The Digital Creative City is an initiative of ProMexico, a public body responsible for promoting foreign investment in Mexico, and it will be the most important media cluster in Latin America. The project has the support of the Federal Government and it will be developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
According to the Spanish newspaper ABC, the “City” will attract investment of $10 billion USD and 25,000 jobs in the next 5 to 10 years. This multimedia park will house Mexican companies of media and software, but the government also expects to attract international media companies such as Disney, Sony, Time Warner, Viacom, News Corp., Comcast/General Electric.
According with the report of KPMG, “Competitive Alternatives 2008”, Mexico is the most competitive country in the world for software development. The study measured logistics, workforce and transport costs, as well as net sales in 102 countries, including Germany, UK, Canada, US, Australia and Japan.
The City will include global movie, television, multimedia, computers, video games, new public spaces and world class housing developments, explained the president.
Guadalajara was in competition with other 11 Mexican cities, including finalists Monterrey, Puebla and Tijuana. But the capital of Jalisco is already known as “Mexico’s Silicon Valley” for the great amount of international electronic companies already set in there, which with no doubt was an important argument at the moment of making the decision to choose Guadalajara.
The media and entertainment sector is booming in Mexico with an average annual growth of 4.5%, twice that of the US and Canada. The government expects annual growth to rise to 7.2% by the end of next year. Mexico also accounts for 50% of total video game sales in Latin America. With the creation of the first Digital Creative City in Latin America these figures are expected to have an important growth in the next few years.
