Colombia bets big on its software industry

Colombia's software industry generated revenues of 13.5tn pesos (US$4.74bn) in 2016. The goal is to increase the figure to 17.7tn pesos, said ICT minister David Luna.

The minister cited data from ICT ministry Mintic, the IT observatory, and IT association Fedesoft saying there are 6,096 Colombian software companies, which create 100,000 jobs.

Luna added that the communications, education, health, and finance sectors have advanced considerably in the adoption of IT in the last two years. Companies in real estate, construction, retail, and transport are also showing interest in implementing technology.

The financial sector is spearheading the adoption of advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence and the internet of things.

SMEs are also moving forward in the adoption of mature technologies, going from a 35% rate in 2015 to 60% last year. According to Luna, this had a positive impact on the country's economy.

Luna reiterated the ministry's plan to build an artificial intelligence excellence center to foster projects related to big data, the internet of things, and biotechnology.

He underscored that at the end of last year Colombia reported 29mn broadband connections, 1,029 public Wi-Fi zones, and 7,132 internet centers of the Vive Digital program.