"The knowledge industry is not only a sector that has the potential to grow, but, fundamentally, to improve the productivity of the rest of the economy", shot from his office Mariano Mayer, Secretary of Entrepreneurs and SMEs of the Nation, in dialogue with iProUP.There, the official analyzed the present of entrepreneurship and was encouraged to give clues about the future of the sector. He also spoke of the challenges and opportunities offered by digital transformation. But one word was among the main ones in the tag cloud of the interview: potential.What role do technology-based startups have within the Secretariat?We see them not only as a sector that has the potential to grow, but fundamentally to improve the productivity of the rest of the sectors. We work with all universes, because it is the Secretariat that is in charge of entrepreneurs, SMEs and knowledge-based services.In the case of SMEs, with all sectors, which are 99% of companies. In the case of entrepreneurs, we also work with all verticals: tourism, gastronomy, textiles. In short, Argentina needs many more companies: today it has few, there is a low density and very concentrated in five provinces.
What percentage of the total are technology based?The vast majority of the projects that are generated are from various sectors and regional economies. A small percentage, as in the rest of the world, corresponds to high-impact or technology-based: art, fintech, biotechnology, Internet of Things, and so on.In general, 20% of the projects that go are usually based on technology. But this is just beginning, it is a long road that we want to travel. We have a training, mentoring and financing tool available for entrepreneurs from all over the country.We have been developing and strengthening in these almost three years a huge network of incubators, accelerators, support entities and NGOs that in some way allow us to reach the whole territory and download these programs with scale. It is already underway and we are having a very good flow.Is there any specific tool for these ventures?Without a doubt, financing. Two entrepreneur profiles emerge throughout this network. An entrepreneurial SME, who with official assistance can now engage with the financing of the banking system, with a connection that we make with an SGR (Reciprocal Guarantee Society) or the first SME loan from BICE. But they are ventures that can be financed with debt.In contrast, technological ventures are dynamic, with a very high degree of innovation, so they do not have fixed assets. In general, they are intangible and, therefore, it is very difficult to finance them with debt. In the world, these ventures are financed with entrepreneurial capital, with investment.For this type of project, we have a series of specific programs, such as the "Acceleration Fund", where we make co-investments with accelerators; through the "Fondo Expansión", in which we have co-invested in three early stage funds of entrepreneurial capital; and in tax incentives for those who invest in dynamic or technological entrepreneurs.Today there are more than $ 100 million available for this type of business, which is something that almost never happened in Argentina. Before it did not exist and it placed us very low in the international rankings, so the enterprises ended up dying or going to seek financing outside. Now they have it in Argentina.What is the technological vertical with greater projection?The fintech, without a doubt. The Fintech ecosystem is very strong in Argentina. Also in the specific Cripto, but Fintech in general. Insurtech is starting to pick up speed and is just beginning.The Central Bank's measure to leave more space for renewal was very positive, as did the countries where the Fintech ecosystem developed strongly, as in England. Allowing these entrepreneurs to develop gave a big boost to the sector.Which is next in importance?Another sector where there is a lot of potential is agtech. We set up a national agtech table with all the actors, such as the different ministries, accelerators, investments and universities. And we set up a first national Agtech congress with events in Buenos Aires, Rosario and Córdoba. The repercussion was spectacular, there are more and more projects, but it's just beginning.Argentina has all the potential of becoming a world reference for agtech, because the Argentine countryside is one of the most sophisticated in the world, with the highest degree of innovation; what happens is that digitalization now places him before a new challenge. They are already beginning to communicate the worlds, the Internet of Things and software, with the one of the agro.And interesting projects begin to appear. We believe that we can not only be users or adopters of technologies for agriculture, which in itself would be something very positive, but technology developers to apply in Argentina and export to the world. And it is already beginning to happen.The software sector in Argentina is very strong, employs more than 100,000 formal workers, is very dynamic, there are exports, employment growth. It has a positive trade balance. We see it not only as a sector that has the potential to grow, but fundamentally to improve the productivity of the rest of the sectors. In this context solutions are emerging for agriculture, for tourism, oil, automotive.What is the weight of technology companies in the Argentine