High-level officials from the U.S. and Uruguay agreed that Georgia companies attending the Americas Innovation Forum March 30-April 1 in Punta del Este, Uruguay, will be impressed with the country’s dedication to innovation in a variety of sectors.

Frank Baxter

At a March 13 presentation about the forum in Montevideo, Uruguay, U.S. Ambassador Frank Baxter and Uruguay-U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Daniel Ferrere told GlobalAtlanta that it would be a worthwhile event for Georgia enterprises to attend.

The forum will draw business and government leaders from 20 countries to discuss the further development of innovation in education, entrepreneurship and technology in the Western Hemisphere. It is a follow-up to the inaugural Americas Competitiveness Forum held in Atlanta last June, which Mr. Baxter and Mr. Ferrere attended with a group of Uruguayan government officials and technology business representatives.

The forum, to take place at the Conrad Hotel & Casino in the Uruguayan resort town of Punta del Este, is to focus in particular on opportunities in South America for the development of innovative industries.

“Companies from Georgia and elsewhere in the U.S. should come to this event because there is tremendous potential here,” Mr. Baxter told GlobalAtlanta following the presentation in Montevideo.

Mr. Ferrere echoed that sentiment, saying that the decision to host the forum in Uruguay reveals the country's increasingly positive reputation in the hemisphere with regard to innovation.

“This forum shows there’s a growing awareness of innovation in Uruguay,” Mr. Ferrere said. “It’s not by chance that this conference will be held here. This shows that after the Atlanta forum, the hemisphere is paying attention to Uruguay,” he told GlobalAtlanta.

Plenary sessions at the forum will address information and telecommunications technologies, biotechnology, engineering and human capital, while workshops will highlight international cooperation for the development of alternative energy, digital communications, tourism, agroindustry, pharmaceuticals and nanotechnology.

The event is to feature 47 speakers from 20 countries, 25 multinational corporations and 22 institutions and government agencies. More than 1,000 entrepreneurs, executives, academics and government officials from the throughout the hemisphere are expected to attend.

Mr. Ferrere said that Georgia companies that participate in the forum could be surprised at the abounding investment and commerce opportunities available in Uruguay.

“Uruguay has a creative, well-educated workforce that is technologically oriented, and it is a small country so there is easier visibility for new companies here,” Mr. Ferrere said.

“If I were starting a business in the region, I would want it to be based in Uruguay because I think this country will become the headquarters of innovation in South America,” Mr. Baxter added.

He said that Uruguay exports more software than any other country in the region, and it has a strong bioscience base, a well-developed professional infrastructure, a stable political environment and an excellent relationship with the U.S.

Trade between the U.S. and Uruguay has grown significantly in the past several years, with bilateral trade more than doubling since 2002, increasing $583 million to $995 million in 2006. U.S. exports to Uruguay grew 131 percent, from $209 million in 2002 to $482 million in 2006. The U.S. is Uruguay’s third-largest trading partner and the destination for 12.1 percent of Uruguay’s exports in 2006. Some 8.2 percent of Uruguay’s imports that year came from the U.S.

The country’s diplomatic relationship with the U.S. “couldn’t be better,” Mr. Ferrere noted. President Bush, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon and U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, among other U.S. officials, visited Uruguay in 2007.

The Americas Innovation Forum in Uruguay, organized by the country’s National Research and Innovation Agency, is a precursor to the second annual Americas Competitiveness Forum to be held in Atlanta, Aug. 17-19. The Atlanta conference will bring together business and government leaders from across the Western Hemisphere to discuss ways to increase the region’s competitiveness through improvements in education, technological innovation, small business development and supply chain management.