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• Uruguay Website 
• Americas Innovation Forum 2008

Uruguay, March 28, 2008 – Uruguay is walking a new path in its development course and now bets for knowledge. The Americas First Innovation Forum –organized by the National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII)– is held in Punta del Este as part of this path and will be attended by leaders in the areas of science, technology and innovation, both public and private.

As explained by Rodolfo Silveira, member of the ANII’s Board, this forum will continue the work of The Americas Innovation and Competitive Forum that took place in 2007 in Atlanta, USA, and which follows the guiding principles that understand technology and innovation as pillars of a country’s development.

This is the first time that Uruguay addresses innovation and technology as a starting point for development. The premise involved is to develop new knowledge to both include it in products as added value and to improve the quality of living of individuals. The purpose is to raise awareness among different stakeholders on the fact that innovating means both improving economic and social profitability and efficiency by means of improving the quality of living of its citizens.

Joining Forces
The Forum is a unique opportunity to find the main pillars of the innovation process at the same place: scientists, businesspeople, and policymakers in science, technology, and innovation. The Forum will gather researchers, representatives from foreign governments and entrepreneurs along with the world’s main financial organizations and risk investors.

For Export
The Forum will also be an opportunity to show the rest of the world a Uruguay that is not broadly known —an innovating country— and to reassert its features as a safe country, with a good educational level in the academia, thus positioning it as sound destination for investments in this area. Although there are only few researchers in the country, they are highly productive in knowledge generation. The Forum –which is framed under the projects planned by the ANII– is a starting point and positions Uruguay as one of the countries that promotes development based on technology, science and innovation. And that is something.