Con la finalidad de seguir posicionando en el mundo la estrategia govtech de la Municipalidad de Córdoba, se presentó el programa Córdoba Govtech en el Webinar Internacional «Govtech to Promote Innovation in Cordoba’s City (Argentina)» organizado por la International Project Management Association (IPMA).
Córdoba Govtech es un programa integral de innovación abierta en el sector público bajo un enfoque govtech. Tiene por objetivo acelerar el diseño e implementación de soluciones innovadoras para consolidar a Córdoba como una ciudad inteligente. Se trata de una ambiciosa iniciativa modelo en Latinoamérica liderada por el Laboratorio de Innovación Pública y Govtech (CorLab), dependiente de la Secretaría de Ciudad Inteligente y Transformación Digital de la Municipalidad de Córdoba, y que cuenta con el apoyo de BID Lab y CAF.
La presentación de Córdoba Govtech estuvo a cargo de Luciano Crisafulli, Director de CorLab, quien estuvo acompañado de los emprendedores Sergio Cusmai, CEO de Aipha-G, Manuel Díaz Ferreiro, CEO de Procer Tecnologías, y Armony Codrington, COO de Carbon Neutral Plus. Mientras que en representación de IPMA estuvieron presentes Robert Laubscher (Head of Engineering Innovation Unit en Ciudad del Cabo, Sudáfrica) y Vanesa Lo Iacono Ferreira (Investigadora de la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia).
Presentation of Córdoba Govtech Program
Córdoba Govtech is an open innovation program under a govtech approach. The main objective of this program is to accelerate the implementation of innovative solutions that improve the quality of life of citizens and turn Córdoba into a smarter, more inclusive and sustainable city.
The following initiatives have allowed to Córdoba to accelerate the implementation of innovative solutions, generating direct impacts on the sustainable development of the city.
The first action was the Creation of the Govtech Innovation Lab, CorLab. CorLab, the first govtech lab in Argentina, was launched in May 2020 with the aim of building a bridge between the public challenges of the city, and the innovative solutions developed by the ecosystem of startups in Latinamerica.
The second action was the mapping of the local Govtech Ecosystem. To map the govtech ecosystem of the city of Córdoba, the first thing we did was to survey the organizations that support startups, such as incubators, accelerators and investment funds. We found 20 startup support institutions. Then, we made alliances with these institutions to survey all the startups in the city of Córdoba, we found nearly 250 startups. Of these 250 startups we detected that 100 of them actually have solutions for smart cities. We then publish these startups and solutions in our Smart City Radar, which is a tool that allows us to carry out technological surveillance.
The third action is the organisation of Govtech Demo Days. In these meetings, the govtech startups present their innovative solutions for the city in front of local public authorities of education, health, environment, mobility, accessibility, and more.
Action number 4 is to launch Public Innovation Challenges. We launched 7 innovation challenges with different government areas. Then, the startups presented more than 500 proposals with innovative solutions. The most relevant proposals received financing and technical support for their implementation. In only 3 years, more than 80 innovation projects were implemented in the city of Córdoba, for which we invested USD 500K.
Action number 5 is Public Procurement of Innovation. At the moment, a draft of local law was designed and presented to update the legal framework for public procurement and contracting in order to favor public procurement of innovation (PPI).
Action number 6 is to promote an Innovative culture in the public sector. Last year, 31 public agents from different areas of Local Government were trained in Open Innovation. Now they are innovative champions in the Government. Also, we raise awareness among 600 public agents about govtech and open innovation. An we organised 38 networking meetings held between govtech entrepreneurs and public agents.
Action number 7, we promote and support Govtech Startups. Last year, 52 local govtech startups were supported for their growth through bootcamp, incubation and acceleration programs provided by the Incutex Company Builder, an important institution of our local entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Action 8 is the Córdoba Smart City Fund. It is the first govtech Fund in Latin America. The first experience of a Government investing in startups with risk capital. The startups that received investment, are implementing their solutions in our city. These solutions are transforming Córdoba into a smart city. The Fund promotes public-private sectors partnerships for the implementation of innovative solutions in the city, promotes open innovation practice in the public sector and boosts the city’s entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem.
The Fund was created through the legislative regulation as a local law and is important to mention that in the beginning the Development Bank for Latin America (CAF) provided technical assistance to CorLab for the design. The Fund is funded annually with 1% of the city’s commercial and industrial taxes (around USD 1M per year) and It allows the incorporation of external investors. IDB Lab provided funding of USD 600K to co-invest with us.
In 2021, we created the Fund, in 2022 we invested in 10 startups for USD 1M. In 2023 we implemented 10 innovative solutions developed by these startups in areas like Environment, Accessibility, Education, Mobility and others. Also last year, we have invested in 6 new startups for USD 600K. All in all, we have invested USD 1.7M in 16 govtech startups.
This is our startup portfolio. We have innovative solutions for the public areas of environment, education, mobility, health, accessibility, culture, productive development, employment, among others.
Action 9 is implement the solutions of the invested startups. In this videowe show some examples.
This program has allowed us to obtain important international awards and recognitions from international organisations such as IDB, CAF, SEGIB and OECD.
