’s why I think the best is yet to come.”
35
Opening opportunities for
advanced manufacturing firms
At the level of the three countries participating in the Free Trade
Agreement of North America, there is obviously great potential
to complement production chains by involving advanced
manufacturing firms, not only in terms of components that are
integrated into finished products, but also the equipment and
systems used in production lines, assembly and testing.
These opportunities imply challenges to create shared
visions, build partnerships to design and innovate collaboratively and promote synergies that enable the advantages
of each of the three countries to be better exploited
in order for production chains to be more competitive
against other regions of the world. This involves opening
new spaces for firms to develop proactive strategies which
take full advantage of government support and facilitate
the partnership-building process.
FUMEC has recognized this great trinational challenge
and has formed mechanisms that facilitate partnership
building, such as the TechBA network which has seven
sites in the United States and Canada; technology-business advisory services of the TechPYME program that
operates in several manufacturing regions in Mexico, and
alliances with organizations from the three countries.
Mexico has geographical advantages, skilled human
resources, competitive costs, infrastructure and experience, making it highly attractive for investment from the
automotive and aerospace sectors, among others.
In this context, the Foundation has readied itself to actively contribute to turning Mexico’s appeal into a trinational
opportunity that also encourages integration in education,
research and development, and supports innovation to
contribute to the competitiveness of production chains
in North America.
19
Manzanillo Xport (2012). “México avanza en exportación de manufacturas”. Retrieved from http://manzanillo.mexicoxport.com/noticias/5761/mexico-avanza-exportacion-manufacturas in February 2013.
36
Mexico is the ninth largest exporter of high-technology
manufacturing in the world19 and the first in Latin America.
Automotive exports are at the top of the table with 29.3%
of manufacturing exports and 23.8% of total sales abroad.20
The automotive sector in Mexico has been growing
fast. Between 1999 and 2011, car production reported a
growth of 65%, going from 1.5 million units a year to more
than 2.5 million. This increase has positioned the country
in 8th place in car production globally and made it the 5th
biggest car exporter.21
20
Mexican Business Web. “Manufacturas: 81.4% de exportaciones mexicanas”. Retrieved from http://www.mexicanbusinessweb.mx/analisis-economico-de-mexico/manufacturas-81-4-de-exportaciones-mexicanas/ in
January 2013.
21
Rosas, María Cristina (2012). “Sucess in motion”, in Negocios
ProMéxico. May.
A successful investment attraction strategy has strengthened the industry by bringing in foreign investments to the
tune of more than $10.78 billion dollars in the last four
years.22 Today, 19 of the leading companies in the world
have assembly plants in Mexico and 300 of the biggest
suppliers operate here. Companies like General Motors,
Ford, Chrysler and Volkswagen are leveraging Mexico’s advantages to improve productivity and face market challenges.
In parallel, the aerospace sector has become increasingly
important in Mexico. With annual growth of almost 20%
in the last seven years, the country has emerged as an industry leader worldwide, capturing the most foreign direct
investment with more than $4.2 billion dollars between
2008 and 2012.23
The stage is set in both the
automotive and aerospace
industries for growing
small and medium-sized
businesses.
Mexican aerospace exports topped $4.33 billion dollars
in 2011 and are expected to rise to $12.27 billion by 2021,
showing an average annual growth rate of 14%.22
Low infrastructure costs, proximity to the United States
and the availability of highly skilled technicians and engineers
in mechanical engineering and electronics are just some
of the factors that contribute to attracting investment.
Today, Mexico has 249 aerospace companies, the majority
of which are NADCAP registered and AS9100 certified
and together employ 31,000 highly trained professionals.23
The stage is set in both the automotive and aerospace
industries for growing small and medium-sized businesses
seeking to form part of supply chains or interested in expanding into manufacturing areas, such as advanced electronics,
plastics and embedded systems, to mention just a few.
One of the main industrial challenges for Mexico is
to increase the added value of its exports. Only 34% of
manufacturing exports to the United States include value
added in Mexico. It’s a difficult challenge requiring longterm vision and considerable investment so that Mexican
companies can replace those from other countries, and
one that can be achieved by partnering with United States
and Canadian companies.
22
Estrada Cortés (2012). “Mexico at full trottle”, in Negocios ProMéxico. May.
Through its business support programs,TechPYME and
TechBA, the Foundation promotes the development of advanced manufacturing SMEs by offering a series of services
aimed at enhancing their technology-business capacities,
facilitating integration into automotive and aerospace chains,
and becoming direct or indirect exporters.These programs
provide specialized technical assessment, support to develop
innovation projects, and access to collaboration networks
to identify technology and business partners.
FUMEC and automotive SMEs
In Mexico, FUMEC works at regional level with automotive
companies through TechPYME, a program which coordinates
businesses with national networks and, through TechBA,
enables them to accelerate internationally.
FUMEC works with business groups like the Automotive
Cluster of Nuevo León (CLAUT), the Mexican Association
of the Automotive Industry (AMIA) and the National
Autoparts Industry (INA); with assemblers and Tier 1
suppliers, and with national and state government bodies.
The Foundation seeks to consolidate the position of
SMEs already part of the industry production chains, and
facilitate the incorporation of new companies. Our programs
enable companies to connect with universities, research
centers and international networks.
The automotive industry has a pronounced global
dynamic and for that reason the Foundation provides
companies with the tools to keep them at the forefront
23
Sandoval, Manuel (2012). Mexico: The New Global Aerospace Hub, in
Negocios ProMéxico. June.
37
of developments in the sector. An example of this is the
“Proactive Business” workshops, given by experts from
TechBA Michigan in collaboration with leading companies.
This training exposes participants to real situations that
occur inside the industry and with the expectations of
tractor companies as far as quality and delivery times, and
gives them a framework to understand the importance of
certifications that will turn them into world class suppliers.
In addition, the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs and CONACYT have entrusted FUMEC with the coordination of the
National Contact Point Automotive Sector (PNCSA), an
organization that links the Mexican diaspora abroad with
industry groups, government and academia seeking to elevate automotive competitiveness in Mexico. In 2012, as part
of the activities of the PNCSA, the Foundation promoted
the Mexicanos Expresando sus Ideas (Mexicans Expressing
their Ideas) Forum in Aguascalientes, bringing together key
players and leaders of the automotive industry.
One of the speakers at the forum was Pablo Mendoza
Villafuerte, representative of the Mexican Talents Abroad
Network, United Kingdom Chapter, who works as a development engineer at the Ford plant in Essex, England.
Villafuerte has collaborated with FUMEC for more than
three years sharing his experience with Mexican businesses,
academics and students and has found the support he needs
to accomplish that idea with the Foundation.
