Promoting innovation: an imperative to achieve the Mexico we want

Let's compare our country's technological activity and innovation indicators with those of other countries. We are significantly behind in the number of patent applications, technology transfers, and the creation of technology-based companies. Therefore, it is imperative to achieve Mexico's transition to a knowledge-based economy. However, the reality is that innovative industries in Mexico are very few. Only by creating a new technology industry will it be possible to assimilate national scientific advancement, achieve global competitiveness, and generate the well-paying jobs that the Mexican economy has not generated and that our country so desperately needs.

We must implement actions that contribute to changing our country's industrial reality, creating a dynamic private sector supported by science, technology, and innovation. If "traditional" companies have not achieved this goal, we must foster the development of a new generation of entrepreneurs who will do so. Technology-based companies represent a unique opportunity to employ graduates of national postgraduate programs who currently face severe difficulties finding well-paying jobs.

Mexican scientists publish in the best international journals. However, there is still a significant gap between the contributions of researchers and the products or services derived from them that are already on the market.

Although few, there are examples in Mexico of successful scientific ventures launched by academics or graduate school alumni. These initiatives have demonstrated, even under the most adverse conditions for their development that have occurred in the recent past, that it is possible to create high-tech companies that are already benefiting research institutions through royalty payments.

In Mexico, we have good science and some technology but lack innovation. Mexico has managed to convert money into knowledge by providing scholarships to students and generating scientific infrastructure in the country. The problem is that the nation has been unable to convert that knowledge into money.

Investing in innovation for an economy has shown results that can be seen around the world. When a country's economy relies relatively little on knowledge, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is minimal. However, incremental changes in the knowledge economy's dependence generate exponential changes in countries' per capita income. Mexico's problem is that it's on the side where the increases are still small.

Furthermore, INEGI data indicates that the majority of the population (around 30%) earns a salary of up to two minimum wages, resulting from low-productivity jobs in the informal sector. Nearly 50% of the unemployed completed their high school and bachelor's studies, and even 41% of science and technology professionals do not have a job related to their qualifications.

Companies that require highly specialized personnel (the best paid) are very few, so they must be created. For example, at UNAM's Morelos Campus, 23 technology-based companies have been founded, the initiatives of young graduates and academics trained in its classrooms and laboratories. Frozen spirulina, educational microscopes, DNA analysis services, bacteria and fungi for agriculture, and the now world-renowned antivenoms are some of the success stories of these companies. These are companies that already have products on the market. Many of these cases were led by students who generated a technology through their thesis work, founded a company, and licensed the technology they developed. They now pay royalties to UNAM to sell these products. There are undoubtedly other examples of this activity in Mexico, although they do not appear well documented. However, the number of companies is very small, which seems incipient for a community with more than 43,000 people belonging to the National System of Researchers.

I want to highlight that this year, the GRIDX Venture Capital Fund committed $1 million in investments to four new startups with Mexican founding partners (Bioplasticx, Microin, Scitherm, and Monte Caldera Technologies), three of them associated with the UNAM Institute of Biotechnology and another with scientists from San Luis Potosí. Furthermore, the VIRETEC initiative recently supported, in a second round, three technology-based company initiatives with a total of $1 million and is seeking to build more funds like this one so that the possibility of supporting other high-impact technology-based projects is permanently open. Likewise, ZENTYNEL, the private equity fund focused on biotechnology, invested in Microterra. This Mexican startup has already raised $3.5 million in its second round.

The innovative industry that will change Mexico must be created, and graduate students and entrepreneurs are the ones who can launch these companies. Industrial applications always emerge from well-done science. Unfortunately, the country's current conditions are not fostering innovation, as virtually all the funds and programs that supported it have disappeared.

Without a doubt, eradicating poverty is a fundamental objective of every society, and governments must do everything possible to achieve it. However, poverty will never be eliminated with jobs at two minimum wages without aspirations to increase them.

In Mexico, science, technology, and innovation require the government to make a substantial shift in policies to promote these activities, particularly innovation, so that taking advantage of its vibrant scientific community can create the well-being that all Mexican people aspire to. It is a very ambitious goal, without a doubt, but the results would also be very ambitious. However, I see no other way for Mexico to make a significant change in the well-being of its population. This effort will require a lot of resources, talent, and aggressive development policies. Otherwise, we will only aspire to maintain the status quo or improve it marginally. The Mexican government must decide whether to invest in innovation to change the situation. The CCC can be a decisive factor in advising the Presidency of the Republic on innovation and entrepreneurship matters.

Note: This article is an expansion of a previous one published in the newspaper "La Unión de Morelos" on February 14, 2024.