prospects for high tech economic partnerships between cuba and the u.s. – some observations...

Prospects for High Tech Economic Partnerships Between

Cuba and the U.S. – Some Observations

Symposium

“Shared Visions for Cuba-US Relations”

The University of Texas at Austin

29-30 January 2009

©Dr. Ramon C. Barquin

AGENDA Introduction Preliminary clarifications The issue of competitiveness Some scenarios Caveats Conclusion

Today’s

Topic

Preliminary Clarifications

ProspectsHigh-TechPartnership

Preliminary Clarifications

Prospects What is the time horizon?

High-Tech How do we define it?

Partnership Are we talking about business?

Prospects

Any time in the future when it is Desirable to the partnersLegally possiblePolitically sustainable

High-Tech

Loosely defined Focus on

Information technology Biotechnology

Let’s not forget low-tech

Partnership

Business relationshipsOwnership Legal structureManagement control Physical locationTax regimes

If someone tells you the world is changing tell them it’s not true...

Because the world has already changed

What has changed?

TIME names “YOU”

Person of the Year

2006

The name of the game will be

entrepreneurship, creativity and

innovation

Then there is competitiveness

In order for Cuba to be attractive to U.S. business entities or investors it must be able to compete favorably

with many others.

…And there is a new agenda for the world’s nations

1. Knowledge is the new organizing principle for society

2. Cyberspace is the new medium for knowledge transmission and capture

3. Competitiveness depends on collaboration and knowledge sharing through cyberspace

Knowledge is the new organizing

principle for society

Land

Factory

Office

Knowledge

Society has always developed around a basic organizing principle

Cyberspace is the new medium for knowledge

transmission and capture

What is happening?

We live in a world where knowledge is the most important of all

commodities, hence we are trying to capture all knowledge

What are the new modes of knowledge capture?

The Internet Google Collaboration mechanisms Wikis/Wikipedia Social Networking: MySpace, FaceBook,

Linked-In Blogs YouTube

Google Facts

Google controls 65.1% of all searches in the U.S. at the end of 2007 and 86% of all searches in the UK.

Google was searched 4.4 billion times in the U.S. alone in October, 2007. Average searches per searcher: 40.7.

Google’s sites had 112 million U.S. visitors in November, 2007.

Google earned $15 billion revenue and $6.4 billion profit in 2007, a profit margin of 26.9%.

Google controls 79% of the pay-per-click ad market and 40% of all online advertising.

Google became the No. 1 brand in the world in 2007.

Source: J. Jarvis, BUZZMACHINE, http://www.buzzmachine.com/2007/12/29/google-is-god/

• Created in 2001

• Working on over 10 million articles

• 75,000+ contributors

• Over 260 languages

• Arguably similar reliability to Encyclopedia Britannica

WIKIPEDIA:

“The Free Encyclopedia”

The Blogosphere

Source: Technorati, 2008 Report

YouTube Statistics 78.3 Million: Total videos uploaded Over 150,000: Videos uploaded per day 2 min 46 sec: Average Video Length 412.3 years: Time it would take to view all YouTube

material 26.6: Average Age of Uploader

Uploads by Country: USA: 34.5%UK: 6.9%Philippines: 3.9%Turkey: 3.4%Spain: 3.4%

Uploads by Language: English: 48.1%Spanish: 13.6%Dutch: 3.9%German: 2.9%

Source: Prof. M. Wesch, Kansas State Univ. (As of 3/17/08) http://ksudigg.wetpaint.com/page/YouTube+Statistics?t=anon

On-Line Content Means that

Knowledge Must be Managed and

Exploited On-Line

Top fifteen countries by % Population on line

1. Netherlands 90.1%2. Norway 87.7%3. Iceland 84.8%4. Canada 84.3%5. New Zealand 80.5%6. Australia 79.4%7. Sweden 77.4%8. Japan 73.8%9. Portugal 72.9%10. United States 72.5%11. Korea, South 70.7%12. Hong Kong 69.5%13. Switzerland 69.0%14. United Kingdom 68.6%15. Denmark 68.6%

Source: www.tofocus.info (As of 6/2008)

Internet Usage WorldwideChina 19.0%

Japan 73.8%

India 5.2%

Netherlands 90.1%

Chile 44.9%

Kenya 5.9%

Hong Kong 69.5%

Dominican Republic 22.1%

Brazil 26.1%

Russia 23.2%

Source: www.tofocus.info (As of 6/2008)

Source: www.tofocus.info (As of 6/08)

Competitiveness depends on

collaboration and knowledge sharing through cyberspace

Global Competitiveness Index

Subindex A: Basic requirements 1st pillar: Institutions 2nd pillar: Infrastructure 3rd pillar: Macroeconomic stability 4th pillar: Health and primary education