In the words of this Mexican abroad, FUMEC has a
strategic position because “it is in contact with everyone
in the industry and research centers, and what we need
FUMEC has a strategic
position because “it is in
contact with everyone in
the industry
as a network is to connect with those businesses and institutions. We see that connection as a value but we also
value their experience; we have found that the people at
FUMEC really know their business, whether it’s automotive
or aerospace.”
Internationally, SMEs looking to enter foreign markets
can use the services of the TechBA network, in particular
TechBA Michigan, which provides specialized consulting in
automotive and advanced manufacturing in general. The
advisors at TechBA Michigan are renowned professionals
who have worked in the industry and together chalk up
more than 200 years’ experience.
In 2012, TechBA Michigan was recognized by the Secretariat of Economy with the SME Award as the best
international accelerator for its work accelerating the
development of Mexican automotive SMEs. Among the
businesses who benefitted from acceleration in Michigan
are Forza Global Solutions, which provides chassis protection services to more than 24 assembly plants in the
United States, Mexico and Venezuela; Intran-Flotamex,
which manufactures gas tank components, and Industrias
Automotrices RC, an original equipment manufacturer that
supplies international clients.This last is one of the success
stories described in this report.
Industrias Automotrices RC: innovative,
but still traditional
The majority of businesses that come into the TechBA program do so to try their luck in international
markets, but that was not the case with Industrias
Automotrices RC, a Mexican original autoparts and
spare parts manufacturer which has been present in
Latin America, the United States and Europe for years.
But although the company already had clients
in other countries, entering TechBA Michigan made
them do an about-face in their handling of international business. “We had had clients outside of Mexico, but we had never treated or understood them
as well as we do now,” said Sergio Alberto Cruz, the
company’s CEO.
38
The director recalls how before going into
TechBA they would go to clients “without having
anyone to review the best approach to use; but
that changed radically with TechBA. The consultants
have a vast experience and now when we offer a
product we have someone who has done successful business in the United States and transmits that
experience to us. That has made a huge difference.”
Founded in 1961, Industrias Automotrices RC is
a family business with four industrial plants in Mexico City and 250 employees, that manufactures original vibration control equipment and spare parts
which it distributes inside and outside Mexico.
Another strategy for increasing sales abroad has
been to go to events like the SAE World Congress,
which they attended for the first time in 2012
with the support of TechBA and ProMéxico. “We
discovered that these events are a showcase for
us because really specialized people go there and
it’s an excellent place for promoting competitive
technology products,” Cruz pointed out.
Industrias Automotrices RC manufactures both original equipment and
spare parts. Photo courtesy of the company.
In spite of more than 50 years in the marketplace, the owners dream of continued growth, and
so, in 2009, decided to professionalize their international operations. They are achieving that with the
help of TechBA and investing in a sales representative who works out of Michigan.
The results of this new strategy are encouraging; the company has been able to renegotiate its
products, increase sales margins by 5% and achieve
a turnover of $1.7 million dollars to May 2012. They
have managed to move up from being a Tier 3 to
Tier 2 supplier, which also means new clients.
We had never treated
or understood our
international clients as
well as we do now.
One of the greatest satisfactions for this company is that all these changes have been welcomed
by their clients in the United States. In Cruz’s own
words, “many have said they are very happy since
we opened the office there. Now you can see a
professionalism in our people and changes in the
way we do business. The clients love it and have
even entrusted us with new projects.”
FUMEC and its support for aerospace
SMEs
FUMEC works at regional level with aerospace companies
through the TechPYME program which coordinates them
with national networks and, through TechBA, facilitates
the international acceleration of these companies. The
Foundation works in collaboration with business groups
such as the Mexican Federation of the Aerospace Industry (FEMIA) and with assemblers like Bombardier, Tier 1
suppliers like Messier, and with the support of national and
state government bodies.
In the case of aerospace,TechPYME identifies the companies with high growth potential already in the sector,
and businesses from other sectors who can successfully
migrate to aerospace. TechPYME presents existing business opportunities to these companies and together with
experts from TechBA, helps them visualize their own path
within the sector, as well as providing ongoing training in
key industry areas.
Other services offered to businesses are connection
with the sector’s national network, orientation to improve
quality systems, support for managing work capital, acquisition of machinery with preferential benefits and obtaining
resources for the development of innovation projects.
On an international level, FUMEC serves aerospace
companies through three sites located in Montreal, Seattle
and Madrid. These offices provide high level consulting
services to companies already in the sector and to those
with the capacities to leverage growth in the industry.
Between August and October 2012,TechBA Seattle and
Madrid launched a new training initiative called “Aerocamp”,
39
a pre-acceleration program which was held in Nuevo
León, Baja California and Chihuahua, states with important
concentrations of aerospace companies. These meetings
were supported by ProMéxico, the governments of Baja
California and Chihuahua, and the Instituto Tecnológico
de Monterrey.
Thirty-four Mexican companies participated in the
initiative: 14 from Chihuahua, 10 from Baja California, and
another 10 from Nuevo León. They learned of the business opportunities in the sector and, after an evaluation
of their strengths and weaknesses, a strategy was tailored
for each company.
The attending companies interacted with international
specialists, learned how Original Equipment Manufacturer
(OEMs) work throughout the supply chain, and how to
apply these lessons to their own products and services. In
addition, they received feedback from business advisors
with vast experience in the sector and, after a detailed
evaluation of their capacities, 15 of the companies went
on to the acceleration phase. TechBA’s work model with
the aerospace companies is shown below.
Aerocamp 2012 was so successful that in early 2013
it was proposed to add TechBA Montreal, a site with an
important network of industry allies who enrich the Seattle
and Madrid support networks. The sum of the efforts of
these three TechBA sites shows how companies in this
program access the large international support networks,
and can utilize the experience of consultants who have
great knowledge of the industry.
TechBA acceleration process for SMEs on aerospace
Accelerated expansion
Preparation
•
•
•
•
•
40
Profiling
Participation in Aerocamp
Seminars on global opportuni
ties and culture of the sector
First dimensional diagnostic by
international experts
Regional collaboration and with
Mexican clusters
•
•
•
Definition of the value
proposition
Financial planning
Business model
Fist version of the
critical roadmap
•
•
•
•
•
•
GAP analysis
Process optimization
Organizational structure
Costs structure
Monitoring of critical indicators
(sales and profitability)
Sales strategy and positioning
Positioning
•
National and
international events
• Contact with OEMs,
T1 T2 and comprehension
of specific requirements
Intercovamex: high vacuum equipment with
very high added value
French-born engineer Jean-Marc Zisa does not like
to live in big cities, so when he decided to open
his high vacuum equipment business in Mexico, he
chose to do it in Cuernavaca, Morelos.
Before starting his own business, Zisa worked for
Riber France who offered him work in Texas, where
he heard about the Free Trade Agreement between
the United States and Mexico. He soon realized
that there was no-one in Mexico selling the vacuum
equipment he knew so well.
