Ecuadorian software finds overseas market

Ecuador’s software services sector offers great potential which harmonically combines aspects of innovation, technology, and knowledge generation, all of which increase the competitiveness and efficiency of companies.

Considering the importance of this sector, the Ecuadorian government has selected software and technology as one of the ten strategic sectors for economic development. In Ecuador, the software industry concentrates around 265 companies with an export volume of around US$60 million.

Given the sector’s potential, since 2005 CAF has been backing provision of software services by improving productivity and competitiveness levels with projects to implement CMMI standards (basic tool for international competitiveness and positioning) which will enable companies to access the certification and later, after reaching international quality standards, promote the export of these services.

In 2009 CAF approved a non-reimbursable technical cooperation grant in favor of the Ecuadorian Software Association (AESOFT) to provide assistance to the project Development of the Export Potential of the Software Sector in Ecuador, by means of execution of the Ecuador-Uruguay Technological Bridge* whose objective is to improve the export performance of the Ecuadorian software industry through participation in a Latin American market.

As part of this project, a group of businesses and institutions which support the sector held a series of activities in Montevideo, Uruguay, to promote export of Ecuadorian software services and get to know at first hand how technology policy is managed in that country. According to data from the Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technology (CUTI), in 2008 Uruguay, despite being a small country, sold software valued at US$280 million, of which US$220 million was exported.

Development of the IT sector in Uruguay was a medium- and long-term process which originated mainly from private initiatives, but the joint work between the private software sector and government, following the political and financial decision to support the sector over the long term, was decisive for developing the services.

The project achieved successful results with the holding of 82 business meetings, and 10 group meetings with Uruguayan innovation and technology agents, as well as one-on-one meetings between Uruguayan and Ecuadorian companies. Some 50% of the participating companies forecast business valued at US$115,000 in the medium term with the companies contacted in Uruguay.

For its part, the Ecuadorian government, through the Ministry Coordinator of Production, Employment and Competitiveness (MCPEC), is working on a cooperation agreement with the Uruguayan National Agency for Innovation and Research to provide technical assistance projects in innovative areas.

Ecuadorian business leaders are convinced that the software and technology sector can meet the expected demand from neighboring countries because it has the knowledge, good solutions and a good technological platform, and it is on this basis that the sector is now planning to export.

The Technological Bridge Project is a product designed to meet the need for international stimulus for technology-based companies committed to constant innovation. Since entrepreneurial companies are being given priority, all the agents involved in the sector are invited to contribute: companies, capital agents, universities, scientific and technological parks and other institutions, both public and private. Undoubtedly this is a product which requires a great effort of understanding by all the institutions to ensure that the companies have all the tools they need to develop projects. (Barcelona Chamber of Commerce).