Noticias

Pacific Alliance’s Fourth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Forum, LAB4+, generated USD 26 million in business deals

Posted on by Administrador Noticias
03
Jun
  • There were more than 5,000 registrations for the event, including investors, business people, corporate representatives and entrepreneurs, among others.
  • Two central themes were developed: information and communication technologies (ICT), and social and business innovation.
  • The event was followed via streaming by more than 10,000 users from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom, United States and Peru.

The Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru and President of the Board of PromPeru, Magali Silva, reported that the fourth LAB4+, the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Forum of the Pacific Alliance, generated business deals and investments for USD 26 million between business matchmaking events, specialized workshops and technology investment roundtables.

Mrs. Silva also reported that 70 technology exporting companies and 50 innovation buyers attended the business matchmaking. At the same time, a technology investment roundtable – ‘Demo Day’ – was carried out with 24 start-ups and 53 investors, as well as a roundtable for investment on social enterprises – ‘Social Demo Day’ – with 12 social enterprises and 16 investors. These last two events achieved more than 100 business appointments.

“We can say that this new version of the Pacific Alliance’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Forum has been a resounding success. More than 5,000 people were registered, including 60 venture capital investors, 750 businessmen or representatives of corporations and entrepreneurs, 50 delegates from government organizations and public authorities, 20 more from development banks, another 20 from innovation centers and 50 from incubators or university entrepreneurship centers,” explained Silva.

On the other hand, Valentina Venegas, ProChile’s coordinator for the Pacific Alliance, said that “we are very pleased with the large participation of Chilean entrepreneurs and service exporters, who could take advantage of the various prospects offered by this last LAB4+ forum. No doubt it has established itself as an ideal space to generate business, find capital for their ventures, discuss their common challenges and create networks with their peers, considering that Peru, Colombia and Mexico are among the main destinations for our service exports.”

For ProColombia, LAB4+ has become the ideal scenario for the exchange of experiences and knowledge, creating new business opportunities, strengthening and promoting more and better trade relations among the countries that form the Pacific Alliance.

Likewise, Daniela Robles, ProMéxico’s First Secretary in Peru, said that Lab4 + is becoming increasingly important, “given that we are members of the most innovative integration initiative of recent years, in favor of the free movement of goods, services, capital, people and, most importantly, innovation. Together we form a business alliance based on the mutual desire for innovation. This objective allows us to take firm steps in positioning globally the «Made in the Pacific Alliance» design.”

This innovative forum, said Silva Velarde-Álvarez, comprised six key areas where experiences were shared, business deals materialized and, most importantly, the four innovation ecosystems of the Alliance’s member countries were connected. According to the program, ten master class presentations and six thematic panels were given; 12 inspirational keynotes – ‘Lab Talks’; one business matchmaking; a roundtable of technology investments; a roundtable of investment for social enterprises; and eight workshops of high-tech subjects.

Magali Silva also said that “innovation is a fundamental factor in the development of companies. It is directly related to competitiveness, job creation and the economic growth of a country. That is why we have created a brand that seeks to be a reflection of Peru, as a country that promotes, rewards and forms creative minds, and that serves society.”

Therefore, she said, it was essential to start the Forum with the truly masterful presentation of Israeli engineer Uri Levine, creator of Waze, an application for assisted GPS navigation created to reduce the hours that drivers may waste in traffic and that today is used by more than 250 million people worldwide. Levine, with the topic of Global Scale Digital Ventures, captivated the audience by briefly tracing the history of his app’s success, from its origin to its fulfillment.

Immediately after, the panel on Innovative Cities took place, in which a number of Latin American stories were shown, where the experience of Ruta N in Medellin, Colombia; Singapore’s eco-district; and the Fertile Region Project in several towns of northern Chile gave us examples of how technological innovation is associated with social entrepreneurship to create an added value to the citizens’ quality of life.

