Martín Dovat is the general manager of Zonamerica, a business park that has been operating under the free zone regime since 1990. And since then, different strategic ecosystems have been formed –composed of more than 500 companies that are housed in the place–, which are more complex and in some cases even transcend free zones to integrate with stakeholders from the country or even the world.
According to Dovat, from Zonamerica they worked on categorizing these ecosystems. “This allows us to focus our efforts on those key aspects to help customers grow, and also to attract new players,” explained the businessman.
In interview with Coffee & Business, Dovat classified companies into three ecosystems: intensive, life sciences and logistics capacity. And for each category, he mentioned the barriers that prevent their full development and how to work to eliminate them.
In the case of ecosystems intensive in digital talent, the attraction, retention and development of human resources is the main restriction, according to the general manager of Zonamerica. In turn, the free zone works to accompany the companies in the sector. An example is the training of new talent through the school installed on its campuses: Holberton School. In addition, Zonamerica has a very close relationship with the universities.
Dovat maintained that, at the same time, they focus on the well-being of people, where nature and encounters complement the new reality of hybrid work.
The second category of companies falls within the life sciences ecosystem. Regulatory aspects are the ones that most hinder the growth of companies. In return, Uruguay is internationally recognized for its sanitary control. “To help the growth of these ecosystems, we have made important progress by working from the Chamber of Free Zones in conjunction with the regulator,” explained the businessman.
The other set of ecosystems to highlight is that of those companies that take advantage of the country’s logistics capabilities. An industry that makes up this ecosystem is the Internet of Things, which is constantly growing because there are more and more devices that are interconnected and improving the efficiency of multiple productive industries. Dovat noted: “Here we have an opportunity with the aerospace industry, leveraged by Satellogic.” The company is installed in the free zone, assembling nanosatellites from components received from all over the world.
For Dovat, in these logistics-intensive ecosystems, a case of success in strengthening them from the public-private effort is the recent signing with the National Research and Innovation Agency (ANII) of an agreement for the implementation of a logistics demonstration center.
The general manager of Zonamerica was one of the speakers at Technology and New Businesses, the first El Observador Events summit supported by Zonamerica and Latin Securities, Quantik, Fenicio, Andersen and Sunpartners.
