Bogotá will build a Science, Technology and Innovation District

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Bogotá, 18 Mar Bogotá will build a Science, Technology and Innovation District for which it will invest 300 billion pesos (about 78.5 million dollars) and which seeks to put the city on the map of global entrepreneurship. “Having a Science, Technology and Innovation District will be a trigger for the development of high-impact entrepreneurship and for attracting foreign investment projects that allow the transfer of knowledge,” said the executive director of Invest in Bogota, Isabella Muñoz. He added that the agency will support this project to ensure that the best companies in the world can participate in its construction and implementation. The project was announced on March 15 with the signing of a memorandum with which the Government announced the construction of a large public-private alliance with the capital's mayor's office, the Government of Cundinamarca and the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce. Thus, in the District, the public sector, the private sector, academia and the general public are expected to converge, as the city has an important base for the development of an innovation center supported by the country's largest educational offer and a robust business fabric. In this regard, there are more than 122 institutions of higher education in Bogotá; more than 886,000 companies, of which 389,403 are part of the service sector, and it has 12 government entities and development agencies that promote entrepreneurship. These new alliances will create an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation that, “in addition to being a great stage for technological and financial growth, will facilitate access to knowledge by promoting spaces where people can live, work, study and recreate,” Invest in Bogota added in a statement. For Alfredo Bateman, Bogotá's Secretary of Economic Development, bringing together the actors of the innovation ecosystem in a single area “will generate important synergies that will make the city more productive and competitive.” DISTRICT DATA The Innovation District will be located in the Orange Development Area (ADN), in a central area of the city that will live with this project an urban renewal plan. In its first phase, the project will have a constructed area of approximately 40,271 square meters, which will include, among others, the Innovation District Headquarters Building and another office and mixed-use building offering specialized laboratories, knowledge transfer and training centers and transformation centers. digital, among others. The feasibility phase is currently being carried out, which is expected to end in December of this year with the delivery of all technical products in order to start the construction process during 2023. CHIEF jga/ime/copy