Other panels discussed the subjects of Social Innovation from the Corporation; Social Innovation in Business and Societies; Innovation in the Pacific Alliance; Boosting the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Latin America; Investment in start-ups; all these had the participation of experts from specialized university centers and representatives from technology innovation companies from the four member countries of the Alliance and Spain.

On the forum’s second day, two master class presentations stood out. The first one, by Adam Gutstein, vice president of PwC: ‘Growth, Strategy and Successful Execution’; and the second, ‘Learning from the Best Innovation Teams in the World’ by Carlos Osorio, faculty fellow at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and professor and director of the Master’s in Innovation program (at Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, in Chile).

Twelve other Lab Talks took place that same day, where an equal number of innovative entrepreneurs in various fields shared their experiences in brief and inspiring presentations on topics such as Internet Challenges in Latin America, or Ending the Water Problem, plus eight intensive workshops on topics of technology, social innovation and investment, that convened more than 600 participants.

According to the World Bank, Pacific Alliance high-tech exports totaled USD 51 billion, which means an annual growth of 4.9% between 2005 and 2014. This amount represents 75% of shipments from Latin America and the Caribbean. It is also necessary to highlight the dynamism showed by foreign sales from Peru and Colombia, which grew 10% and 7.8%, respectively.

The first LAB4+ was held in Santiago de Chile on December 6, 2013 and was aimed at the IT start-ups sector. The second one took place in Cali, Colombia, on 29 and 30 October, focused on the manufacture and technology services sectors, and generated business worth USD 8.4 million. The third one was held in Puebla, Mexico, on 5 and 6 October 2015, and it focused on the sectors of creative, design and technology services industries, generating commercial operations for USD 12 million. The next LAB4+ will be held this following year in Chile.

Lima, June 3, 2016

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Pacific Alliance, with the collaboration of the Republic of Korea and ECLAC, holds a workshop to promote the participation of MSMEs in the bloc’s cross-border electronic commerce

Posted on by Angélica Alfaro
14
Dec

December 14, 2023.- The Workshop “Promote the participation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in cross-border electronic commerce between the countries of the Pacific Alliance”, organized by the SME Technical Group and Entrepreneurship (GTPYME) of the PA, with the collaboration of the Republic of Korea, as an observer country of the regional bloc, and the technical assistance of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), was held yesterday in Santiago.

The Workshop, developed in ECLAC facilities, aimed to strengthen the capacities of MSMEs to facilitate their insertion in cross-border electronic commerce and brought together key actors for the development of this trade within the Pacific Alliance.

Furthermore, within the framework of the GTPYME Work Plan, this workshop had the purpose of giving continuity to the work that ECLAC has developed, within the framework of the Regional Digital Market Strategy in the PA that seeks to identify, in selected sectors, the obstacles faced by MSMEs to export through electronic and digital commerce within the bloc.

At the beginning of the workshop –and after the greeting from Keiji Inoue, officer in charge, Division of International Trade and Integration, ECLAC–, the director general (s) of Multilateral Economic Affairs of the Undersecretariat of International Economic Affairs of Chile, Alejandro Buvinic highlighted that “our disposition is that the MSMEs of the Pacific Alliance have a key role in international trade” and emphasized that “the final objective of the Regional Digital Market is to ensure that the MSMEs can market their products and services between the four countries with the same ease they do at the level of each country, considering that we have geographical proximity, the same language, time zones among many other positive externalities”.

Likewise, the counselor of the Embassy of Peru in Chile, Claudia Miranda, representing the pro tempore presidency of her country, highlighted the importance of MSMEs and emphasized the commitment established in the Strategic Vision 2030 of the Pacific Alliance, in order to strengthen and expand the participation of MSMEs, thus achieving effective use of the benefits generated by the Pacific Alliance.

For his part, the ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Chile, Hak Jae Kim, highlighted the implementation of this activity and his country’s interest in supporting work with MSMEs in the countries of the Pacific Alliance.

In the first part, Min-kyoung Park, Manager, Trade Information Department of KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency), presented the experience of South Korea, especially the insertion of MSMEs in e-commerce.

