TIJUANA The co-founder of Apple, Stephen Wozniak, who along with Steve Jobs revolutionized the consumer electronics industry, will be a keynote speaker at next year's innovation conference.
The organizers of the event, led by businessman José Galicot, announced Wednesday some of the leaders that will headline the conference next October.
Among them are new media artist and influential designer Natalie Jeremijenko, leading Mexican architect Enrique Norten, and Atlantic senior editor and best-selling author Richard Florida.
In addition, President Felipe Calderón will open the conference, much as he did last year at the first edition of the conference, called Tijuana Innovadora.
The candidate who wins Mexico's presidential election July 1 also is to speak at the gathering.
The conference is scheduled for Oct. 11 to 21, and will be based once more at the Centro Cultural Tijuana but will have two alternate sites, Museo El Trompo and the Word Trade Center.
The estimated cost is $4.5 million, said Tomás Perrín, the event's publicist and one of the coordinators.
When the first conference was held, he said, a goal was to lift the border community out of a depression after several years of suffering the blows of organized crime and a global economic crisis that brought high unemployment.
Now, the goal is to turn the positive results of the first conference into a movement that has lasting impact on the community, the organizers said.
The first edition of Tijuana Innovadora was organized by a group of business leaders in the region who presented renowned speakers on a wide variety of topics and an expo that showcased the technology produced in the city.
The proceeds of the conference went to registered non-profit organizations across Tijuana.
The conference has had an unexpected effect, the organizers admitted. It highlighted the city's cutting-edge work in science, technology and education to the rest of Mexico and other countries but the event also inspired pride among the city's residents who had been worn down by bad news for years.
"We gave people here a great emotional boost and great employment opportunities opened up. The second conference will be a big challenge, but now we're beginning with enthusiasm not in the depression that we were in," Galicot said.
The conference inspired similar events in other parts of Mexico, such as in Ensenada, Ciudad Juárez, Culiacán, Los Cabos, Mazatlán, Morelia, Cuernavaca, Veracruz and Cozumel.
The first conference in Tijuana drew 700,000 people and the participation of about 100 national and international companies.
The second will be organized among three themes: Creativity, industry and humanists.
In what's now become known as the Tijuana Innovadora movement has led to the formation of work groups to follow up various programs that reinforce specific sectors, such as Tijuana Green, Binational Committee, Committee of Volunteer Leaders, Digital City, Youth and Innovation Prize.
The organizers are going to promote as part of the success of Tijuana Innovadora the new wings of the Museo El Trompo, the Ámbar Museum, the World Trade Center and the Centro de Artes Musicales, Perrín said.
The organizers said that they plan to lower the cost of attending the conference.
And they announced that the event will feature a competition like "Iron Chefs," four gala dinners and two private ones with invited guests, a massive dance and public concerts.
Omar.millan@sandiegored.com
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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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