El Salvador hosted innovation yesterday with the first International Innovation Summit in El Salvador Sandbox Summit, which had the support of the government as well as the Innovation Laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group and of companies in the technology sector.
Around 200 people, including leaders, businessmen, entrepreneurs, members of the academy, unions, and international organizations, participated in the space that brought knowledge about future trends.
Attendees received more than 20 presentations from experts from more than 12 countries. Among the topics taught were: innovation management; the impact of artificial intelligence on business; investment for the acceleration of startups in Latin America, and good business innovation practices.
At the same time, at the end of the exhibitions, 21 Salvadoran startups had the opportunity to present their business models to different funds and investors, with a view to obtaining seed capital to accelerate their businesses.
Ricardo Augspurg, president of Sandbox, stated that the event was held with the aim of generating a change of perspective in the country by opening the door to initiatives that involve technology.
“At the event, we saw innovation and trends, startups and financing, taught by highly experienced speakers, with the most up-to-date ways of working between ecosystem actors that will allow better articulation and work that impacts the development and positioning of the country,” he said.
For her part, the Minister of Economy, María Luisa Hayem, affirmed that for the administration of President Nayib Bukele, these types of initiatives are of great relevance, since they address topics that contribute to the ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation.
In addition, the official pointed out that the vision of the Bukele management is to become a digital government, in which the processes for the evolution of businesses are streamlined.
“We have a full-time team to digitize all our services as a Government. Unfortunately, this was an impediment to growth in previous years […] We want to become a digital government, where any procedure can be carried out in less than a day”, she pointed out.
“We continue with our strong commitment so that all our ventures have everything they need to grow. Whether it is financing, training talent, or facilitating procedures »,
On the other hand, the Minister of Tourism, Morena Valdez, assured that the tourism sector is growing with a strong boost from the use of technology.
«According to data from the Ministry, 80% of tourists book online. This means that the tourism sector is growing with the support of technological innovation », she reinforced.
Likewise, she mentioned that the sector is made up mostly of micro, small, and medium-sized companies (MSMEs), which need startup solutions to start receiving digital payments.