Afterwards, the panel was developed: “Modalities of cross-border e-commerce between the PA countries and exportable offer of SMEs”, which analyzed the barriers or obstacles they face, the available digital commerce modalities, the exportable offer of each country, customs regimes, among other matters.

In the second panel, “Capacity building of MSMEs for cross-border e-commerce between PA countries and selection of MSMEs”, they focused on identifying the needs to promote export through cross-border e-commerce and defining types of support required to achieve this objective.

Next, in the panel on “Definition of technological solutions to support MSMEs”, concepts such as: Marketplace; Payment methods; Logistics solutions; Customer tracking; Marketing Tools; Sales Tools; Communication tools; Administrative Solutions, which are useful technologies that will facilitate access to cross-border trade for MSMEs.

In the last panel, on “Inputs for the action plan, goals, KPIs and monitoring”, the aim was to define the scope of the support program in terms of goals, duration, KPIs, monitoring and evaluation.

Among the panelists and moderators, there was the participation of representatives from ECLAC, the Inter-American Development Bank, the e-Commerce Institute, as well as representatives from unions and private sector companies, such as Mercado Pago, Mercado Libre, DHL, LAP, Payoneer, and platforms such as Amazon, Falabella, Linio. Also participated representatives from the four countries of the block, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, from the SME and Entrepreneurship technical groups, from Promotion Agencies, from Gender, from the Trade Facilitation Committee, and the Digital Economy Subcommittee.

Finally, the workshop concluded with the words of José Luis Castillo, general director of International Trade Negotiations of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru, pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance, who highlighted that the workshop served as a crucial space, where key actors exchanged experiences and knowledge to strengthen electronic commerce among the member countries of the Pacific Alliance. In addition, he reaffirmed the commitment of the pro tempore presidency of Peru to continue promoting this type of workshops, which play a fundamental role in the formulation of policies aimed at promoting electronic commerce in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

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Pacific Alliance, a mechanism of regional integration open to the world

Posted on by Angélica Alfaro
21
May

From its formation until today, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, countries that make up the Pacific Alliance, have been articulating efforts to turn this block into a leader in business and opportunities, resulting in its position as the eighth largest economy in the world and export power.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the bloc accounts for 37% of GDP, it concentrates 52% of total trade and attracts 45% of foreign direct investment.

In April 2011, the Pacific Alliance was created with the aim of achieving the development and competitiveness of the Member States, to overcome socio-economic inequality, to promote the social inclusion of its inhabitants and to become a projection platform to the world with special emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region.

In order to achieve these objectives, activities have been performed focused on obtaining greater competitiveness, as well as growth and development in trade, which will be achieved with the progressive advance of the free movement of goods, services, capital and people.

The joint work of the member countries is evidenced by the massive presence of entrepreneurs of the bloc in different activities and promotion fairs that take place around the world, both their own and those organized by other entities.

Among the most representative activities carried out by the Pacific Alliance since its creation, is the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Forum LAB4+, which in its six editions has had the participation of 6.192 attendees.

Also, the Women Entrepreneurs Leaders Forum, which, in its four versions, has generated US $9.4 million in business expectations.

On the other hand, the Pacific Alliance Business Matchmaking, in its six editions, has accumulated US $861.8 million in business. It is important to mention that the Business Meeting has become the main platform that brings together important leaders and entrepreneurs of the region, both from the bloc countries and from some observer States.

It is worth highlighting the implementation of the Investment Opportunities Forum of the Pacific Alliance with the participation of the Heads of State of the bloc, which is held every year in New York, United States and that has brought together the most important companies worldwide, interested in doing business or financing projects in the member countries.

Tourism has also been a priority topic for the Pacific Alliance, for this reason the Tourism Business Matchmaking, the Tourism Roadshow in China and the Tourist Caravan have been carried out.

In Addition, the Pacific Alliance has been present at international fairs with excellent business expectations such as Sial (France), Lateinamerika Tag (Germany) as well as panels such as “The London Produce” (United Kingdom).

