Essay on digital economy during pandemic wins #IdeasForTheFuture competition in Colombia

The essay entitled “Digital Economy: Key to Latin America’s Economic Development in a Post-COVID-19 Scenario,” by University of Los Andes student Kevin Mojica, was selected as a local winner in the #IdeasForTheFuture competition, an initiative of CAF—development bank of Latin America—and Banco de la República, to capture the vision of young university students on the challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean.

In his essay, Mojica reconstructs the outlook of the economic slowdown in the region, which, as the paper notes, faces “a vicious cycle of dependence on commodity exports and low productivity that hinders the development of new high value-added industries.” He goes on—based on South Korea’s accelerated growth experience—to propose an economic development strategy focused on promoting digital industries, in a rigorous, relevant exercise of the entire situation.

The student received an award from Carolina España, CAF representative in Colombia, and Banco de la República manager Juan José Echavarría, for his achievement, which also gives him the right to compete with the winners of other countries for the First Regional Prize (Guillermo Perry Award), for USD 3,000, while the second and third place will receive USD 2,000 and USD 1,000, respectively.

“The potential of new generations to present new dimensions and opportunities to address historical problems in Latin America gives meaning to this important effort, which confirms in this second edition that we must continue to engage talent from all sectors to promote sustainable regional development,” said Carolina España.

“We are particularly pleased to support this initiative that fosters the ideas of young university students, not only on their views on how to address the development challenges of Latin America, but also on how to prepare our countries to deal with social, economic and health crises, to ensure faster recovery in the face of these great challenges,” said Juan José Echavarría, General Manager of Banco de la República.

A total of 3,444 students and 528 essays were registered in the competition, which has already declared winners in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. In addition to the monetary prize, the overall winner will attend the CAF Annual Conference in November to present his essay.