Via Baja.com
Tijuana Innovadora 2012 is breaking new ground daily as cultural and industrial leaders explode new ideas and technologies onto the scene.
A key focus of this international conference, that is taking place from October 11-21, is to encourage economic growth along the California-Mexico border.
This year the conference is organized into three themes, Creativity, Industrial and Humanities. Every day there will be keynote addresses, panel discussions, workshops, gala dinners and special events. The speakers will be leading innovators in their field from the United States and Latin America. All Tijuana Innovadora presentations will be available in English and Spanish, through simultaneous translation. Most of the activities are held at the conference venue, the Centro Cultural Tijuana (Cecut).
One of the most recent points of excitement was showcased by San Diego State University's Eric Frost, Associate Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and Christina Luhm, director of the Cali-Baja Bi-National Mega-Region Initiative for the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation .
They presented what is referred to as an 'asset map: a binational, online map that developers hope will highlight a conglomerate of manufacturing and production businesses and companies supported by a vast skilled labor force.
The map covers both the northern Baja area as well as San Diego and Imperial counties, an area of nearly 29,000 square miles with a combined annual gross domestic product of $202.4 billion and a labor force of 3.1 million, according to San Diego's EDC.
The asset map displays information on four key sectors that are considered strategic for the region's future growth: clean tech, applied biotech, advanced manufacturing and logistics. In the future, given additional information and resources, the goal is to include agribusiness in the asset tracking.
"Mexico can never be competitive if it's unknown where all the businesses are," said Eric Frost, director of the Visualization Center, who has been advising the project. "This is trying to put them all together and make these connections."
Frost also noted that the Visualization Center is working closely with Mexico which has not had the advantage of solid data-base information in the past to evolve more information and statistics that will help the border regions truly recognize and actualize resources that already exist.
When asked to simplify the "megaregion initiative," Christina Luhn noted that, "It's about bringing good jobs to the region It's about bringing them to the San Diego, Imperial County and Baja regions."
The effort has cost $48,000 so far, Luhn said. Funding has come from both sides of the border, including Tijuana's municipal government, the Imperial County Workforce Development Board and individual supporters of the Mega-Region initiative in San Diego, she said. Additonally, the economic development commissions of each municipality in the State of Baja California have participated both in funding and in effort.
To see the 'asset' map or for more information about Cali-Baja and its initiatives, visit www.calibaja.net.
Tijuana Innovadora 2012 attracts approximately 60,000 people annually to this event that shapes future discussions about cross-border relationships and business.
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