How Can Mexico Become More Innovative?

According to the OECD, Mexico ranks last in virtually all measures of innovation.  Whether it’s R&D funding, patents, venture capitalists, or a climate of entrepreneurship, the country is far behind the rest of the industrialized world.  Although Mexico has a growing innovation sector and pockets of start-up companies around the country, there is still a large gap compared to the rest of the industrialized world.    
 
With the sponsorship of Rassini, and in partnership with the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI), the CSIS US-Mexico Futures Initiative will convene leading thinkers and policymakers in Mexico City on Tuesday, October 23 from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm CST (9:30-1:30 EST) to discuss these underlying topics.   Simultaneous translation in English and Spanish will be provided.  The event also will be livestreamed here:  http://bit.ly/COMEXIlive. 

Agenda (Mexico City time):

8:00 – 8:25 a.m. – Breakfast buffet
 
8:25 – 8:35 a.m. – Welcoming remarks from Richard Miles (CSIS) and Mariana Campero (COMEXI)
 
8:35 – 8:55 a.m. – Andrei Iancu, Director, U.S. Patent and Trade Office
 
9:00 – 10:00 a.m. – How Innovative is Mexico Today?

• Lynne Bairstow, founder and managing partner, MITA Ventures Fund
• Ruy Cervantes, Founder of Ideas to Results (ID2R)
• Alejandra Palacios, President of the Federal Commission on Economic Competitiveness (COFECE)
• Alberto Saracho Martínez, Executive Director, Fundacíon Idea (moderator)
• Vlatko Vlatkovic, Director General, General Electric Infrastructure Querétaro

10:05 – 11:05 a.m. – How Does a Country Get More Inventors and Entrepreneurs?

• Richard Miles, CSIS (moderator)
• Dr. Paul Sanberg, Founder, National Academy of Inventors, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida
• Jackson Streeter, Director, Florida Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research, Gainesville, Florida
• Demetrio Strimpopulos, founder, BanRegioLabs

11:05 – 11:15 a.m. – Break
 
11:15 – 12:15 p.m. – What Should Governments Be Doing, and Not Doing?

• Sergio Alcocer, National Autonomous University of Mexico
• Mario de la Cruz, Director of Government Affairs, CISCO
• Jacobo González Torres, Jalisco State Government (moderator)
• Nicolás Grosman, McKinsey Global Institute for Latin America
• Miguel Ángel Margain, Director of the Instituto Mexicano de Propiedad Industrial (IMPI)

12:15 – 12:30 p.m. – Concluding remarks

This event is made possible by support from Rassini.