“Mexico was virgin terrain in this technology. I
tried to find people who knew about it and there
were none so I decided to hire young people and
train them. I found them to be positive and with a
thirst to learn; they were flexible and dedicated,” he
recalls. And so, in 1991, Intercovamex was born, a
company that designs and manufactures high vacuum equipment for use in research laboratories and
the automotive, electric, pharmaceutical, metalworking and aerospace industries.
Since we have been
with TechBA we have
grown 60% a year.
In the early days, the company only distributed
products from other companies, but in 1994 it
began to design and assemble vacuum systems for
research and development. Soon, the growing demand for its equipment led the company to export
to South America, but it was in 2009, with its entry
into the TechBA program, that the internationalization project began to take shape.
“Until we met with TechBA, the one with a
strategy and a business plan was me, and I had
everything in my head, a bit disorganized. I had the
A vacuum machine developed by Intercovamex.
Photo courtesy of the company.
international vision, but I struggled to move from a
business managed by me, as the founder, to a structured company,” commented Zisa.
In that context, TechBA suggested that Intercovamex put together a business plan which resulted
in a total restructuring. Before TechBA, the company
had 15 employees, half of whom were engineers.
Today the workforce has grown to 39, and 80%
have university studies.
The directors of Intercovamex are pleased with
the changes made because they have led to unexpected growth in the company. According to Francisco Rodríguez, its General Manager, “Before the
business plan we were growing at about 10% a year.
Since we have been with TechBA we have grown
60% a year. It was a significant growth acceleration,
but we have done it in three years with their help.”
In spite of these important accomplishments, the
future still holds much in store for Intercovamex;
the acceleration has allowed it to open markets in
France and Oceania, and begin to look like a truly
global company, but it still expects to triple in size
and export to anywhere in the world where its
products are required.
41
Colombia looks to FUMEC programs
to accelerate technology SMEs
In October 2012, FUMEC took its experience working with IT and
biotechnology SMEs to Manizales, Colombia to support Incubar and
ParqueSoft in an important project for the area.
The project is aimed to create their own entrepreneurship model and propel the region into a position as a
knowledge society with a climate conducive to social and
economic development through technology innovation.
The project “High impact entrepreneurship as a strategy for the development of a knowledge economy in
Manizales,” is part of a joint effort by the Manizales City
Hall and the Luker Foundation, organizations with a shared
goal of turning the city into a place for the incubation and
The main objective of
the alliance with the
Colombian organizations
is to develop and introduce
an acceleration model
in strategic niches and
transfer work.
creation of new businesses which do well in sectors with
high development potential, such as biotechnology, mobile
technologies, human resources, managerial information
systems, IT solutions for the health sector, and others.
FUMEC’s participation in the project is to share its own
experience and knowledge of the tools and work models
that have been successful for the businesses it supports
within Mexico with TechPYME, and that it has helped to
internationalize through its TechBA accelerators.
The main objective of the alliance with the Colombian
organizations is to develop and introduce an acceleration
model in strategic niches and transfer work models and
tools related to FUMEC’s national and international oper-
42
A seminar organized by FUMEC in Colombia.
ating mechanisms, ranging from the Technology-Business
Assistance System (SATE), the development of innovation
and market networks, and the presentation of the TechBA
operating model.
During the project, the FUMEC team designed a pilot
acceleration program in Manizales that included the identification of support ecosystems that are regionally and
nationally available, and the contact network that could
facilitate access to new markets or to specialized consulting
services, using the networks that FUMEC has in Mexico
and the eight TechBA sites.
In addition, the FUMEC team interviewed 40 IT and
biotechnology companies in order to diagnose opportunities
and lead those with most potential into the acceleration
program in the international ecosystems of Mexico and
Silicon Valley.
“The companies of Manizales who participated in this
synergy between Incubar, ParqueSoft, TechBA and Tech-
talent that will accelerate the market pace and get involved
in the creation of new products such as software, in which
constant updating is essential.
The Manizales project also served as a bridge for establishing interaction with IT companies in the Parquesoft
Cali network, which has around 90 businesses and already
sees FUMEC as a potential partner for accelerating its IT
companies.
An entrepreneur making a roadmap in Colombia.
PYME were very surprised with what they saw in Silicon
Valley and what they achieved with FUMEC’s acceleration
program. It was their first step toward internationalization,”
says Lilia Arechavala, General Coordinator of TechPYME.
The Manizales companies are expected to be able to
create their own affiliates in Mexico and partner with Mexican businesses. This will help them to identify and access
other markets and meet Mexican standards as the basis
for international development, using the FUMEC networks
both in Mexico and the TechBA sites in the United States
and Canada.
As the IT industry in Manizales gathers momentum,
there will be increased participation and generation of
The Manizales
companies are expected
to be able to create their
own affiliates in Mexico
and partner with
Mexican businesses.
FUMEC is working in Manizales on a primer acceleration program involving four biotechnology companies.The
original plan, conceived by the Colombians, comprises a
number of different programs and actions including an
information program and the strengthening of the entrepreneurial capacities in universities; a laboratory for innovative
entrepreneurship in biotechnology for the development of
prototypes; the formation of a three-million-dollar venture
capital fund and, finally, the construction of a proprietary
business acceleration model for high impact companies in
collaboration with FUMEC.
43
Advanced
Market-Oriented Research
Societies which have built networks and programs that encourage
collaboration between academia and industry, have seen clear
benefits in their productivity, their competitiveness and, lastly, the
capacity of their researchers to generate ideas with
direct applications in different industries:
the backbone of what we know as innovation.
I/UCRC: A role model for academiaindustry liaison in Mexico
In 1982, this conviction led the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States to create the Industry/
University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRC), a
model that incorporates research centers, universities
and businesses, in order for them to establish partnerships
which, in the long term, will translate into integration and
specialist training projects which contribute to solving the
challenges of diverse industries.
I/UCRC receive “seed” resources and professional
support for their organization and development from
the NSF, but their work focuses on the technological and
strategic goals of the companies who provide the bulk of
their resources. Consortia generate research and development projects in precompetitive areas, orient specialist
training programs and facilitate the hiring of professionals
who are skilled in the right technologies according to their
development strategies.
For more than 30 years the I/UCRC program has built
more than 155 consortia, of which more than 60 operate
today. Each year, more than 900 researchers and close
to 1800 graduate and undergraduate students conduct
research defined by the Industrial Advisory Board of each
consortium.
FUMEC has encouraged Mexican institutions and businesses to participate in the consortia and promoted the
44
creation of models similar to the I/UCRC in Mexico. In May
2012, FUMEC organized a meeting in Washington with
the Program Director of the NSF, Rathindra DasGupta;
the Director of Business and Innovation of CONACYT,
Leonardo Ríos; the CEO of the National Laboratory for
Advanced Informatics (LANIA), Cristina Loyo; and the CEO
of FUMEC, Guillermo Fernández.
