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Uruguay Jorge Vidart CEO at Tilsor Member of CUTI (ICT Chamber) Honorary full professor at the University of the Republic of Uruguay Jorge Vidart is CEO at TILSOR, Honorary full professor of the University of the Republic and Vice-president of Human Capital of CUTI (Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technology). He was director of the ESLAI (Higher Latin American School of Informatics) and participated in the foundation of the PEDECIBA (Program for the Development of Basis Sciences - Uruguay). He studied industrial engineering at the University of the Republic and is Dr. in Computing Science (Université Joseph Fourier-Grenoble-Francia).
Interview to Jorge Vidart at MVD BIZIT As a relevant actor in the ICT field in Uruguay, are you interested in having a political dialogue with the European Union? Undoubtedly, a public policy dialogue with the EU in ICT would be vey interesting. The public policy issue is a matter of tradition and history, and the countries of the EU have tradition and history. Consequently, what countries from the EU can provide is their experience, their pros and cons, their positive and their negative results. This can help and can have the benefit of not repeating the same mistakes that eventually the countries from the EU have done. The EU has a long tradition on public policies; I know well some countries of the EU because I have studied on some of them. I have my PhD in France so I know them well and think that cooperating and having a policy dialogue with the European Union can bring benefits because Uruguay can learn of the experience of the European Union. As representative from the industry, ¿what are the benefits of an agreement in R+D? It is absolutely essential. Following the speech of the Vice president of the Republic of Uruguay, Uruguay is a “country of niche”. What is the meaning of this? We do not have a domestic market. We can not gamble on quantity, we have to gamble on quality. For example: at one point Uruguayan industrial firms sent to China jackets of leather that are of excellent quality. In China the reply: “wonderful, you have sent us a great sample, send us five millions”, what they have sent was all that was produced in the country in one year; consequently, is unimaginable that we gamble on quantity. If we do not gamble on quantity we gamble on quality, the enterprises have to do this. If we compete on quality, we have to innovate and to innovate we need academic-industrial alliance. So, when they ask me why I give importance to R+D, I answer that is essential but as our companies are very small, having a R+D group is a luxury. In my case, I have a company (TILSOR) with almost ninety employees that has a small R+D group. My company is one of the few than can make this kind of activities; most companies can not afford it. So, where R+D is done? In the academia, as was mentioned by Héctor Cancela, the dean of the engineering school of the University of the Republic. So academic-industrial cooperation is essential. Most exports from Uruguay are about quality, niches and innovation. This innovation often comes from the academy, so academic-industrial cooperation is substantial.
What is the value of a Project like FORESTA? I was involved in CYTED Projects many years ago. All the cooperation projects, in which I have worked with Europe, have functioned very well. As a company, we have relation with other European companies and the results are positive. Consequently, is necessary to favor and stimulate cooperation. If there are funds and the possibility to improve cooperation is wonderful. The CES (Center of Software Testing) is a project financed, mainly, by the European Union. I participated in the genesis of the CES and if there would have not been founding from the European Union, the project would have failed. Our institutions are full of good will, but in most of the cases an engine is needed. When I lived in Argentina, more than twenty years ago, I led the ESLAI (Higher Latin American School of Informatics) that was a post-graduate and research institute of first level. The institution lasted three years during the end of 1980. In this initiative, there was great support from European Governments, mainly Italy and France, which resulted to be essential. Consequently, policy dialogue between Latin America and Europe is very important, we have much to learn are culturally similar. Comparte esta noticia
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| Jorge Vidart entrevistado por Foresta Project |
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