About Álvaro Lamé
Founder and CEO of Netgate, founder and director of Epistele.com and co-founder of eXpand, he served for ten years on the board of directors of Cutifour of which he served as president (2009-2012).
He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Industries of Uruguay and vice-president of the Chamber of the Digital Economy of Uruguay.
Since 2002, he has positioned himself as one of the main promoters of distance work in Uruguay, leading a training process that covered nearly 60,000 people. He was the promoter of the first public squares with free Internet access and the first buses with WI-FI for free Internet access.
For 10 years, prior to the founding of Netgate, he founded and managed Uruconsult, a software development company.
What is your proposal for the 2016-2018 period?
Contribute to the development and consolidation of an Innovative Technology Ecosystem that provides growth opportunities for all industry players.
What is your plan of action and what would you define as a priority?
Some of the objectives we defined for this period have to do with:
- Human Capital: This remains, in our view, the sector's weak point, limiting the industry's growth, driving up production costs and leading to a loss of competitiveness.
- Internationalisation: The industry has for years managed to excel in exporting its production. However, few companies are really successful in this respect. We need to create instruments that allow small companies and new ventures to join this export trend.
- Innovation: We understand that we are facing a new era of innovation. Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Robotics, Genetics, Virtual Reality, Gaming, etc. force us to put a lot of focus on the generation of knowledge to successfully face these new challenges.
- Relations with the government: As in the world's leading countries, the technology industry should promote and demand the participation of the state in its development. Among other things, the State should be a driving force in the development of innovation, competitiveness, education, in the creation of incentives for the venture capital industry and in the development of instruments to facilitate the incorporation of technology in the rest of the national industry.
What did you learn from your time at Cuti as President?
I think the most important thing was to recognise Cuti as an organisation capable of generating great contributions to the development of the industry. It also allowed me to get to know in depth the reality of the sector from a permanent contact with the different members of the ecosystem and that Cuti is there to work for the common good and that the president, outside the specific responsibilities, is one more in a group of colleagues who devote their time to the sector.
What motivates you to want to repeat the experience?
The conviction that both the industry and the country are facing complex challenges and that Cuti must play a role as a catalyst of the ecosystem and promoter of new tools and conditions to face this stage. Although the challenge requires a lot of effort and dedication, from my point of view it is an exciting and very rewarding task.
From your point of view, what are your main strengths for the Presidency of the House? What is your leadership style?
Obviously the experience of having served for four years as president is very important, although in this new stage we will face new circumstances and therefore new challenges. The knowledge of the ecosystem and, fundamentally, of the people who make it up, and in particular, being able to integrate all the actors behind the common objective.
To lead is to serve. Leading by listening, understanding, sharing, discussing and working responsibly. Being president of Cuti simply requires you to be part of a working group made up of industry players, executive staff and managers working together towards the same goals.
How do you see the Chamber and the Industry at the end of your term?
After two years, we intend to focus Cuti around a set of concrete but industry-relevant themes - Talent, Innovation, Business Development, Internationalisation, Funding, Government Relations - in order to concentrate efforts on what will generate long-term value for companies and industry professionals.
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