At the meeting, DasGupta presented the I/UCRC
model, sparking the interest of CONACYT to introduce
a similar model in Mexico in association with some United
States I/UCRC. The NSF offered its help for CONACYT
and FUMEC to attend the meetings and gain a thorough
insight into the methodologies used by I/UCRC in order
to better diagnose the potential to generate one or more
similar academia-industry collaboration centers in Mexico
FUMEC has encouraged
Mexican institutions
and businesses to participate
in industry-university
consortia.
which would work as affiliates to I/UCRC, known as “International Sites.”
According to Guillermo Fernández,“Mexico is in a sweet
spot to begin working in consortia of this kind; they are
hugely important to the university-industry relationship.”
The generation of these sites would mean an important
breakthrough, impacting the industry’s increased productivity, the creation of important research projects and the
generation of more qualified human resources.
The affiliates of I/UCRC that CONACYT hopes to
start would be far-reaching and match Mexico’s primary
objectives: the organization of collaborative groups of
networking academics and company specialists, and their
participation internationally to take on new challenges
arising from companies’ technological strategies.
FUMEC, with its extensive network to cover all aspects
of the project, was approached to do the groundwork for
the first pilot programs of the sites in Mexico. Establishing
one or more affiliates of I/UCRC in Mexico would strengthen binational academia-industry relations, opening a wide
range of opportunities for companies and researchers
from both countries.
Investigation to evaluate the viability
of the first sites in Mexico
In September 2012, the Foundation carried out a pilot
project in IT and advanced manufacturing sectors to evaluate opportunities and possible partnerships for academic
centers and businesses.
IT was supported by LANIA, while the manufacturing
sector had support from the Autonomous University of
Baja California and the CETYS University, with backing
from Honeywell Aerospace, to seek cooperation with
the Center for Advanced Non-Ferrous Structural Alloys
(CANFSA), one of the I/UCRC consortia for the development of projects related to aerospace and automotive
manufacturing processes.
During the process, a network of contacts was built
which helped to identify the needs and opportunities for
the country to approach a model like the I/UCRC, and
incorporate researchers and businesses keen to provide
resources to generate research and innovation.
FUMEC knows and works with other sectors in Mexico
which can benefit from alliances with I/UCRC, and will
continue to explore opportunities in health, environment,
pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing to analyze
the viability of creating Mexican I/UCRC sites in those areas.
The benefits of this academia-industry relationship model,
should Mexico take advantage of it, range from boosting the
organization of academic networks and industrial consortia,
the lessons learned from a work scheme with industry,
the participation of Mexican industry in the definition of
global work agendas, to researcher and graduate/doctoral
student exchanges between Mexico and the United States,
to mention a few.
This kind of alliance will
open important opportunities
for the development of new
capacities and skills.
“Thanks to the interest and support of CONACYT and
the NSF, the Foundation encourages national researchers
and businesses to participate in this kind of alliance for other
sectors, which will open important opportunities for the
development of new capacities and skills, helping companies
to detect technology needs and have more opportunities
in the future,” the CEO of FUMEC concluded.
45
Development of Human Resources in
Science and Technology
At FUMEC we know that economic development in North America depends to a
large extent on our countries having a population that is ready to meet existing
work demand in areas with most impact on productivity, which are almost always
related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Today, innovation is the driver behind development, and
relies increasingly on sophisticated knowledge. Competitiveness is related more than ever to the supply of products
and services based on research advances.This creates jobs
for those with the ability to understand the problems and
opportunities associated with incorporating scientific and
technological progress, to resolve problems and improve
the competitive position of businesses.
The work paradox of recent years is that many countries
are struggling with high unemployment figures, while scientific
professionals and technicians with specific skills are hard
to come by and very costly. This unbalance speaks to the
inflexibility of countries to make educational innovations
and academia-industry partnerships that better prepare
people to occupy highly qualified jobs.
What competencies do we need to achieve this kind
of education? For Anders Hedberg, a specialist in STEM
teaching, the answer is, “a series of abilities that form part
of the international STEM language, critical skills for the use
of new technologies that will arise and on which we will
depend and that will help to build and maintain higher quality
communities and improve the quality of life of all citizens.”
Among the Foundation’s objectives is to help children
and young people to acquire these kinds of skills to better
cover the work profiles that industry demands.To achieve
this, we have supported programs like Engineering Basics
in High School Education, which has begun to bear fruit in
the College of Scientific and Technical Studies of the State
of Querétaro. This program has ensured that the areas
of science, technology, engineering and mathematics are
viewed favorably by high school students and chosen as
a career plan.
Thanks to INNOVEC —an organization that emerged
from FUMEC with the mission of promoting the research,
46
innovation and development of mechanisms to improve the
teaching of science at elementary levels—, inquiry-based
science teaching has been able to permeate basic education in Mexico.
This organization has trained thousands of teachers
in Mexico to exploit inquiry-based and science education systems (IBSE, or SEVIC in Spanish) which allow
ongoing learning and exchange rigid teaching schemes for
dynamic systems that motivate children to learn in much
more effective and creative ways, utilizing their ingenuity
and flexibility.
We want future generations to acquire the skills which
will allow them to build their own future and improve
their life expectations through a logical, critical, innovative,
proactive and entrepreneurial approach.
Another challenge is to bridge the gap between public and private sector students by giving teachers more
opportunities to train and put quality education models
into practice. Without a doubt, this challenge involves all
of society, from family to business owners and, of course,
governments and academic institutions.
CECyTEQ: shaping competitive talent for
the knowledge economy
In the next 20 years, 13 million more Mexicans will be looking for a position
in the job market, according to The Hays Global Skills Index 2012. Today,
only 55 of every 100 professionals work in their area of competence,24 which
is a loss for the country when a professional does not have the opportunity to
apply his or her knowledge in production sectors.
The Engineering Basics in High School Education program,
created in 2008 from the partnering of the College for
Scientific and Technology Studies of the State of Querétaro (CECyTEQ in Spanish) with FUMEC, is beginning to
change this situation by helping high school students to
pursue careers in engineering and sciences. The program
is based on projects similar to those developed in the real
world, using the same techniques and equipment, and with
concrete results.
CECyTEQ student project showcase.
Photo courtesy of CECyTEQ.
Project Lead The Way (PLTW), a United States program
that prepares and encourages high school student to embark on careers in engineering and sciences, has been the
model for Engineering Basics, adapted to regional conditions,
because Mexico needs to build talent capable of meeting
the challenges imposed by global industry, in an era which
is practically defined by technological competitiveness.
In July 2012, the first generation of 104 students graduated from the Engineering Basics program, and both
CECyTEQ and FUMEC celebrated that achievement in the
company of the Querétaro State Governor, José Calzada;
Education Secretary, Fernando de la Isla; the CEO of CECyTEQ, Carlos Luhrs and the CEO of FUMEC, Guillermo
Fernández, at a graduation ceremony with the students.
