Uruguay current offers tremendous opportunities for ICT employment opportunities. The well educated workforce has helped Uruguay to establish itself as the first outsourcing hub of Latin America. In the last few years the Information Technology (IT) sector has become the fastest growing sector of the country. A joint effort of the government and the private sector has played a major role behind the success of the IT sector [1].
Uruguayan universities have had a huge influence in the development of the software industry through training of professionals to meet the needs of the IT market. Uruguayans working in the IT sector have managed to utilize their knowledge in high quality business solutions and applications and that have helped in the creation of strong local software industry. With a 20 times increase in IT related jobs, Uruguay can be considered a potential IT hub for information technology solutions. At present 5 types of business is running successfully in the country:
Since the advent of Internet solutions, the e-commerce sector in Uruguay has been progressing steadily. The country’s Internet and e-commerce future is promising with the Internet adoption rates shown before. As Internet prices become more competitive and businesses realize and implement their solutions in the digital domain, commerce will continue to sprawl at a consistent rate.
IT has kept Uruguay a relatively stable country during trying economic times for the World, including neighboring Uruguayan countries. With continue education and government regulations relaxing to promote open commerce markets for the digital divide, the already stable Uruguay should begin to become a hub for e-commerce activity for Latin America.
E-Government (STAGE 3)Uruguay is at the forefront of legislative change for its goal of becoming a technically forward country. A landmark piece of legislation, the 2008–2010 Uruguayan Digital Agenda for an Information Society, was formulated as a development strated based combining innovation, technology and knowledge with social inclusiveness [2]. This effort of e-government has a key objective to increase government access to services and public institutions through the use of the Internet.
This legislation will enable Uruguayans to participate in the design, discussion and evaluation of public policies at the national and municipal levels. As more important and active voices in the government, citizens will expect the government to be more responsive to citizen demands.
Ensuring that economic growth is tied to technological innovation is a central goal of the new Uruguayan government. Since 2005, the Uruguayan economy has grown 23 percent. But investment has especially jumped in sectors that benefit from technology advances, such as agro-industry, biotechnology, port services, real estate, and tourism. More than 150,000 jobs have been created and, at the end of 2008, our unemployment rate stood at 7.6 percent—the lowest in decades. In less than four years, the Urguayan poverty rate has decreased from 31 percent to 21 percent.
SourcesContributor: William Groom