Ecuador visited by IC2 Institute

Chosen by Forbes in 2014 as one of the three best cities to start new ventures in the U.S., Austin is an innovation reef. Among the actors making a difference for Austin’s ecosystem is the University of Texas at Austin, home to the IC2 Institute.

Gregory Pogue, deputy director at IC2, investor and technology transfer expert, visited Ecuador in collaboration with ESPOL’s Entrepreneurship Center, IDEA Network, and the ESPAE Graduate School of Management, to seek actionable collaboration with the public, private and academic sectors to help grow the local innovation ecosystem. IC2 has experience fostering entrepreneurial ecosystems in Portugal, Mexico, Turkey, and Colombia, among many other developing countries.

Pogue kindly shared his thoughts with academia on how Ecuador’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and its initiatives to change the productive matrix could yield optimal results. He mentioning key profiles that would add value to such initiatives:
• Involving business experts, technologists, and consultants;
• Building and fostering the entrepreneurial network through trust-based connections; and
• Educating key players and entrepreneurs so that new ideas are implemented.

Additionally, Pogue met with Ecuadorian entrepreneurs and actors in the startup ecosystem, explaining how value differs from meaning, and how this might help entrepreneurs find their secret sauce and selling hook for potential clients and investors.

Ideas for future collaboration between entrepreneurs and researchers were also discussed. It was mentioned how different behavioral factors, such as reciprocity profiles, affect the local ways clusters interact and professionals do business. Entrepreneurs’ help can be key in helping assess local environments and culture.

Research in this area would lead to powerful actionable data and methodologies that could help course local policies and processes in Latin America.

As posted in Startup Nations