“Engineering Basics has been an extraordinary lesson
for all of us. It is a great opportunity to increase the level
of development of the state and the important economic,
industrial and service activity it has,” comments Luhrs.Today,
this program is preparing 603 students at four different
locations and with engineering programs that represent
huge areas of opportunity, including information technologies and renewable energies.
“Engineering Basics is much more than a course,” says
Luhrs, “it implies a philosophy, a rationale and an approach
that engages learners so that they perform better, and
show greater personal commitment and self-confidence.”
The program promotes leadership, critical thinking and
decision-making. The students of Engineering Basics are
known for being innovative, enterprising, persevering and
propositional, which not only benefits them academically,
but also in their personal life.
The program’s impact on the students’ daily life is evident
when we talk to them; most describe their story in terms
of “before and after” Engineering Basics.
Such is the case of Francisco Hernández, who describes
his experience in the program as “something different to
24
Burgos Flores, Benjamín y López Montes, Karla (2010). “La situación del
mercado laboral de profesionistas”, en Revista de Educación Superior. Vol.
XXXIX, Número 156, octubre-diciembre.
47
what I had seen, something new and dynamic. Engineering
Basics takes you a step beyond and brings you, as a person,
many positive things like maturity and tolerance. Now that
I am at university I realize that I acquired an ideology that
is conducive to understanding and study.”
Something similar happened to Eduardo Carmona,
who is today studying Industrial Maintenance Engineering,
and remembers that being in the program “was a brilliant
experience that meant acquiring extra knowledge and skills
that the others didn’t have.”
Engineering Basics students.
Photo courtesy of CECyTEQ.
The results obtained by Engineering Basics are reflected in hard facts. In the first generation, the program has
improved the completion rate from 65% to 73%, and
increased the number of students going on to university
from 53% to 80%. Before the program, 36% of students
leaving high school chose a scientific or engineering career,
but today this number has doubled.
In Luhrs’ experience as CEO of CECyTEQ, one of the
most commonplace problems facing schools at this level is
48
With Engineering Basics the
CEO of CECyTEQ sees the
opportunity to show that
there should be no difference
in the level of education
between public.
how to generate commitments from students to maintain
their success in school.This program, however, has proven
that when students understand the subjects and are engaged at a deeper level, their performance improves, and
as a result, so does their consistency, which undoubtedly
influences their ability to set their own goals and meet them.
For Diana Vargas, a current student in the program,
this has meant the opportunity to ask crucial questions
about her career path. “Engineering Basics helps you define yourself, it resolves knowledge that maybe you could
not get at another time and you come out with a better
expectation of things. It’s a great way to prove to yourself
whether engineering is right for you, if you like to innovate
every day, work hard, meet all your goals and succeed.”
In this program, the CEO of CECyTEQ sees the opportunity to show that there should be no difference in
the level of education between public and private schools.
He sees Engineering Basics as a public model of education
innovation that gives young people real opportunities for
growth and professional development.
Speaking of the expectations of expanding the program
to other schools inside and outside of the state, Luhrs
thinks that “the program should be a far-reaching national
project. We are privileged to be the only institution with
the program, but it is a shame we can’t share it with more
young people and utilize it to the full. There is no doubt
that programs like this are what we need to make the
country and the state competitive.”
Engineering Basics is an excellent example to reform
education and elevate it to the demand of today’s knowledge society. “We are seeking to integrate education levels
into a statewide science education program in order to
become more competitive and generate better welfare
conditions for the population, creating a scientific culture
of increasingly greater scope,” says Luhrs.
Veracruz: children and young people
building quality scientific education
The state of Veracruz was the first to open the doors of its schools
to the new inquiry-based and science education (IBSE) systems
promoted by INNOVEC at elementary level, and has been the first to
apply the system in special and indigenous education.
IBSE systems promote science education through a pedagogic model that motivates children’s innate curiosity to
learn about the world around them, while teaching reasoning,
collaboration and problem solving skills.
A central goal of these systems is to innovate teaching
practice through training and the use of methodologies
through which children acquire learning skills from an early
age, discovering and learning about science. Observation,
questioning, experimentation, expression, investigation and
interaction with living organisms or everyday objects are
key to these systems.
These systems are employed in Veracruz under the name
Inquiry-Based and Science Education Application Program
(PASEVIC ins Spanish), and today benefits around 20,000
children in elementary education. This is possible thanks
to the work of FUMEC and INNOVEC, and the support
Training of PASEVIC teachers. Photo courtesy of PASEVIC.
received from the Secretariat of Public Education (SEP)
and the State Undersecretary of Basic Education.
Teacher Blanca Nava has been in education for 40
years and has coordinated the program in Veracruz with
enthusiasm. She recalls how, in her school, “we fought for
PASEVIC to be given at all levels of basic education, with
the conviction that access to knowledge should be a right
that all children can enjoy, including those with special needs
or belonging to indigenous cultures.”
Another quality that distinguishes and strengthens PASEVIC is the participation of a collegiate body of multidisciplinary advisors which includes educational representatives
from preschool, state and federal elementary education,
indigenous, special, general and technical education and
even distance learning for rural junior high schools. For
Nava this form of working is important because of the
feedback it generates and because the planning and design
of education programs should be a coordinated effort.
“It is very enriching to see what teachers do in other
levels, like special or indigenous education. Working in a
collegiate group has taught us teamwork, to speak the
same language, and we have made innovations and adaptations that strengthen the program. We thought special
needs children could work with the scientific method and
we have seen excellent results.” As a result, almost all the
state’s special education centers are working with IBSE.
Another feature of Veracruz is that the PASEVIC constantly generates projects and innovations as a result of
the work of teachers, technicians, researchers, scientists and
experts, which help to regionalize the issues dealt with in
the program, using the same methodology. In addition, the
49
program provides teachers with the equipment and tools
they need so that the children can experience a new way
of learning science. Above all, it has trained them to further
optimize teaching self-sufficiently and to pass knowledge
on to their students day by day.
For Ms. Nava, the greatest satisfaction of working in this
program “is seeing the children empowered and demanding
to be taught like that every day.That gives us a lump in the
throat. Teachers tell us it’s the best course they’ve had in
their entire career.”
Not only does the program have teachers falling head
over heels, it has also served to consolidate previous efforts
to establish collaborations with programs and institutions
concerning environmental education, water, biodiversity
and others, with IBSE methodology. “We have managed to
get institutions like the Fairchild Tropical Garden and the
Institute of Ecology of the State of Veracruz to work with
PASEVIC students during a field practice. Photo courtesy of PASEVIC.
50
Teachers tell us it’s the
best course they’ve had in
their entire career.
us, which has given greater projection to the program,”
comments Nava.
