During the first week of April this year, I had the opportunity to represent Puerto Rico at the seventh edition of the America’s Competitiveness Exchange in Texas. This event, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Organization of American States, aimed to showcase projects and initiatives focused on innovation and entrepreneurship in different regions. Economic development officials from Latin America, the United States, Canada, and Europe gathered for this important event.

The following four elements were the common denominators driving economic development in the regions we visited: a favorable business climate, quality of life, a skilled workforce, and universities serving as the main catalyst for innovation and the creation of companies and well-paying jobs.

Puerto Rico has in its public university a powerful tool to finally propel a productivity- and value-added-based economy that sustainably fosters innovation, technological development, and exports. Campuses such as Mayagüez, Río Piedras, and the Medical Sciences campus currently have facilities and R&D programs that could well become centers of excellence—both to attract multinational companies and to develop new processes, products, and services in strategic sectors such as advanced manufacturing, life sciences, aerospace, healthcare, energy, and agriculture.

In collaboration with the Science, Technology, and Research Trust, the government, and industry, we can systematically develop a network of business incubators and technology accelerators around these centers of excellence and universities. This, in turn, would lead to the creation of true innovation clusters where the university becomes the hub and driving force behind the creation of more and better jobs, and of highly competitive small and medium-sized enterprises.

A key part of this strategy is to ensure that our entrepreneurs, researchers, and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) have access to capital to advance their innovation agendas and business plans. In this regard, the government must play the role of facilitator, establishing transparent and efficient processes to ensure that funds available through federal and state programs reach their potential recipients effectively and as quickly as possible. Furthermore, the government must ensure that the legal and regulatory framework truly fosters and supports innovation and exports on the island.

However, the government cannot—and should not—assume all the responsibility. More than ever, the private sector and nonprofit organizations, whether local businesses or multinational corporations, must step forward and become true partners in this important effort.

While it is true that some local and external companies and nonprofits are currently participating and collaborating in innovation activities, greater commitment is needed—one that results in more applied research within universities and deeper integration of local startups into their innovation programs.

Even if the government, private sector, and nonprofit organizations move in the right direction, the results will always fall short of their potential without a University of Puerto Rico (UPR) that embraces its role as the island’s engine of innovation.

UPR must transform itself, starting with redefining how it sees its mission—as a driver of economic development, one that produces innovative, export-ready startups with high creative content, in addition to the traditional production of excellent professionals, engineers, and scientists.

A model to follow is the Aerospace Institute at UPR Aguadilla. The Institute participated alongside the Department of Economic Development and Commerce at the world’s largest industrial fair in Germany this past April, promoting Puerto Rico as an optimal destination for investment and as a center of innovation and technology. In fact, the Institute is evaluating the development of an applied research center in the aerospace sector as part of a broader strategy to attract new companies and retain existing ones in Puerto Rico’s growing aerospace cluster.

In summary, Puerto Rico has all the ingredients to become a global player in the import, exchange, and export of science, innovation, and technology. Programs and initiatives such as Parallel 18 in Santurce; the Centers for Pharmaceutical Engineering, Bioprocessing, and Food Technology Innovation in Mayagüez; the Biotech and Agro-Bio Center in Ponce; Piloto 151 in Old San Juan; Engine-4 in Bayamón; the Energy Innovation Center in Gurabo; and the Molecular Sciences Building in Río Piedras demonstrate Puerto Rico’s tremendous potential for the future.

Together with this Administration’s new initiatives to establish Centers for Applied Research and Development in Bioeconomy, Ocean Thermal Energy, and Technological Innovation at the former CORCO site, Maunabo, and Roosevelt Roads respectively, we are confident we will drive sustainable economic development grounded in knowledge and Puerto Rican talent. Créditos:

Foto de Thief12, vía Wikimedia Commons, bajo licencia CC BY-SA 3.0.