Technology Hub
IndustryManufacturing and Tech
Founded2015
FounderRicardo Mora CEO (Founder)
Rodolfo Vazquez CIO (Co-founder)
Rubén Rivera CFO (Co-founder)
Fermin Reyes CTO (Co-Founder)
HeadquartersMexico:
Av. López Mateos 924
Alfa, 32317
Cd Juárez, Chihuahua
US:
500 W. Overland
Suite 230
El Paso, Texas 79901
Websitet-hub.mx/en

Technology Hub is a bi-national startup accelerator and business incubator in the El Paso–Juárez area on the border of Mexico and the United States. It was founded in 2015[1][2][3][4][5] and is a Mexico National Institute for Entrepreneurship-certified incubator that has developed and housed 100 high-growth technology companies.[1]

History

Foundation

Technology Hub was founded in 2015 with the mission of enhancing the entrepreneurial and startup climate of the El Paso–Juárez region.[4][2][1] The organization is headquartered in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and has an office in El Paso, Texas.[6]

The redesigned former US consulate, now functioning as the headquarters of Technology Hub Juárez

In the long term, Technology Hub is working to move the city's low skill manufacturing industry into an innovation cluster.[7] 60 percent of the jobs in Ciudad Juárez are located at its more than 300 foreign assembly plants,[8] and most of them are low-wage and low-skill positions.[9] In 2016 Ciudad Juárez was found to have some of the lowest formal employment wages in Mexico.[9] Technology Hub's economic development projects look to change these statistics through training and enablement programs, taking the suggestion of accredited Stanford research that concludes “…highly specialized innovation workers, such as engineers and designers, generate about three times as many local jobs for service workers — such as doctors, carpenters, and waitresses — as do manufacturing workers".[10]

Facility

Coworking space in Technology Hub's facility which is made available to local companies and startups

The operation is centered around the redesigned, refurbished former US consulate facility in Ciudad Juárez.[11] The 1.8 acre compound was designed to promote successful enterprises by creators, students, and industry entrepreneurs in the region.[3]

The State of Chihuahua Innovation and Economic Development Secretary Alejandra de la Vega moved the government agency's headquarters from the state capital into Technology Hub's facility in 2016.[1]

Programs

Steve Jobs auditorium, where many of Technology Hub's programs are held

Offering technical training, networking, and mentoring programs,[4] Technology Hub houses a 3D printing Fab lab, a virtual reality demonstration development facility,[12] and regularly hosts bi-national tech events such as startup weekends, hackathons, Shark Tank-esque pitch contests, and women in STEM workshops.[13][14] In 2017 and 2018,Technology Hub hosted RESET, the largest bi-national entrepreneurial event along the Mexico-US border. More than 3,500 university students attended the event to see industry figures from Amazon, MIT, National Geographic, NASA, and Marvel Comics, among others.[15][16] [17]

Technology Hub works collaboratively with companies operating in Ciudad Juárez on programs for data mining, human capital development, and other industry topics. Technology Hub has also worked with financial backer Microsoft on the latter's TechSpark initiative[18] and to deliver the RESET program.[17]

The Bridge Accelerator

The Bridge Accelerator is a bi-national supplier development program in the El Paso–Juárez region implemented by Technology Hub and its U.S.-based sister organization Pioneers21.[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] It was launched in the spring of 2019 with the aim of improving local SME participation in the regional 39 billion-dollar supply chain, where only 2 percent of the manufacturing inputs currently come from local El Paso or Juárez suppliers.[19][20][23]

The program consists of twelve weeks of company training on topics including IT and data analytics, and is designed to create advantageous connections between entrepreneurs and corporations.[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] Program workshops are held on both sides of the border, at Technology Hub Juárez and at an incubator in El Paso.[19][20]

Six Mexican and six American companies take part in each Bridge Accelerator cohort, with the program scheduled to run twice a year through 2022. Participating companies are required to be in business for at least two years and must be based in the region.[26]

Program results and collaboration with Microsoft

The Bridge Accelerator pilot program in 2019 worked with 11 local businesses from El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, creating 33 new jobs and receiving 52 purchase orders worth $1.48 million.[21][22][23][24] Following the results of the pilot, President Brad Smith of Microsoft announced a $1.5 million investment to extend The Bridge Accelerator for another 3 years through the Microsoft TechSpark program in El Paso-Juárez, labeling it their ‘signature project’ in the region.[19][21][22][23][24][25][26] The Bridge program plans to use this funding to train 75 companies in six cohorts over the next three years, with the goal of these companies receiving least $7.5 million in new purchase orders and creating 200 new jobs.[26]