The inquiry-based education promoted by INNOVEC
has been growing even in schools with no funding at all; the
PASEVIC team has transmitted the methodology to many
teachers keen to build better foundations for their students.
“We started with 15 preschools and now we have more
than 100 which, although they are without funding, have
received training, coaching and support from us.”
Nava is confident that the good results in the classroom,
the new projects incorporated into the PASEVIC, the testimonials of teaching staff, and the constant reports and
innovations, will enable them to win more support to forge
ahead and increase the number of schools benefitted. “I
am very happy with the confidence and support we have
had from teachers, collegiate members, authorities and the
program for being able to embark on new projects, make
our own operating rules and form a technical committee
with the academic features that interest us.”
According to the coordinator, this program has given
her the opportunity to pursue a life plan alongside people
committed to education, and the chance to create projects
she is passionate about. For this teacher, “It is essential for
teachers to review and evaluate their practices and, to
do that, there are tools available, like the IBSE, which offer
huge advantages with an innovative approach that can be
adapted to any subject.”
Motorola and Intel: companies
committed to science education
Big companies today play an important role in public policy
issues and have the power to generate positive economic and
social changes, especially through corporate social responsibility
programs, where they can contribute to economic development and
growth, problem resolution and improving living conditions.
Such is the case of companies that support INNOVEC
so that education in Mexico is transformed to respond
to today’s needs, ensuring that children and young people
receive an education that enables them to perform better
professionally and at work. Here we present the perspectives of Motorola Solutions and Intel, with whom FUMEC
has collaborated extensively.
Motorola Solutions: A better society
helped by education innovation
Motorola Solutions is a company seeking to “create a better society in all those places where it does business,” says
Luis Lara, Director of Motorola Solutions in Latin America.
The Motorola Solutions Foundation makes international
efforts to strengthen education in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics to prepare children and
young people with the skills required by the industry of
the future. Four years ago FUMEC contacted the company
and presented its education programs. And so began a
partnership to start a pilot program to apply Inquiry-Based
Science Education (IBSE) systems in Chiapas, and hold a
diploma course in Inquiry-Based Education in Nuevo León.
The approval and success achieved by the teachers and
students in these two states motivated Motorola to press
on, and to propose the IBSE program to the Motorola
Solutions Foundation in the United States, who approved
the resources to fund a program in Michoacán with support
from the State Science and Technology Council in 2012.
“In innovative science and technology education we
see one of the most important opportunities to collaborate with INNOVEC; their focus on inquiry-based science
teaching matches our interest in supporting quality education. Furthermore, our market is closely related to that
area, they are topics that we deal with and are looking
to innovate and grow day by day, making our users more
efficient,” explains Lara.
First day of school opening ceremony in Michoacán.
Photo courtesy of INNOVEC.
The shaping of better-skilled human resources is also
beneficial to companies who are seeking ever more competitive profiles to incorporate into the work.“We support
programs with multiplying effects such as IBSE because, as
we have seen in Michoacán, training 70 teachers benefits
1,482 students,” says Lara. “This program is very important
because it is changing how things are done and has the
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ability to change traditional teaching methods little by little,
and generate a group of people who are well-prepared in
more complex subjects.”
According to the Motorola representative, it is important
in Mexico to have projects of this kind evaluated by experts
in the field and people who are committed to the last
level. “That gives FUMEC and INNOVEC the confidence
of authorities and companies and we feel satisfied that we
are putting in our grain of sand to make the world a better
place to live in,” he goes on.
The shaping of betterskilled human resources
is beneficial to companies
who are seeking ever more
competitive profiles to
incorporate into the work.
The next step is to add further efforts to this kind of
program, “we like to be leaders, but when it comes to
social commitment we would like to be part of a major
project shared by more corporations and organizations.
We are looking to break paradigms; our day to day job
as a technology company is to reinvent ourselves, and we
bring this same thinking into education with partnerships
like this,” concludes Lara.
Intel: Investing in education, the best
way to boost development
Intel has a long history of interaction with FUMEC and, in
2007, was invited to participate in one of the meetings of
the INNOVEC Board of Directors to share how company
was approaching professional development when training
teachers in information technologies. Intel has made global
efforts in elementary public education so that teachers
learn to make use of technology to stay up-to-date and
be more effective.
“For Intel, there is no better support than that which
can be given to education. It is an environment which has
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6th International Conference organized by INNOVEC with
support from Intel. Photo courtesy of INNOVEC.
the greatest impact on the development of society and
grants more opportunities to those who have access to
it,” comments Fernando Martínez Peña, of the Corporate
Affairs Group, Intel México.
The affinity shared by Intel and INNOVEC regarding
pedagogical and technological strategies to encourage the
development of 21st century skills —critical thinking, effective
communication, collaboration and research— led to Intel’s
interest in collaborating with INNOVEC, supporting their
international conferences.
“Conferences bring together experts in science, technology and education who facilitate knowledge and strategies
to orient the country towards development. We decided
to support these conferences because the outreach effort
made by INNOVEC is laudable and important,” Martínez
points out.
For Intel, participating with INNOVEC implies forming
part of an educational effort that directly impacts the lives of
teachers and their students. “There are few efforts like this
one in Mexico,” says Martínez, “INNOVEC takes responsibility for monitoring its programs, going into every corner
looking for spaces, to every school and every teacher to
get the feedback that every quality program requires to
continue to refine itself.”
These two companies are a good example of how
private initiative can participate in projects that benefit the
community by strengthening its very foundations, which is
what happens with investment in education.
Health and Environment
The design of the AlertaMEX system, which enables
the notification of contagious diseases and will help the Ministry
of Health to speed the detection and prevention process,
concluded successfully in 2012 as part of the Early Warning
Infectious Disease Surveillance (EWIDS) program.
FUMEC supports U.S.-Mexico
collaboration in health
EWIDS, just like other programs such as Border Infectious
Disease Surveillance (BIDS) and the project to strengthen
the Influenza Epidemiological Surveillance Network, are
initiatives with a common goal: to preserve health in Mexico
and the United States.
The interest of both countries in preventing the spread
of infectious diseases among their inhabitants dates back a
long way, but gained new momentum in 2001, when the
United States Postal Service was hit by a bioterrorist attack
that infected 22 people. That led to the beginnings of the
United States-Mexico Border Health Commission, working on programs for the prevention of such diseases, and
FUMEC created its Border Health Collaboration Project,
which paved the way for the Binational Health Collaboration Support Program, coordinated by Fernanda Guerrero,
and which represents an opportunity for both countries
to complement their surveillance capacities.
FUMEC’s role in this has expanded to being a facilitator
which channels United States government resources to
reach Mexican institutions like the General Directorate
of Epidemiology (DGE) and the National Institute of
Epidemiological Diagnosis and Referral (InDRE), which
develop the EWIDS and BIDS programs and the Influenza
Epidemiological Surveillance Network.
