The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO for its acronym in Spanish) presented the 2017 International Competitiveness Report, a study that measures the ability of the most important economies to generate, attract and retain talent and investment. How did Mexico perform in this ranking? Just how competitive is Mexico
The state of Jalisco in Mexico is one of the first states in the world with a Ministry of Innovation.
These are the top five results we must pay attention to:
Mexico is moving forward. The country moved up one place: from 37th to 36th. In general terms, its position in the ten sub-indicators evaluated is stable: Laws, Environment, Society, Political System, Governments, market Factors, Economy, Precursors, Foreign Affairs, Innovation. The recommendation is to keep investing in competitiveness and talent to continue moving upwards in the ranking
Mexico rose up six places in the foreign affairs field. The country is investing on strengthening its international commerce. A reduction in the number of hidden barriers for imports resulted in an increase in Mexico’s global competitiveness with relation to commerce. The country moved up from position 34 on the global scale to position 28.
Mexico should continue its investment in technology. Jalisco, Mexico’s leading innovation state, created the country’s first Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology. The study showed that Mexico should keep up its current efforts to promote innovation by fortifying its electronic government; implementing digital identification services for citizens; and by continuing exploiting the potential of data for public policies and the digital economy.
Mexico should strengthen its formal market. 57% of the Mexican workforce is part of the informal market. IMCO recommends reducing certain taxes for the formal market and simplifying the tax processes in order to benefit its workforce.
The energy and educational reform must continue. In the last few years, Mexico has implemented structural reforms to develop its energy industry and its education system. In the first case, the reform drastically increased participation in the clean energy market. In the second case, the goal is to privilege meritocracy when it comes to the teachers selection process. IMCO recommends fortifying those reforms by creating mechanisms to accelerate the evaluation of teachers and by increasing transparency in the energy sector.
As an impact innovation agency, we are contributing to Mexico’s competitiveness agenda in a variety of ways. C Minds is actively encouraging Mexico’s transition into the 4th Industrial Revolution by supporting the adoption of disruptive technologies and pushing the innovation agenda forward. Our Academy for Resilience is fostering a technology-led innovation culture in Mexico, by democratizing the technical skills needed to face this revolution.
Together with our partners, we are working on state-of-the-art initiatives that will place Mexico at the forefront of global innovation in a wide range of fields.