Do we want to simply be decision-makers for others or do we want to take the initiative and actively participate in building our future?
I believe that Uruguay is in a position to be a key player at the global level in the field of information technology. As I mentioned in the previous column, its industry has shown that it can be recognised internationally, providing high value-added services and high-tech products that are used by the most advanced countries in this field.
Today we are facing a convergence of technologies that are accelerating change in all areas of economic activity, like a hurricane that is increasing in strength as it moves forward. Several industries are very close to the eye of the storm and are being totally modified, and those that are further away are in greater danger as time goes on.
These technologies have a high impact on their own, but together they are enhanced, we can talk about: Internet of Things, BigData, robotics, artificial intelligence, genetics, 3D printers, blockchain, biotechnology, nanotechnology and quantum computing. A highly effervescent cocktail that is bringing about major changes.
In order for us to be active participants in this new revolution, we need to have a strong focus on education, support for companies from the Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technology (CUTI) and government agencies that have an impact on innovation, such as the National Agency for Research and Innovation, on country promotion, such as the Uruguay XXI Institute, and on e-government, such as AGESIC.
In the case of education, the Ceibal Plan has had an excellent vision for the future and has a programme called Digital Laboratories. These laboratories, of which there are about 200, provide equipment, robotics, 3D printers and sensors to work with the Internet of Things, which enables students to have contact with three of these vectors that are impacting the future. For example, students can carry out projects that involve several disciplines, as was the best known case of the Tala students, as well as test weather stations that help them enter the world of the Internet of Things and the subsequent analysis of the information. They also take as a conceptual framework computational thinking, which consists of using logical thinking to have a good level of abstraction and thus identify, simplify and solve complex problems.
All this is preparing our young people, it is a great sign, but it is not enough, all the educational centres in the country should already be experimenting with these themes, we cannot fall into the error that these are themes that are going to come, they are already all over the world, they are already in our country and they are already having an impact in Uruguay.
Companies in the IT sector are actively working to attract more people to work for them. Not only technical talents are needed, but also talents from different branches, so that the diversity of professions enriches the sector. But it is still important to increase enrolment in technical careers at the various universities. According to the statistical yearbook of the Ministry of Education and Culture, only 350 people graduated from technical courses directly related to the IT sector in 2015.
The IT sector today cannot accept more work from its customers, new projects, because it does not have the people to take them forward. A person to participate in this sector cannot be trained overnight. More young people need to decide to study careers that support this industry, including technology, but it is also necessary for accountants, economists, industry specialists, etc., to see that this sector will demand much more talent in the future and that it is an excellent place to develop and apply their knowledge. That is why I insist on education and the importance of making study and job training attractive to our young people.
CUTI, together with the Ceibal Plan, the active participation of several CUTI partner companies and the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), launched last year a programme called Jóvenes a Programar, this programme exceeded all my expectations, enrolling in a first instance more than 12,000 young people between 17 and 26 years, for programming courses that do not require previous experience and being totally free for the student. After a process of selection of aptitudes, availability of courses and locations, more than 1,100 young people are enrolled in 50 centres distributed throughout the country, using the technological infrastructure of the Ceibal Plan. All courses are taught by professionals from CUTI's partner companies. Today we have to understand that many young people see this industry as a way to secure their future, so we need the different actors in the country to pay more attention to this change and thus support the change of our productive matrix.
In addition, CUTI is working together with INEFOP on a project called B_IT to train 4,000 people over four years in technical courses of at least two years, which will enable them to be employed in companies in the sector, but without losing sight of the evolution of their formal training in institutions recognised by the MEC, as well as the internal training provided by the companies. It is important that the whole country participates in this industry, which is why all these nationwide projects are being carried out, the MIEM, INEFOP, the CUTI, the universities and Uruguay XXI are carrying out dissemination and awareness-raising activities in various cities of the country, from Juan Lacaze, to Paysandú, Salto, Rivera, Maldonado, etc.
It is also necessary for other industries to see that by innovating, using Information Technology, they can create new businesses, win new markets and position themselves strongly in their sector of activity.
In this sense, an activity that CUTI is carrying out are what are called Hackathon, which allows in a short term to address a set of initiatives and analyze the feasibility of its realization, for example these 9 and 10 September was held the second Hackathon AGRO, which seeks to raise awareness of such an important sector of the national economy, to be a more intensive user of Information Technology. This activity was held at the Rural del Prado, in conjunction with the Rural Association of Uruguay and the British Embassy in Uruguay, and in this edition the Da Vinci Foundation joined in. In this case, it allows, for example, to analyse whether it is feasible to use drones for the security of livestock farms. But work is also being done on other activities with other industries, which will enhance what has already been done with agriculture.
We cannot lose sight of the speed at which change is occurring and how it is affecting all sectors of economic activity.
If all of us in the IT ecosystem work together, we will surely manage to move beyond being mere spectators and become builders of our own future.
Eng. Leonardo Loureiro
August 2017 | We are Uruguay
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