In its role as fiduciary agent, the Foundation has sought
to improve its capacity to manage funds, and so in 2012
participated in a number of administration courses, including “Grant Administration for Grantees,” and an online seminar aimed at preparing and submitting budget
requests; both organized by the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) in Atlanta.
Training to improve epidemiological
surveillance capabilities in Mexico
The effectiveness of epidemiological surveillance depends
on the capacity and preparation of the country in public
health issues. For that reason, FUMEC also supports Mexican
health institutions to stay abreast of related developments
and in constant training.
In 2012, seven InDRE professionals attended training in
San Diego, which centered on enhancing laboratory logistics
techniques and development, and addressed issues such
as: biosecurity, blood borne pathogens, chemical hygiene
plan and training in sample packaging procedures. Also,
in November of that year, one InDRE specialist attended
a symposium in Atlanta about rabies that spoke of the
importance of increasing surveillance of the disease in
domestic and wild species.
53
Another important workshop was given by Technology
Associates International Corporation (TAIC), which trained
22 people from the DGE and two doctors from each
border state (Baja California, Chihuahua, Sonora, Coahuila,
Tamaulipas and Nuevo León), to use the AlertaMEX system.
“The participation in workshops and symposiums that
FUMEC promotes and finances through resources obtained
from the United States is extensive training. The intention
is for those who attend the training courses to bring back
valuable information and, in turn, be able to train personnel
in Mexico,” explains Guerrero.
Moving forward on several fronts in
epidemiological surveillance
The BIDS project, which is responsible for monitoring
communicable diseases such as the Nile virus, influenza
and dengue, is about to introduce the surveillance of
brucellosis, a disease that is spread by eating meat from
infected animals.This project took shape thanks to the DGE,
in collaboration with the InDRE, developing a proposed
protocol for sentinel surveillance of the disease, initially in
Sonora and Michoacán.
The project to strengthen the Influenza Epidemiological
Surveillance Network was able to consolidate the initial
54
FUMEC supports Mexican
health institutions to
stay abreast of related
developments and in
constant training.
part of the National Plan for Influenza Preparedness and
Response in Humans and Animals, which aims to continue
surveillance throughout the country to quickly identify
possible influenza cases.
But, in spite of the progress made, there is still much
to do. Mexican biosecurity laboratories lack infrastructure;
level 3 laboratories, which handle life-threatening pathogens, are few and far between. The absence of level 3 and
4 laboratories complicates the handling of pathogens like
influenza for health institutions since they need certain levels
of security to prevent contagion among their researchers.
Nevertheless, the Mexican health system continues to
work towards remedying this deficiency within four years.
One important advance was made on June 2012 when
the United States Department of Human Health Services
named the InDRE as a member of the Network of National
Response Laboratories in the United States.The network,
which responds to emergencies that may arise in areas such
as bioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases, is made
up of United States organizations like the CDC, the FBI
and the Association of Public Health Laboratories. Hence,
the entry of the InDRE to the network is an achievement
shared by all the actors who collaborate binationally in
matters of epidemiological surveillance.
The prevention, detection and halting of the spread
of infectious diseases concerns all countries around the
world, and requires great teamwork for their efforts to be
effective. Epidemiological surveillance involves the work of
many actors on both sides of the Mexico-United States
border. Constant communication and teams of professionals
who are dedicated to the common good are essential for
preserving our biggest asset: health.
Encouraging entrepreneurs
in low-income communities
In Mexico, micro-enterprises that produce and process food are highly active
and are the livelihood of a great number of families in rural and urban
communities. Supporting these businesses, which often emerge without
any planning whatsoever, directly benefits the producers and increases
competitiveness by collaborating in the generation of quality products that are
made with safety measures and ensure the well-being of consumers.
Since 2005, FUMEC’s Food Safety Program has worked
with micro-enterprises and food producers to provide
them with the assessment and tools they need for their
businesses to reach the quality standards required to successfully market their products.
In February 2012, FUMEC consolidated its Micro-Enterprise Assistance Program for the Food Sector to help
independent producers and micro-enterprises improve
their business capacities and seek sustainability and the
development of innovative products, to meet national and
international market needs.
Today, around 20% of food sector SMEs use or are interested in using safety and quality systems for their products;
however, a large number of producers and micro-businesses
are unaware of the issue or do not know the procedures
to apply them.“Quality and safety certifications allow them
to access a whole new level of commerce and be able to
compete on the global market,” says Cristina Acevedo,
Coordinator of FUMEC’s Food Safety Program.
The program is aimed primarily at people and groups in
vulnerable situations, such as seniors, young entrepreneurs
and low-income communities or producers with an interest
Quality and safety
certifications allow them
to access a whole new
level of commerce and
be able to compete on the
global market.
Entrepreneurs in a labeling workshop.
in improving their practices and processes, or who need to
strengthen their business capacity to be more competitive
and reach specific market niches.
Entrepreneurs come in with a product or sometimes an
idea, which they start to shape and perfect as the assessment goes on. “During the first phase we look at human
55
Entrepreneurs come in with
a product or sometimes an
idea, which they start to
shape and perfect as the
assessment goes on.
development issues, we identify their personal abilities
together and their family or community goals. We look at
what they want to be, what makes them happy and what
they like so that that becomes the goal, and then later, that
goal becomes a business option,” explains Acevedo.
The program consists of three phases and starts with
pre-incubation which involves a general diagnosis, a life
plan, an evaluation of ideas and a SWOT analysis. During
the incubation phase, a business plan is drawn up and the
incorporation of the company is analyzed. Then, in the
third, post-incubation phase, they see safety and quality
management systems, and are offered a workshop on good
practices, business administration and competitiveness.
The products generated by the businesses in the program are already being marketed or about to be, and have
generated 96 direct jobs.
Among the businesses that the Foundation has incubated are: CYCMEX, which makes liquid chocolate for
56
diabetics; Sinanché, which produces artisanal honey and
employs low-income people in Yucatán; Chile de la Botella,
which is about to pitch its product to Comercial Mexicana;
Nutrisnack which makes amaranth to ISO-9000 standards,
and Gran Kanak, which is the undertaking of two seniors
who produce organic chocolate.
Up to now, FUMEC has incubated 28 projects in Tlaxcala,
Jalisco, Mexico City,Yucatán and Mexico State and it expects
that these will help to improve the lives of the people who
participate in the program, enabling the creation and consolidation of enterprises as a source of self-employment
and senior employment.
Entrepreneurs in a life skills workshop.
Strengthening our
collaboration with Canada
During 2012, FUMEC kept in touch with several Canadian
organizations with a view to further reinforcing collaboration
with Canada. This cooperation is essential for moving forward
on issues such as the competitiveness of trinational chains
and the training of talent groups.
