Mexico, with slopes and challenges to promote smart cities

Queretaro, Qro. Various challenges that allow the development of smart cities prevail in the country, specialists in the field agreed during the presentation What is the future of smart cities in Mexico?, within the framework of the Mexico Business Summit (MCN).

The Infrastructure Advisor of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), Marco Gutiérrez, stated that there is no national strategy to promote smart cities, coupled with the lack of political will to promote investments related to the use of technology in municipalities.

“We have not seen a political will to promote orderly investment in technology for the municipalities, in Mexico 80% of the resources of the municipalities depend on federal participation,” he added.

To propose a national strategy, he added, it is necessary to think about a public policy that promotes smart cities, from the design of the budget; therefore, he proposed that the financial items be aligned with the performance standards of the municipalities, as well as implementing technology for the management of municipal resources.

“An indicator is not used for municipalities to transition to a smart city. There are 18 groups of indicators to move to a Smart City, from financial indicators, governance, public services, health, safety, recreation, sports, transportation, connectivity, basic services, water, energy, garbage”, he referred.

In this sense, the CCE adviser stressed that in order to propose a national strategy, the participation of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) must be counted on, together with incentives being given to the municipalities that cover certain indicators to move towards a smart city.

Added to the challenges that the country is experiencing to promote these city systems is the gap in specialized talent in the information technology industry, a figure that doubled after the effects of the pandemic, added the general manager of Monterrey Digital Hub, Edward de la Garza.

Although there are undertakings in this area, he highlighted the need to increase investment in venture capital in the technology segment. “We have a digital talent gap that in the pre-pandemic (were) 500,000 talent positions that were not recruited and has doubled in the post-pandemic.”

Given this context, he highlighted the 7.4% increase in digitization reported by Mexican firms, coupled with the investment in data that is expected to reach 4,500 million dollars in 2022, estimating that in 2024 that figure will grow 8.4 percent.

estados@eleconomista.mx