Subindex B: Efficiency enhancers 5th pillar: Higher education and training 6th pillar: Goods market efficiency 7th pillar: Labor market efficiency 8th pillar: Financial market sophistication 9th pillar: Technological readiness 10th pillar: Market size

Subindex C: Innovation and sophistication factors 11th pillar: Business sophistication 12th pillar: Innovation

Source: World Economic Forum (Davos, Switzerland)

Competitiveness Rankings 2007

Top Ten1. United States 2. Switzerland3. Denmark 4. Sweden5. Germany6. Finland7. Singapore8. Japan9. United Kingdom 10. Netherlands

Source: World Economic Forum (Davos, Switzerland)

Bottom Ten114. Zambia115. Ethiopia116. Lesotho117. Mauritania118. Guyana119. Timor-Leste120. Mozambique121. Zimbabwe122. Burundi123. Chad

An economy that creates, acquires and uses knowledge effectively for its economic

and social development

World Bank

Knowledge Economy

The Four Pillars Of The Knowledge Economy

Economic and Institutional Regime Education Information Infrastructure Innovation

Source: WORLD BANK

GLOBAL RANKING: K4D (World Bank)

Knowledge Economy vs Competitiveness

Knowledge Economy (WB K4D)1. Denmark2. Finland3. Sweden4. Iceland5. Norway6. United States 7. Australia8. Netherlands 9. Canada10. United Kingdom

Competitiveness (GCR Rankings)

1. United States 2. Switzerland3. Denmark 4. Sweden5. Germany6. Finland7. Singapore8. Japan9. United Kingdom 10. Netherlands

Knowledge Economy & Competitiveness vs % Population On-Line

K + C Rankings1. United States 2. Switzerland3. Denmark 4. Sweden5. Germany6. Finland7. Singapore8. Japan9. United Kingdom 10. Netherlands11. Iceland12. Norway13. Australia14. Canada

% Population On-Line1. Netherlands2. Norway 3. Iceland4. Canada5. New Zealand6. Australia7. Sweden8. Japan9. Portugal10. United States11. Korea, South12. Hong Kong13. Switzerland14. United Kingdom15. Denmark

Some Scenarios

Information Technology ASP’s SaaS Help desks Call centers Translation utilities

Some Key Cuban Information Technology Institutions

Universities Universidad de La Habana Universidad de las Ciencias Informáticas (UCI) Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría (CUJAE-ISPJAE) Other universities

Research Centers ICID (Instituto Central de Investigación Digital) CUJAE CIME (Centro de Investigación en MicroElectrónica) CUJAE CEIS (Centro de Investigación en Ingeniería de Sistemas)

Networks INFOCOM (Ministerio de Informática y Comunicaciones) CENIAI (CITMATEL) INFOMED

ITC Enterprises – Research Centers ETECSA SOFTCAL (Ministerio de Informática y Comunicaciones) CITMATEL (Academia de Ciencias)

Some IT Gatekeepers

Miguel Katrib (Universidad de La Habana) Rafael Bello (Universidad de Las Villas) Ramón Basilio Zubillaga (ICID) Orestes Llanes (ISPJAE) Juan Febles (BIOINFO)

Biotechnology Teleradiology Remote patient monitoring Health care analytics Immunology research Proteomics

Some Key Cuban Biotechnology Institutions

Universities/Schools of Medicine Universidad de La Habana Universidad de Santiago Universidad de Holguín Universidad de Santa Clara

Research Institutions CIMEQ Centro Nacional de Bioinformática (BIOINFO) Pedro Kouri Institute

Research Network INFOMED (Red Telématica de Salud)

Research Hospital Hospital Hermanos Almejeiras

Potential Cuban competitive advantages

The proximity of geography A rich human infrastructure Solid educational institutions in high

tech Potentially attractive labor costs Multiple entry points into the U.S.

economy through the Cuban-American community

Caveats When and how should these partnerships start to be

explored? How would they be owned and managed? Who makes what money and where is it kept or

invested? How would they address the need to protect

intellectual property? Where and how would disputes be resolved? Could high-tech business relationships prosper

without a significant increase in economic openness, bandwidth and connectivity?

Conclusion

There are very significant and real opportunities in the future for Cuba-U.S. business partnerships in

high-tech…but

There are real and significant opportunities

for future high-tech business partnerships

between Cuba and the U.S.

There are very significant and real opportunities in the future for Cuba-U.S. business partnerships in

high-tech…but

But…both sides will have to be creative and

innovative in providing answers to the previous

questions

Prospects for High Tech Economic Partnerships Between

Cuba and the U.S. – Some Observations

Symposium

“Shared Visions for Cuba-US Relations”

The University of Texas at Austin

29-30 January 2009

©Dr. Ramon C. Barquin

Questions?

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Barquin International

1750 K Street NW, Suite 450Washington, DC 20006Phone: (202) 296-7147Fax: (202)296-8903

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