» Support for a Canadian IRAP mission
In February 2012, FUMEC supported the Industrial Research
Assistance Program (IRAP), an initiative of the Canadian
National Research Council, in a mission of five companies
who visited Mexico to explore partnership, collaboration
and market opportunities.
• Presentation of opportunities. NRC consultants
presented wireless health applications to six Mexican
companies participating in the TechPYME program
for mobile technologies.
• Business encounters. Canadian and Mexican companies interested in developing their value offer in
new markets explored collaboration options.
• Liaison. The Canadian delegation was keen to strike
up a relationship with the big Mexican telecommunications companies. FUMEC set up a meeting
with TELMEX-IT which focuses on exploring and
developing new business opportunities.
» Mexico-Canada meeting to discuss
innovation policies
Sara Hadrecky, Canada’s Ambassador to Mexico, and
Leoncio Salaburu, CEO of TechBA Montreal.
The National Project Coordinator of the NRC, William Dobson, organized the visit for the companies who
are interested in exploring opportunities in information
technologies with applications for the health sector. This
collaboration included the following activities:
At FUMEC’s invitation, the President of the Science, Technology and Innovation Council of Canada, Howard Alper,
visited Mexico in March 2012, and presented the document entitled The State of The Nation 2010. Imagination
to Innovation during a meeting with representatives from
the Mexican science, technology and innovation sectors.
In attendance were representatives from the Secretariat
of Economy (SE), the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) and FUMEC, who discussed various
aspects of the innovation strategies of Canada and Mexico.
The meeting touched on the definition of indicators that
support the implementation of public policies, and the need
to promote the creation of managerial strategies among
57
Mexican businesses for their economic stability and growth.
The Undersecretary of Industry and Commerce, Lorenza Martínez Trigueros, pointed out that the exchange of
knowledge in technology development has strengthened
the relationship between both nations and that meetings
such as this are an opportunity to create knowledge and
innovation networks.
Alper recommended that Mexican authorities encourage
companies to invest in science and technology to adopt
innovation as a competitive strategy, and promote the
practical application of scientific research and the training
of highly qualified personnel.
» Strengthening our relationship with
British Columbia and Quebec
FUMEC has two offices of the TechBA acceleration program for technology companies in Montreal and Vancouver,
Canada. Through them, the Foundation has been able to
strengthen its interaction with authorities and institutions
from British Columbia and Quebec which have supported
the operations of these accelerators and facilitated partnerships with key institutions within these business ecosystems.
In Montreal, right from the beginning we have had great
support from the Inno-centre incubator, the Industrial Re-
58
search Assistance Program (IRAP) and the National Research
Council. In Vancouver, our allies have been Wavefront and
Discovery Parks, as well as the Centre for Digital Media,
the British Columbia Technology Industry Association, and
the British Columbia Innovation Council.
At federal level, we have received support from organizations like the Ministry of Economic Development,
Innovation and Export, and the office of Foreign Affairs
and International Trade Canada.
» Interest in opening a TechBA in
Toronto
The representative of Ontario in Mexico, Chantal Ramsay,
has approached FUMEC on various occasions with a view
to establishing a TechBA (our technology business accelerator) office in Toronto.
Similarly, representatives of MaRS, a Canadian organization that boosts economic development through innovation
and by supporting technology companies, has contacted
FUMEC to insist that the MaRS installations would be an
excellent choice for opening a TechBA site in Toronto.
Directory
Program
Coordinator
Innovation Based Economic Development
TechPYME General Coordinator
Aerospace
Automotive
Clean Technologies
Health Technologies
Food Technologies
Information Technologies
Microsystems
Mobile
Technology-Business Assistance System (SATE)
Industrial Property
TechBA General Coordinator
TechBA Arizona
TechBA Austin
TechBA Madrid
TechBA Michigan
TechBA Montreal
TechBA Seattle
TechBA Silicon Valley
TechBA Vancouver
Lilia Arechavala
Luis Pineda
Carlos Meneses
César Rivera
Carlos Martínez
Ana Boeta
Iván Zavala
Guillermina Avendaño
Mariano Contreras
Jaime Loé
Shanik Santos
Haru Yamasaki
Haru Yamasaki
Luis Medina
Eugenio Marín
Raúl Carvajal
Leoncio Salaburu
Itzam de Gortari
Adolfo Tavera
Federico Goroztieta
Advanced Market-Oriented Research
Collaboration with CONACYT and NSF
Marcela Ángeles
Development of Human Resources in Science and Technology
Engineering Basics in High School Education
Innovation on Science Education (INNOVEC)
Ignacio Castro
Liaison with INNOVEC
Guillermo Fernández
Environment and Health
Binational Health Collaboration
Food Safety
Fernanda Guerrero
Cristina Acevedo
FUMEC Office in Washington D.C.
Washington D.C.
Jessica Borth
59
Our Offices
México, D.F.
TechBA Michigan
Washington D.C.
TechBA Montreal
TechBA Arizona
TechBA Seattle
San Francisco 1626, Despacho 205,
Col. Del Valle, C.P. 03100, México, D.F.
Tel. (+52 55) 5200 0560
The National Academies of Science
500 5th Street NW, Washington D.C.
20001, U.S.A.
Tel. (+202) 334 25 22
4600 E Washington St, Suite 300
Phoenix, AZ 85034, U.S.A.
Tel. (+602) 772 4980
TechBA Austin
3925 West Braker Lane
Austin, Texas 78759, U.S.A.
Tel. (+512) 305 0974
TechBA Madrid
C/Santiago Grisolia 2, Oficina 163
PTM/Parque Científico de Madrid
28760 Tres Cantos
Madrid, España
Tel. (+34) 91 806 4442
60
26200 Lahser Rd. Suite 170
Southfield, Michigan, U.S.A.
Tel. (+313) 483 0387
550, Sherbrooke St. West
Suite 200 Montreal,
Québec H3A 1B9, Canada
Tel. (+514) 987 9550
Corporate Plaza
600 108th Ave NE, Suite 314
Bellevue, WA. 98004, U.S.A.
Tel. (+425) 732 32 50
TechBA Silicon Valley
1737 N First Street Suite 230
San José, CA 95112, U.S.A.
Tel. (+408) 806 0290
TechBA Vancouver
Discovery Parks
150-887 Great Northern Way
Vancouver, BC. Canada, V5T 4T5
Tel. (+604) 637 5200
Financial
Information
The George E. Brown United States-Mexico Foundation for Science
Statement of Activities for the Year End
as of December 31, 2012
(U.S. Dollars)
Health and Environment
Economic Development Based on Innovation
2012
1.074.635
10.080.631
Human Resources Development
in Science and Technology
216.470
Offices Abroad
136.717
Subtotal
Operating Expenses
11.508.453
889.122
TOTAL12.397.575
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