TIJUANA Next year's innovation conference will be organized differently plus seek greater participation from the United States.
The conference, called Tijuana Innovadora 2012, is being planned for Oct. 11 to 21 and will build on the accomplishments of the first edition held last year to showcase the city's advanced work in a variety of fields. These included technology, medical devices, aerospace, philanthropy, education, automotive, among others.
The second edition in Tijuana will be organized in three blocks, Humanity, Industrial and Creativity, announced José Galicot, a long-time business leader and co-founder of the conference. Lectures and keynote speakers throughout the day will support each block, which will last for several days.
Galicot announced that next year's conference will be inaugurated on Oct. 11 by President Felipe Calderón, who performed similar duties for the first one. The closing ceremony will in feature Mexico's next president, who will be elected next July and takes office in December, he said.
The only topic on the first day will be "Tijuana Verde" about the city's environmentally friendly projects.
He mentioned that a new topic that will be explored in next year's conference is culinary arts, which have put Tijuana on the international map in the last year.
Some topic areas will be returning from the first edition, including aerospace, leadership, philanthropy and Nobel Prize winners.
He said that the 2012 conference aims to expand its binational dimension to underscore the concept that the border region works and advances together. He said organizers are inviting innovative projects that have connections on both sides of the border.
Internationally renowned leaders such as Al Gore, Carlos Slim, Jimmy Wales and Biz Stone spoke at the 2010 conference.
Galicot mentioned a few names of famous leaders the organizing committee has invited for next year's conference but said none was confirmed yet.
Tijuana Innovadora has inspired other cities in Mexico to organize similar conferences to highlight their own contributions and business advantages.
Last year's conference in Tijuana raised $4.5 million through sponsors, ticket sales and federal funds. After the conference's expenses were paid, $541,000 were donated to accredited non-profit organizations.
The organizing committee continues to meet every Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. at the Coparmex building in Tijuana to plan next year's conference, whose slogan is "we gained respect, now we're going after greatness."
andrea.garcia@sandiegored.com
[sidebar]More information
Information in Spanish about the groundbreaking high-tech conference Tijuana Innovadora 2012 may be found at the event's official web site.
Questions and ideas may be directed at
Susana.orozco@tijuanainnovadora.com
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