3rd edition of Tech Summit focusing on entrepreneurship
From left: Economic Development and Commerce Secretary Alberto Bacó and Chief Information Officer Giancarlo González.
With the participation of important international players in the fields of technology and computing and chief information officers from Latin America and the U.S. mainland, the government announced Tuesday the upcoming third edition of the Tech Summit, slated for May 13.
The event to take place at the Puerto Rico Convention Center aims to serve as a vehicle to position the island as a hub of innovation and a platform to present new applications that promote economic development and security for citizens.
“This eventwill provide a platformnot onlyfor the latestglobal trends,but to strengthenour technologicalecosystem andpromotethe islandto be perceivedas a hubof innovation,” said Economic Development and Commerce Secretary AlbertoBacó.
“We believe that technology is one of the areas with the greatest potential for economic development for the island and want to propel it at full capacity,” he said during a news conference Tuesday.
The government’s Chief Information Officer, Giancarlo González, said the event represents “a unique opportunity for the island’s technological community and for business, government and academic sectors to gain key information that will transform the way we do business, interact with customers, establish collaborative networks and enhance their future growth.”
The Tech Summit will also serve to launch a series of recently created applications through an interagency effort organized by the Office of the CIO, including one that gives access to criminal records through a mobile phone or any web-based device, as well as the implementation of the Land Registry that will allow online access to all properties registered in Puerto Rico, in addition to facilitating the online process to register a property anywhere on the island.
This year’s event will feature plenary and concurrent sessions spanning more than a dozen topics ranging from open data to design visualizations to define user profiles, lessons learned from applications with worldwide impact and the official launching of new apps, among others.
And is past editions, hundreds of programmers are expected to flock to the event to compete in the “Hackathon” to develop applications and technological solutions.
“We want to further the creation of applications that can be sponsored, and even exported to foster the development of new businesses or startups with great potential,” said González, adding that among the prizes for Hackathon winners is a stay at Google’s facilities in California to receive intensive training in application development.
