According to an article published by Carlos Manzoni in La Nación, in Argentina, the software Industry has almost tripled its staff between 2003 and 2015, with an accumulative annual rate of 11%. It currently employs 87.000 persons, whose salaries are 45% higher than the economy’s average. The industry includes 4,200 companies, and has an annual revenue of ARS 63,000 million (USD 4,200 million).

Considering this context the National Ministry of Production organized the Federal Innovation Exchange for Productive Transformation (IFIT), a public-private articulation conference in which actors from the entire country gather in productive centers of a province that functions as a host (in this case, Buenos Aires City and Buenos Aires Province).

The IFIT is one of the actions that promotes the sector to increase its revenues and exportations. In Buenos Aires, it gathered 30 businessmen and public servants from different provinces of the country so they can observe success cases of the software world and nurture from those experiences to replicate the experience in their provinces. “We aim for the goal of generating a network around productive transformation. And we have chosen software, as it is a transversal sector that can be applied in different fields,” pointed out Guillermo Acosta, deputy secretary of Federal and Sectoral Articulation of the Ministry of Production.

“Software is one of the competitive sectors of the country. Therefore, we are working on the Software Law involving the platform Presoft which facilitates the access for SMEs”, said Lucio Castro, National Secretary of Productive Transformation. “It is also important to point out that the five unicorns that Argentina has, emerged from this sector”, he adds.

Technological District

The Technological District was created in Buenos Aires City in 2008, a center knowledge promotion and development that welcomes information technology companies and provides financial benefits and incentives.

The largest share of the 138 companies located in the district are software developers. This is a major impulse to increase the USD 1000 million that Argentina exports in software services (around USD 200 million more than the country’s wine industry). The software industry has a huge development potential. Argentina is number 22 in the raking of countries that export Software Services: the main exporter in Ireland (USD 51,000 million), followed by India (USD 50,000 million). The main destine for Argentinian exportations is the USA, given the competitive advantages the country has: same time zone, good English levels, proper level of training and cultural affinity.

Unicorns of the software industry in Argentina

Globant – it provides innovative technology services. It projects and creates digital experiences for millions of users, employing over 5,200 professionals in 12 countries, who work for companies such as Google, LinkedIn, JWT, EA and Coca Cola. It has been selected as a world leader in digital strategy consultant services by the IDC MarketScape Report (2016), and as a case of study by the universities of Harvard, MIT and Stanford.

Pragma – this company has been providing specialized professional services in IT and Business Consultancy. It employs over 600 consultants and has around 2,200 projects financed 100% by Argentinian capitals.  It has offices in Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Spain.

G&L Group – since 1994, this Argentinian company has been providing technology services aimed to continuous improvement of its customers technological areas and solutions for the modernization of the State. It specializes in Finances and Banking, Retail, Public Sector, Telecommunications and Healthcare. It has offices in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and the United States, where over 300 experienced professionals work. Its services and business Solutions are commercialized in 12 countries.

Source: La Nacion