IT GEOGRAPHICS
Ecuador is a long way from replicating the success of a Silicon Valley or Ireland despite limited success in niche markets. Nearly one quarter of the population lives in rural areas and most growth in IT has occurred around the major cities. International agencies sponsor small-scale IT development programs and projects. However, some national organizations maintain that Ecuador can become a regional IT center given the right conditions.
IT incubators
are generally funded by foreign donor agencies.
For example, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
is helping Ecuador pursue sustainable industrial development. It provides
tailor-made solutions to industrial problems by offering a package of integrated
services.
The
agency funded the development of technology-based enterprise incubators in
Ecuador. Incubation systems facilitate the creation and development of
innovative enterprises, specially technology-based enterprises, providing them
with a comprehensive and integrated range of services, which includes, depending
on the required needs: space, research laboratory and office facilities,
administrative and secretarial support, maintenance, marketing, quality control,
training, legal advisory services and networking activities inside the premises
between tenants and outside with the local community.
ASETA
Created in 1974, ASETA, the Association of Telecommunication Service Operators, is a non-profit international organization headquartered in Quito and devoted to contributing to the development and growth of the sector. The organization is helping to implement the Andean Digital Corridor, a subregional information highway with ground, undersea, and satellite routes and border links that interconnects the national networks.
The Association has also contributed to the establishment of new services in the subregion, such as data transmission, the Internet, and video conferencing, among others, and the launching of the process to liberalize and integrate the market for telecommunication services.
This report was completed in December 2000 for the class Impacts of National Information Technology Environments on Business given by Professor Erran Carmel in the program of Management of Global Information Technology at the Kogod School of Business in Washington DC