Córdoba is undoubtedly a region with capable and intelligent individuals, willing to progress. However, the professional expectations of our population largely fail to find an ecosystem or environment conducive to development and entrepreneurship.
The arrival of Covid-19 can be classified as humanity’s first great synchronous collective global process, and it has radically altered our way of learning, working, and relating to others through virtuality. It is up to us to turn this situation into something positive or negative, and Córdoba has the necessary human capital to take full advantage of it.
The time has come to propose and execute a long-term public policy, sheltered by the private sector, that encourages the creation of a digital ecosystem in the region that propels the economy, so that we move on from being a recognized supplier of raw materials to also becoming a nucleus of dynamic and innovative high-quality services for Colombia and the world.
Hubs or digital environments allow offering services from anywhere, which can be as varied as software programming, marketing, design, architecture, call centers, and specialized consulting services, among others. To achieve this, public policy must take into account the following key fulcrums:
The human being as the central axis in order to improve their quality of life, sympathetic to their environment, together with a relevant educational offer promoting bilingualism and social welfare. It will be necessary to work jointly towards this goal with the department’s higher education institutions, both technical and formal, and encourage the enrollment of students through free education.
Address part of the social and public administration problems through solutions offered by technology, allowing the general population to develop a digital culture (i.e. health and public services, internet of things, bureaucratic procedures). For this, a basic budget is required to improve internet access as a public service in urban and rural areas.
Create innovation spaces through collaborations among national and local entities, associations, and the private sector that lead to synergies that enable the creation of start-ups, new ventures, and encourage freelancers at all levels. It will be critical to establish external connections with accelerators, investment funds, and think tanks that can provide financial resources and fresh information to carry out these initiatives.
Modernize and digitize the existing business fabric, guiding it towards improving its productivity and finding new market niches and value-added offers for its products and services. Bringing technology to agricultural activity is vital. The basic elements of this Digital Hub for the region are not difficult to achieve, and we have time to modernize our economy and catch up with cities such as Barranquilla and Medellin, which have been developing such an economic alternative for years. Likewise, this is the opportunity to settle the social debt owed to a department that cries out for the generation of real opportunities to achieve improvements and social mobilization for its inhabitants.