Every year is a new challenge for this economic bloc, which expects in the medium term to be placed in a better position among the economies of the globe for the development and benefit of its more than 225 million inhabitants.

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Pacific Alliance Youth Services launch call for Online Volunteer Course

Posted on by Angélica Alfaro
02
Sep

The course will last 2 weeks and will be available to young people from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru and to former Pacific Alliance volunteers.

September 2nd, 2020. The youth entities of the Pacific Alliance countries: National Youth Institute of Chile, Presidential Counseling for Youth of Colombia-Young Colombia, Mexican Youth Institute and the National Youth Secretariat of Peru, launched today the call for the “Virtual Course on Transformative Volunteering in Times of Pandemic”.

This course is aimed at volunteers and managers of organizations that are developing voluntary actions in the context of Pandemic either face to face or virtually.

Applications will be open until September 20 and young people between the ages of 18 and 29 who are nationals of Pacific Alliance countries and who are resident in their home country at the time of application, may register.

There will be 60 places for new volunteers and 24 for ex-volunteers from previous versions of the program who will be able to apply for the course without age limit.

The course will be developed in seven online sessions that will cover topics such as Transformative Volunteering in Times of Pandemic; Volunteering applied to COVID19; Principles of Voluntary Action; Mental Health Protection; there will also be a start seminar and another at the end of the course.

SEE THE CALL

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Pacific Alliance welcomes the establisment of the ASEAN Community

Posted on by Administrador Noticias
15
Jan

The Pacific Alliance welcomes the establishment of the ASEAN Community on 31 December, marking a milestone event since the actions of this ambitious area of integration will accelerate economic growth , progress and cultural development in the region Southeast Asia, envisioning that directly contribute to the welfare of their population.

The Pacific Alliance makes wishes for the ASEAN Community success and reiterates its commitment to strengthening dialogue and cooperation so that the work between the two mechanisms will lead to the institutionalization of their relations and the advance of the cooperation in benefit of their people.

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Pacific Alliance Technical Subgroup on Measurement, Reporting, and Verification held a second technical workshop to strengthen capacities for the implementation of Art. 6 of the Paris Agreement

Posted on by Angélica Alfaro
13
Mar

March 13th, 2023.- The Technical Subgroup on Measurement, Reporting,  and Verification (SGT-MRV) of the Pacific Alliance, with the sponsorship of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and the technical support of Gold Standard, held on March 7th, the second in a series of four virtual technical workshops aimed at increasing knowledge and practical experience on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. The meeting, in which more than 40 experts participated, delved into the economic instruments available under Article 6 for cooperation between countries in the global reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The first workshop focused on ‘authorization’, a practice that allows for one of the Parties involved to generate a statement that the mitigation results obtained can be used for the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of a different Party, and/or can be used for international mitigation purposes beyond the use for an NDC. The second workshop, on the other hand, addressed ‘corresponding adjustments’, or the practice whereby a Party applies an accounting adjustment for each Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcome (ITMO).

Although the attendees to the workshops are nominated by each country, the SGT-MRV will publish the material of each of the workshops on the official website of the Pacific Alliance. All the material related to the first workshop -technical documents, presentation, and summary- is already available on the web page, which can be accessed through the following link: https://alianzapacifico.net/grupotecnico-medio-ambiente/ (choose tab SUBGROUP MEASUREMENT, REPORTING AND VERIFICATION).

The next workshop will address the topic of ‘records and their interoperability’, and will be held virtually on April 4th.

Thus, the SGT-MRV continues to develop the objectives defined in its coordination framework, aligned with its goal to consolidate and harmonize the technical capacities of the Pacific Alliance countries and to advance towards harmonized standards and protocols for monitoring, policy reporting, and mitigation, adaptation, and climate actions among these countries.

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Pacific Alliance strengthens cooperation ties with Japan through the Together Program

Posted on by Angélica Alfaro
09
Feb

February 9, 2023.- Within the framework of cooperation relations between the Pacific Alliance and Japan, nineteen young diplomats and government officials from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru visited Japan as part of the Together Program.

