The incMTY Summit addressed topics such as artificial intelligence, open innovation, female leadership, and the talent of the future
Including topics such as artificial intelligence, open innovation, industries of the future, and female leadership, the incMTY Summit was held at Tec de Monterrey and the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL).
Juan Pablo Murra, Rector of the Tec, was in charge of welcoming the leaders during the first day of the event.
“This business, innovation, and investment summit provides us with a unique space where disruptive ideas come to life through panels and networking activities, connecting people to create impactful solutions for our society,” said Murra.
Under a new vision of incMTY, this event was called the prelude to the one to be held in March 2025.
CONECTA presents the highlights of these two days of the business, innovation, and investment summit.
Global issues: an opportunity for joint work and innovation
In his presentation, Pascal Finette, chief heretic and co-founder of “be radical,” emphasized how the future presents a set of global issues that serve as a rallying point for collaboration and innovation.
“Although the future hasn’t been written yet, it has already happened in terms of technology, and we’re just catching up (...) The exponential growth curve of technology is gradual and then sudden,” the panelist explained.
This being the case, Finette stressed the importance of not being surprised by disruption, as the essential functions of the vast majority of disruptive innovations don’t change over long periods of time.
“When innovating, you need to ask yourself what doesn’t change rather than what does change, since disruption is a state of change that isn’t necessarily linear,” he said.
Finally, in order to innovate and operate in a changing world, the co-founder presents the idea of working in “chaord”, a symbiosis between the elements of structured order and the flexibility and adaptability of chaos.
Investment strategies for a sustainable future
Rogelio de los Santos, President of incMTY, moderated the panel Investment Strategies for a Sustainable Future, in which business and government leaders spoke about how to organize society to make a positive impact.
“Investing in people, organizations, and the planet to reverse climate change is everyone’s decision. We all need to get involved.
“The issue of a sustainable future isn’t only about the environment, it’s also about society and how we organize and respect ourselves,” said De los Santos.
On behalf of the government of Nuevo León, Secretary of Trade Office Chief Emmanuel Loo emphasized that companies and investors coming to the state are reviewed to ensure that their arrival will be sustainable.
In addition to Loo, other participants on the panel were: Liliana Reyes, CEO of Amexcap; Daniela Calleja, BIVA Director of New Issuers and Entrepreneurs; and Lina Peña, Co-founder of Dissent Ventures.
AI trends transforming business
Patricia Desentis, Principal at 500 LatAm; Dagoberto Huerta, Principal Retail Consultant at Oracle; Huibert Aalbers, Regional Director of IT architecture at IBM, discussed the role of AI in the modern business landscape.
With Noel Ulrick, National Director of the Eugenio Garza Lagüera Institute of Entrepreneurship, as moderator, the panelists highlighted the growing role of AI at organizational levels from sales forecasting to proprietary language models.
“Technology is moving whether we want it to or not (...) It’s up to us if we get left behind,” Aalbers warned.
Desentis said it was important to implement, understand, and build on AI technology with the aim of early adoption and mastery.
For his part, Huerta remarked that while AI advances will continue to grow exponentially, it will not be able to replace the human workforce.
“Humanistic capabilities such as empathy, leadership, and ethics are elements that will continue to make us irreplaceable in the face of AI,” he said.
The digital divide: the challenge of the future
The digital divide is a problem that must be addressed jointly by universities, companies, and government, according to the participants of the Talent of the Future panel.
“The digital divide is consuming us, and the gap can’t be closed if we work alone. It can’t be the university alone, the government alone, or the company alone,” said Ángeles Vela of the Nuevo León software council.
In addition to the digital divide, they said that another challenge is to prepare those who are about to enter the workforce both in new technologies and in soft skills that include empathy, collaboration, communication, among others.
“To be more competitive, we need to innovate and use technology. We need to train and invest in people,” said Tec research professor David Romero.
“We need to work more on social skills and human skills. We need to bet on those,” said Álvaro García, HR VP at Grupo Prodensa
Technology in the industry of the future
Carlos Arenas, General Director of OXXO México; Juan Francisco Aguilar, CEO of Dell; Yoelle Rojas, General Director of CLELAC; and Alejandro Preinfalk, President and CEO of Siemens for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, shared their vision of the future of the industry.
These panelists addressed the topics of artificial intelligence, the importance of the consumer and the human being at the center of it all, open innovation, and whether humans will be replaceable in the industry of the future.
“We’ve relied heavily on artificial intelligence because it helps us understand consumer preferences and trends in great depth for the purposes of designing proposals and connecting with our customers and suppliers,” said Arenas.
In addition, they shared what they do on a daily basis in the companies where they work to positively impact society.
“We talk about technology with purpose, and that’s a very strong purpose. It’s to improve the environment, improve quality of life, improve health, and generate a positive impact and a legacy,” said Alejandro Preinfalk.
Innovation and bilateral trade between Mexico and the United States
Commercial collaborations between Mexico and the United States will continue to increase, said Alejandro Mendoza of Industrial Real Estate in Mexico during his participation on the Innovation and Bilateral Trade panel held as part of the incMTY Summit.
“In Mexico, as in the United States, a lot of work has been done for large companies to perform their operations, and it’s a reflection of the collaborations between the two countries,” he said.
