Businessmen and investors of reference in the region highlight entrepreneurial ecosystem in Uruguay

The business and technological world met again, this time in a blended format, virtual and face to face, at the 13th edition of Punta Tech Meetup. What began as an informal meeting between friends related to the world of technology in Punta del Este, is today positioned as one of the most relevant networking meetings of the sector in the region.

Innovation is something that characterizes Punta Tech, and in this edition, in order to overcome the impediments of Covid-19 for face-to-face networking, more than 30 small "meetups" were organized in cities of Uruguay, Argentina and the United States, in which different hosts -business and technology referents- met with their guests to follow the live transmission and exchange ideas, as well as comment on the presentations of the invited speakers.

The executive director of Uruguay XXI, Jaime Miller, was present at the meeting organized at the house of Sergio Fogel, one of the creators of the event, which was the place where the first edition of Punta Techtook place. Businessmen and investors of reference in the region highlight the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Uruguay in Punta Tech.

Meanwhile, the Argentinian company Globant invited Inés Bonicelli, vice director of Uruguay XXI, to participate in its meeting, which was also attended by the founders of the Argentine unicorns Ualá and Auth0, as well as relevant investors from this country and prominent Uruguayan businessmen. The guests highlighted the thriving entrepreneurial and investment ecosystem they notice in Uruguay, with a creative and innovative spirit, which meets every summer around this event.

The broadcast was co-hosted by Isabella Antonaccio, ICT sector specialist for Uruguay XXI, who has participated in ten editions and witnessed how Punta Tech has grown to become a reference meeting for Uruguay and the region with top-level international speakers, but without losing its relaxed and creative spirit.

The certainties that the country offers - strong institutions, freedom and trust, and social stability - as well as the opportunities and incentives for technological startups to set up their business in Uruguay and bring their talent, was the central message of a video produced especially for Uruguay XXI for this event. "Uruguay is a country to create, to experiment, with freedom, in an ecosystem that thinks globally from the start. Also to export technology to the world, in any currency, with incentives and institutional support", underlined Executive Director Jaime Miller. 

"The enemy of creativity is boredom and its ally to pay attention," said one of the most expected speakers of the night, the journalist and columnist of The Financial Times and the BBC, and British economist Tim Harford, in his talk focused on always looking for "the seed of creativity". In her talk, Gulru Atak, Global Innovation lead for Treasury and Trade Solution of CitiGroup, highlighted the importance of collaboration in an increasingly disruptive and competitive world. Another relevant speaker was Tom Galizia, Deloitte's consulting partner and leader of the alliance with Google, who gave a brief overview of the evolution of Alphabet Google and the potential this group has had in the development of new startups with a strong R&D base.