As part of this activity, the PA representatives visited the Japanese Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Shunsuke Takei, who welcomed their participation and affirmed that the Pacific Alliance is an important ally, as well as a partner to work and grow together with within the framework of relations of cooperation and friendship.

Minister Takei also pointed out that this edition of the Together Program provides his country with the opportunity to share their knowledge and experience in disaster prevention and mitigation issues, as well as initiatives that use ICTs.

For their part, representatives of the delegations expressed their gratitude for this invitation and highlighted the relevant points on what was learned through the program.

It was also highlighted that this kind of activity allows to strengthen further the relationship between Japan and the Pacific Alliance, as well as the possibility of future cooperation with this integration mechanism.

Japan joined the Pacific Alliance as an Observer State in January 2013.

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Pacific Alliance signs free trade support declaration

Posted on by Angélica Alfaro
08
Jul

The member countries of the Pacific Alliance signed a declaration on the multilateral trading system.

This agreement reaffirms the original conviction of promoting free trade and globalization as engines of the economic and sustainable development of the peoples of the Pacific Alliance.

It is also an expression of defence to open, predictable trade with clear rules underpinned by the multilateral trading system.

The declaration also notes the common determination to address the challenges facing the Multilateral Trade System and restore confidence in it, through measures to strengthen, modernize and reform the WTO in its three pillars: the dispute settlement system, the monitoring and transparency function and the negotiating function.

The text was signed by the presidents of Chile, Sebastian Piñera; from Colombia, Ivan Duque; from Peru, Martin Vizcarra and the Foreign Minister of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard after the closing session of the XIV Pacific Alliance Summit on July 6th in Lima.

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Pacific Alliance signs agreement for sustainable management of plastics

Posted on by Angélica Alfaro
08
Jul

At the end of the XIV Pacific Alliance Summit on July 6th in Lima, Peru, the Presidents of Chile, Sebastián Piñera; from Colombia, Ivan Duque; from Peru, Martín Vizcarra and the Mexican Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, signed the Lima Declaration as well as various agreements among which the Declaration on Sustainable Plastics Management stands out.

This agreement highlights the importance of developing and implementing new policies in order to promote the integral management of plastics, reduce the use of single-use plastics, in addition to reducing the presence of this waste in ecosystems and preventing pollution.

In addition, it should be noted that the eighth point of the Lima Declaration expresses the approval of the four governments for the subscription of this Declaration which exemplifies the sustained commitment of the Pacific Alliance to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

Members of the Pacific Alliance also pledged to work for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources.

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Pacific Alliance promotes Second Latin American Meeting of DMCs

Posted on by Angélica Alfaro
25
Aug

As part of the IBTM Americas, one of the most important meetings and incentive tourism fairs that took place in Mexico City, the tourism promotion entities of the Technical Group Promotion Agencies (Meet in Chile – National Service of Tourism, ProColombia, the Ministry of Tourism of Mexico and Promperu) participated in the Second Latin American Meeting of DMCs.

At the meeting, the technical group promoted the advantages of the Pacific Alliance in the meetings industry and showed the joint work it carries out to promote destinations and companies from member countries. Likewise, the infrastructures and services available to each of the PA countries were announced.

The union of forces beyond territorial borders is the basis for the construction of new tourism and the reactivation of the economy.

As ties strengthen within the Pacific Alliance, there is parallel work to turn the bloc into a world power for business and opportunity. The joint work of the four countries is also demonstrated by the presence of the Pacific Alliance in international promotion fairs, such as the IBTM Americas at the Citibanamex Center, Mexico City.

The offer for the Congresses and Conventions segment of the countries that make up the Pacific Alliance is diverse, the connections are multiple and the opportunities to do business are endless.

The Pacific Alliance is ranked #6 in the World Ranking of the ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association), 7 cities of countries of the block are within the top 20 at the level of the Americas. The AP contributes 41% of the congresses held in Latin American countries.