A second Bridge Accelerator cohort ran in the spring of 2020.[27][28][29] Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, The Bridge Accelerator program was moved entirely online starting in March, but still finished with a virtual-attendance Demo Day event on June 26, 2020.[27][29]

The Bridge Accelerator is sponsored and supported by many other large organizations invested in the El Paso-Juárez region.[19][20][21][26]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 O'Boyle, Brendan (October 10, 2018). "AQ Top 5 Urban Visionaries: Ricardo Mora". Americas Society/Council of the Americas. Americas Quarterly. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  2. 1 2 Thompson, Simon (October 20, 2017). "Looking For Tech Innovators In Mexico's Ciudad Juarez". American Public Media. Marketplace Morning Report. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Fernandez, Miguel (February 17, 2016). "A New Era in Ciudad Juarez". Huffington Post. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 Thompson, Simon (October 3, 2016). "Technology Hub Juarez Kicking City's Business Sector Back Into Gear". KRWG. National Public Radio/KRWG. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  5. ↑ Lovett Burloux, Patrick Laura (January 31, 2017). "Mexico's manufacturing hub of Ciudad Juarez gears up for new era". France24. France24. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  6. ↑ "About Tech Hub". t-hub.mx. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Looking for tech innovators in Mexico's Ciudad Juarez". Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  8. ↑ El Paso Inc News Editors and Partners, El Paso Inc News Editors and Partners (January 26, 2016). "Tech campus launched in Juarez". El Paso Inc. El Paso Inc. Retrieved July 30, 2018. {{cite news}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  9. 1 2 Ortiz Uribe, Mónica (February 29, 2016). "Workers in Mexico's border factories say they can barely survive, so they're turning to unions". American Public Media. Public Radio International. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  10. ↑ O'Toole, Kathleen (June 10, 2013). "Enrico Moretti: The Geography of Jobs". Stanford. Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Technology HUB / HADVD Arquitectos". ArchDaily. December 26, 2017. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Fab Lab Juarez | FabLabs". FabLabs.io - The Fab Lab Network. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  13. ↑ Montes, Aaron (November 20, 2017). "Entrepreneurs face the 'sharks' in Juarez". El Paso Inc. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  14. ↑ Miranda, Gil (January 1, 2018). "It is important to invest in artificial intelligence to generate more growth in different aspects of society". Mexico Industry. Mexico Industry. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  15. ↑ "UTEP Events Calendar". University of Texas El Paso. University of Texas El Paso. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  16. ↑ Rashid, Brian (April 11, 2018). "Entrepreneurship Has Created a New Mindset for Youth on America's Southern Border". Entrepreneur. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  17. 1 2 Alba Nidia Batista (2018-07-03). "Technology HUB partners with Microsoft to support education in the Region". Technology HUB. Retrieved October 31, 2018. In the spirit of promoting education in technology, Microsoft has officially become the first sponsor for RESET 2018; the largest binational entrepreneurial event in the metropolitan region along the U.S./Mexico border
  18. ↑ Batista, Alba. "Microsoft in Juárez: Empowerment through technology". t-hub.mx. t-hub.mx. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Border cities team up to help businesses cash in on global trade". kdvr.com. Nexstar Media Group. October 26, 2019. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 Foster, Tom (August 2019). "How I Built Thriving Businesses on Both Sides of the U.S.-Mexico Border (and Why I Wouldn't Do It Any Other Way)". Inc. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 Smith, Brad (October 14, 2019). "TechSpark El Paso-Juarez: Igniting digital transformation throughout the Borderplex". Microsoft Official Blog, On the Issues. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  22. 1 2 3 4 Microsoft (October 14, 2019). "Microsoft announces TechSpark El Paso-Juárez". PR Newswire. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 Kolenc, Vic (October 14, 2019). "Microsoft president in El Paso announces $1.5M investment to grow manufacturing on the border". El Paso Times. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  24. 1 2 3 4 News Center Microsoft Latinoamérica (October 15, 2019). "Microsoft anuncia TechSpark El Paso-Juárez, su compromiso con la innovación y la oportunidad económica en la región". News Center Microsoft Latinoamérica. Microsoft. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  25. 1 2 3 Redacción (October 15, 2019). "Microsoft impulsará innovación en Ciudad Juárez". El Universal. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sanchez, Sara (October 20, 2019). "Microsoft to expand TechSpark to Juárez, invest $1.5M". El Paso Inc. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  27. 1 2 "Spring 2020 Final Report". The Bridge Accelerator. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  28. ↑ "Technology Hub, Pioneer 21's Bridge Accelerator 2020 Open for Enrollment/". El Paso Herald-Post. January 9, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  29. 1 2 "Bridge Accelerator Program Brings Opportunity to Local Companies with Demo Day Virtual Event". Paso Del Norte Community Foundation. June 23, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
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