Technology Hub

Technology Hub is a business accelerator and start up incubator along both sides of the US/Mexico border in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas. It was founded in 2015[1][2][3][4][5][4] and is a Mexico National Institute for Entrepreneurship certified incubator that has developed and houses 100 high growth technology companies.[1]

Technology Hub
IndustryManufacturing and Tech
Founded2015
FounderRicardo Mora CEO (Founder)
Rodolfo Vazquez CIO (Co-founder)
Rubén Rivera CFO (Co-founder)
Fermin Reyes CTO (Co-Founder)
HeadquartersMexico:
Av. López Mateos 924
Alfa, 32317
Cd Juárez, Chihuahua
US:
500 W. Overland
Suite 230
El Paso, Texas 79901

Background

Technology Hub is bi-nationally headquartered in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas. Its mission has been enhancing the entrepreneurial and start up climate in the Ciudad Juarez US/Mexico border region.[4][2][1] The incubator offers technical training, business networking and mentoring programs.[4] It houses a 3D printing Fab Lab, a Virtual Reality demonstration development facility,[6] and regularly hosts bi-national tech events such as, startup weekends, hackathons, shark tank pitch contests and women in STEM workshops.[7][8]

Close to 4000 people walk through Technology Hub's doors each month

The operation is centered around the redesigned, refurbished former US consulate facility.[9] The 1.8 acre compound was designed for Ciudad Juarez creators, students and industry to connect and turn ideas into products and successful enterprises.[3]

The business and labor system

Since Mexico established the BIP (Border Industrialization Program) in 1965, Ciudad Juarez has been a major manufacturing base with links to global markets. According to CBRE, 60% of Ciudad Juarez jobs come from the more than 300 maquilas or foreign assembly plants in the city.[10] Most of them are low-wage and low-skill positions.[11] In 2016 Ciudad Juarez was found to have some of the lowest formal employment wages in Mexico.[11] In the longer term, Technology Hub is working to move the city's low skill manufacturing industry into an innovation cluster.[12] Technology Hub's economic development projects are in line with the research of University of Berkeley Professor Enrico Moretti:

“…highly specialized innovation workers, such as engineers and designers, generate about three times as many local jobs for service workers — such as doctors, carpenters, and waitresses — as do manufacturing workers" -The New Geography of Jobs Enrico Moretti, 2012.[13] "

Innovation economies are found to be more adaptive to shifting tech and trade conditions and more resilient to the kind of civil unrest[13] that plagued Ciudad Juarez in the past. According to Technology Hub CEO and founder Ricardo Mora, Ciudad Juarez has all the ingredients to become an innovation economy[12] and center of gravity in North American tech development. In 2016 Mexico graduated more engineers than Germany,[14][15] the city is a base for 70 fortune 500 companies.[16][17][18] State of Chihuahua Innovation and Economic Development Secretary Alejandra de la Vega, moved the agency's headquarters from the state capital into Technology Hub in 2016.[1]

Industry collaboration

Technology Hub works collaboratively with industry and companies operating in Ciudad Juarez on programs on data mining, human capital development and transitioning into Industry 4.0. Technology Hub worked with financial backer Microsoft on the TechSpark initiative[19] and to deliver RESET[20]; the largest bi-national entrepreneurial event along the US/Mexico border.[21][22]

Cross border, bi-national economic development

In 2017 and 2018, Technology Hub has hosted RESET; the largest bi-national entrepreneurial event along the US/Mexico border. More than 3,500 university students attended the Technology Hub event to see industry figures from Amazon, MIT, National Geographic, NASA and Marvel Comics, and many others.[22]

References
  1. O'Boyle, Brendan (October 10, 2018). "AQ Top 5 Urban Visionaries: Ricardo Mora". Anericas Society/Couneil of the Americas. Americas Quarterly. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  2. Thompson, Simon (October 20, 2017). "Looking For Tech Innovators In Mexico's Ciudad Juarez". American Public Media. Marketplace Morning Report. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  3. Fernandez, Miguel (February 17, 2016). "A New Era in Ciudad Juarez". Huffington Post. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  4. Thompson, Simon (October 3, 2016). "Technology Hub Juarez Kicking City's Business Sector Back Into Gear". KRWG. National Public Radio/KRWG. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  5. Lovett Burloux, Patrick Laura (January 31, 2017). "Mexico's manufacturing hub of Ciudad Juarez gears up for new era". France24. France24. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  6. "Fab Lab Juarez | FabLabs". FabLabs.io - The Fab Lab Network. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  7. Montes, Aaron (November 20, 2017). "Entrepreneurs face the 'sharks' in Juarez". El Paso Inc. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  8. Miranda, Gil (January 1, 2018). "It is important to invest in artificial intelligence to generate more growth in different aspects of society". Mexico Industry. Mexico Industry. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  9. "Technology HUB / HADVD Arquitectos". ArchDaily. December 26, 2017. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  10. El Paso Inc News Editors and Partners, El Paso Inc News Editors and Partners (January 26, 2016). "Tech campus launched in Juarez". El Paso Inc. El Paso Inc. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  11. Ortiz Uribe, Mónica (February 29, 2016). "Workers in Mexico's border factories say they can barely survive, so they're turning to unions". American Public Media. Public Radio International. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  12. "Looking for tech innovators in Mexico's Ciudad Juarez". Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  13. O'Toole, Kathleen (June 10, 2013). "Enrico Moretti: The Geography of Jobs". Stanford. Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  14. "Economies – Germany". Human Capital Report 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  15. "Economies – Mexico". Human Capital Report 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  16. "Manufacturing Ciudad Juarez | TECMA". TECMA. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  17. "Jumping The Border: Innovating Juarez". SmartUp. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  18. "Maquila de Juarez Salutes 300,000 Workers of Juarez - TECMA". TECMA. August 30, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  19. Batista, Alba. "Microsoft in Juárez: Empowerment through technology". t-hub.mx. t-hub.mx. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  20. Alba Nidia Batista (2018-07-03). "Technology HUB partners with Microsoft to support education in the Region". Technology HUB. Retrieved October 31, 2018. In the spirit of promoting education in technology, Microsoft has officially become the first sponsor for RESET 2018; the largest binational entrepreneurial event in the metropolitan region along the U.S./Mexico border
  21. "UTEP Events Calendar". University of Texas El Paso. University of Texas El Paso. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  22. Rashid, Brian (April 11, 2018). "Entrepreneurship Has Created a New Mindset for Youth on America's Southern Border". Entrepreneur. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
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