This sector has a favorable effect on other industries such as the automotive, logistics, electronic and aerospace

 

The Information Technologies (IT) sector plays an important role in the strategy of Mexico’s development, not only because of its growth potential, but also for the favorable effect it has on other industries, such as automotive, logistics and aerospace, as well as on the results about competitiveness of the regional and national economy.

 

The IT’s have become one of the industries with the most dynamism in the country, with that, ProMexico estimates that in 2019 this sector will reach a value of 14.7 thousand million dollars and will growth in an annual average rhythm of 9 % in the next two years.

 

Likewise, according to data from ProMexico, in terms of market value, the services industries of information technologies and software in Mexico grew an annual average of 12 % since 2010 to reach a joint value of 12.3 thousand million dollars for 2017.

 

In that same year, export manufacturing of medium and high technology represented 23 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP.)

 

Cesar Fragozo Lopez, chief of the sectorial development unit of ProMexico, said that the country has several sides of competitiveness in different industries, mainly in the automotive, aerospace, medical devices and of energy.  That these complement with companies that integrate the 20 IT clusters existing nationally and that group more than 1,000 companies.

 

He explained that based on the amounts from the Mexican Association of Internet, in the period 2009-2016, the electronic commerce value grew at an average annual rhythm of 38 %, reaching a value of 17.7 thousand millions dollars in the last year.

 

A way of increasing companies’ competitiveness, he said, is through innovation and the adoption of information technologies solutions of information in traditional sectors.

 

In addition, he said that Guanajuato has all the elements required to introduce industry 4.0 in the State’s economy.

 

“The region has companies that already implement the technology and the automation on its processes; in addition that for several years the entity has a dynamic in the automotive industry and the traditional are increasingly incorporating technological solutions,” he said.

 

Recently, he added, the Information Technologies Cluster Guanajuato was recently constituted.

 

In order for the Mexican sector evolve to the industry 4.0 explained which are the strategies promoting this process as the promotion of the use of Mexican services by exporting companies, to increase the content of the exporter sector and promote the adoption of technological solutions.

 

Complementing the diversification of exporting of IT solutions to different markets, through the linkage between Mexican exporters and their counterparts abroad, as well as the participation in events from the information technologies sector.

 

“Less than 5 % of Mexican companies that integrate the agro-industrial sector of these kinds of solutions on their productive processes, what could represent an increase of up to 30 % in production in case of doing it,” he said.

 

HIGHLIGHTING COMPETITIVENESS IN THE INDUSTRY

Alfredo Pacheco Vasquez, national general director of the National Chamber of Electronics, of Telecommunications and Information Technologies (CANIETI, by its Spanish initials) said that Guanajuato is one of the States that are adding efforts to develop the best competitiveness in this sector.

 

One of the main challenges he perceives is that sectors have to relate among them to potentiate the results.

 

“Guanajuato has been modernized and for the Chamber is something interesting, because it is one of the objectives of CANIETI and, without doubt, the State goes in the correct direction and is accelerating it,” he said.

 

For the representative of CANIETI Nacional, the technology industry in Mexico is implementing work strategies together with the Government, private sector and the academy in order to fulfill the objectives.

 

The first step he considered essential to achieve this is that the Triple Axis achieve working in a joint manner in order for the three sectors keep a same level of efficiency.

 

He said that before the programs implemented by the Federal and State Government, there is a great opportunity for companies to start implementing the industry 4.0; likewise that the country has a great number of youngsters being introduced to IT.

 

The Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT, by its Spanish initials) announced that the number of women in this industry is increasing reaching a 30 %, while that worldwide it ranges in a 25 percent.

 

“We want to achieve youngsters achieve becoming developers and technology entrepreneurs, there are steel some issues about training to be improved and certifications to close that gap students have when graduating from the university,” he said.

 

CANIETI announced the High Technology Industry Perspectives 2016-2019.  In that they underlined the functioning of the Industry 4.0 for its application in the entire value chain of the sectors to be interconnected transversally and generate changes in the way of doing business and produce products.

 

One of the advantages the Chamber highlighted about this Industrial Revolution is the best operative efficiency, a predictive maintenance with new production ecosystems, innovation in platforms, products and services; as well as the flexibility in production and customization, creating new work positions and better opportunities.

 

With the Telecommunications Reform, more than 6,000 million dollars have been invested, and it was planned that this year there will be an investment of 13,500 million dollars in investment.

 

“We are still a little slow due to the reaction capability, but I am confident we will be reaching it and the expectation is good because industry 4.0 is here to stay, it is not a seasonal style, it is a new way of work,” he said.

 

INNOVATION PLATFORMS

According with the Ministry of Economy (SE, by its Spanish initials) Mexico is the third IT exporter worldwide.

 

Recently, the SE gathered with the CONACYT and they detected that for this year the goal is the expense in research and development is of 1 % from the GDP, considered as one of the lowest in the OCDE countries.

 

This was mentioned by Raul Rendon Montemayor, general director of innovation, services and interior commerce from the Ministry of Economy (SE,) who said that this has not become profitable because most of the investment amounts are from the Federal Government and only a small percentage is from the private sector.

 

“This means that the investment issue has not being enough.  Mexico is below an average, the challenge is of that challenge.  We are at a disruptive moment.  With Industry 4.0 a public organizational policy was created in order for the country be introduced into technology as soon as possible.” 

 

He explained that at the SE were created public policies strategies oriented to the market through the execution of a culture and an innovation ecosystem aligned to the economic sectors with the SE, INADEM, IMPI, ProMexico, CONACYT and the Ministry of Public Education.

 

Regarding the implementation of a collaborative culture, he highlighted the creation of an open innovation platform, where innovation is demanded and adopted, outstanding innovators are recognized and a critical mass of innovators are unified.

 

“Mexico is one of the few countries that already have established a public policy of 4.0 and that place us in a different context.  The organization level has to be accelerated and that is what we are engaged in,” he noted.

 

Another strategy is the creation of a path map of Industry 4.0 in Mexico, priorizing technologies to generate it as an augmented reality, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence; the implementation of the Innovator Development Program 2013-2018 and the Industrial Promotion Policy.

 

All this orientated by the Consultative Council of Industry 4.0, which is an organ of public analysis in matter of this industry, where the most representative actors from the sectors, academy and the Government participate.

 

Having as function the definition of responsible objectives and decision making about the actions and strategies to execute the different subjects on their 8 worktables: cybersecurity, infrastructure, public policy alignment, smart automation, education and technology adoption, transition costs, financing and electronic commerce.

 

“What we did was a route map, where we saw specific technologies in which the country will be.  We want for technologies get out of the country in an industrialized context in 4.0.  We have the objective of companies growing and sale more,” he ended.

 

ADVANTAGES OF INDUSTRY 4.0

·         Improve in operative efficiency

·         Predictive maintenance and remote management

·         New production ecosystems

·         Innovation in platforms, products and services

·         Production flexibility

·         Customization of products

·         New positions and better opportunities

 

CHALLENGES OF INDUSTRY 4.0

·         Suitable legal and regulatory framework

·         National Cybersecurity Strategy

·         Systems Interoperability

·         New business model based in innovation

·         Smart logistics models

·         Confidence to share information

·         Development of physical and digital infrastructure