trade balance?Argentina exports today $ 7 billion of services based on knowledge. It is the second or third export sector, depending on how you look at it, after agriculture. Some simplify that Argentina is soy and software. The software will reach US $ 2 billion and the rest are other services based on knowledge.But it is exported more than meat. We believe that it has a very significant relevance in the Argentine economy, although many do not know it and are surprised when I mention it. In fact, it is something that we have been talking about with Argencon, CESSI and other organizations, that it is important to explain it, explain it, because there are many that do not take into account the relevance it has, but above all the growth potential.Without going any further, we have just opened the Brazilian market, which is more than US $ 12 billion that it imports every year. There you have a potentiality. We also went with the ministers and the service companies to Brazil so that the two countries export to the world. It is a sector in which there is good coordination.There are very relevant cases, such as MercadoLibre which is almost binational, Take off the same, Stefanini who is Brazilian, but has offices here as well. There altogether, going out to attack other markets, is a very interesting opportunity. It is a very dynamic sector, with a productivity superior to the rest of the economy. We want to duplicate the people who work in the sector, but we also want to take advantage of it to increase the productivity of the automotive industry, tourism, agriculture.There was always an uncoupling between the industry and the academy. How do they articulate the relationship between universities and companies?We have been working with the entrepreneurial theme with universities, where some are already incubators and accelerators. Others are less developed and ask us for more content. Our philosophy is not to put ourselves where we do not add value. Where things are doing well, we do not bother.
In any case, we believe that there is a great disconnection. We have been analyzing it with the Ministries of Education and Labor, to better approach the worlds. But there are other non-formal initiatives, like DigitalHouse, that are doing things very well.Where we do see that there is a flaw is in the huge number of people who do not go to university. In general, this sector has no problems getting a job. The problem we have now is that they do not finish the race, they quickly begin to work. So, what we see is that in other sectors there is a disconnection between what is taught in the university and what the world of work in the future needs.What measures do you promote from the Secretariat?Our job is to improve accessibility or provide shorter careers or people who can reconvert, such as the 111 thousand plan that is designed for that universe: many people with a year of programming that is free can begin the path of working on something that has more projection, better salaries, etc. And that there are more students in these races and there are more options. We are seeing that guys who start with the 111 thousand are hooked with the race and go to college.What is the gap between the supply and demand of professionals in the sector today?There are 5,000 or 7,000 down in a scenario where there is still a lot to grow. Therefore, with 111 thousand, we are seeing that there will be a lot of demand not for people in the sector, but for other companies from other sectors that will start the digital transformation.Therefore, we are looking to create CTO profiles (NdR, System managers) of SMEs. Many 111 thousand students do not want to work in large companies. Some are thinking about a technological venture or creating their service company to make systems for SMEs.What are the challenges and opportunities that the ecosystem of technological startups will have?Clearly, one of the most important problems is that of human capital. That is why it is important that there are more people to be trained, both university and non-university. It is a great challenge to retrain the operators that will need to have digital skills for the sector.The other has to do with federal or regional development. We are working very close with clusters that are starting to develop. It is necessary so that human capital is not exhausted because it is an opportunity for young and not so young people from all over the country to work from their place and generate their projects with the advantages offered by the democratization of information.That's where Argentina has great potential. We fell a little bit of the world in recent years. In fact, the growth curve fell, but today we have an exchange rate that we want to take advantage of. We had a very bad tax regime that we are changing. Therefore, competitiveness, beyond talent, we are improving although we have much ahead. The Software Law expires at the end of the year and we are analyzing it with the different sectors.We also expect an improvement in the productivity of the rest of the economy thanks to technology. We begin to see positive cases, but it is a process that is difficult as any transformation, but we have to face it.Finally, we see that there are issues to work on still in the regulatory and in the financing. Innovations usually generate jobs, especially the mobility, tourism, logistics and e-commerce sectors.