For her part, the Consul General of Mexico in Houston, María Elena Orantes, spoke about how technology brought the two countries closer together as a result of the pandemic.
“The pandemic generated a series of circumstances that motivated the use of technology, application, and methodologies that allow us to connect Mexico more with the world and in my case Mexico with Houston,” she said.
Also participating were John Cowen, Mayor of the city of Brownsville, Texas, in the United States, and Edgar Pereda, President, CEO, and Co-founder of Wisdom Digital Logistics and Lateral Fulfilment.
Heineken Green Challenge 2024: The winners
Startup Biointellectus won first place in HEINEKEN Green Challenge 2024 for using waste such as coconut fiber, coffee grounds, barley, and orange peel to produce bioplastics.
The startup, led by TEC graduate Victor Flores, seeks to be a model of circular economy and was able to present its pitch during incMTY Summit 2024.
HEINEKEN México and incMTY promoted this challenge for the seventh time. This year’s theme sought to contribute with solutions to the decarbonization of HEINEKEN Mexico’s value chain.
Second place went to startup Syntropia, led by TEC graduate Alejandro Landín, which is working on a technological process capable of transforming cities’ organic waste management systems.
Radial Biomateriales, an initiative from Jalisco led by Ricardo Muttio, won third place by proposing the use of organic waste –such as beer waste– for the extraction of fungi that are used in the creation of sustainable biomaterials.
AIrtech Challenge 2024 proposals
Airtech Challenge 2024, an innovation competition promoted by Daikin and incMTY, awarded three startups that presented proposals to improve the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) industry.
Kota Fukutoku, Vice President of Corporate Promotion and Planning at Daikin Latin America, was in charge of the awards presentation.
Easy Data won first place as an energy management platform that allows companies to save costs and reduce their environmental impact.
Roberto Flores, CEO and one of the founders of this startup, indicated that the platform is already used in ten countries. It seeks to simplify the monitoring of efficiency and sustainability in facilities.
Second place went to Head Smart Sensors, which is developing a smart sensor capable of connecting old machinery to the Internet, optimizing its performance, and extending its useful life.
Finally, startup DINNVA won third place for its solar cooling system made from biopolymers and designed for communities without electricity, contributing to the reduction of CO₂ emissions.
As part of this challenge, prizes of US$10,000, US$5,000, and US$2,500 were awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively.
Technology ecosystems
During the second day of the incMTY Summit, educational and government leaders and managers converged to reflect on the conference as a space for ideas and innovation.
“The world moves through innovation (...) For this to happen, it’s necessary to take advantage of new technologies, to continue creating value that benefits all people,” said Juan Pablo Murra, Rector of the Tec.
“We continue to explore in this space the value of open-mindedness in every sense, as open innovation starts with open minds,” said Jaime Castillo, UANL Academic Secretary.
Nuevo León Secretary of Education Sofialeticia Morales emphasized the role of this event as an ecosystem for leaders and key actors to share knowledge and experiences as part of the same transforming synergy.
This discussion was also joined by Rogelio de los Santos, President of the Eugenio Garza Institute of Entrepreneurship; Carlos Serna, Undersecretary of Economic Development and Innovation in Nuevo León; and Thomas Hogg, CEO of incMTY.
Women and the culture of innovation
The role of women in different work areas presents different challenges than the role of men, said Dr. Cristina Rodríguez from the UANL School of Biological Sciences during the panel Women + Culture of Innovation.
“It’s two or three times more difficult for women to develop in the workplace than it is for men,” she said.
For this reason, universities, the government, and companies work in collaboration to open spaces where there is labor inclusion, as well as places where innovation and creativity are promoted.
“Companies are the vehicle for the solution to almost all the problems we have in cities, and private capital plays an important role in the country,” said Tersa León of Scientist Explorer & Country.
Also participating were Laura Guerra, CEO of Jinzai; Karisma Rodríguez, Head of People Partnering at LEGO Group; and Federico Rojas, Nuevo León Secretary of Labor, who shared some of the public policies that the government is implementing in favor of women.
Business digitalization for talent
Lorena Bravo, security and innovation leader at Google Cloud Consulting Latam; Estrella Vázquez, CEO of Time2Grow; and Juan Francisco Fernández, CEO of Crediclub, reflected on digitalization for Latin American development and talent.
“Technology isn’t in competition with talent. It’s complementary (...) but we need a culture of open, flexible, and collaborative innovation so that technologies can work in every organization,” Vázquez said.
Ricardo Murcio, a professor in the Department of Strategy and Leadership at EGADE Business School who moderated this discussion, remarked on the critical moment in which we find ourselves to take advantage of digital training.
“Technology allows us to access knowledge and serves as a bridge to development, particularly from our region,” he said.
The speakers also addressed the relevance of cybersecurity specialization within the business world, encouraging organizations to be open to continuous training and partnerships with universities.
incMTY Summit 2024
The first edition of the incMTY Summit, organized by incMTY at Tec de Monterrey in conjunction with the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL) and the Nuevo León Secretariat of Trade, was held on November 13 and 14.
The central themes of this first edition included open innovation, artificial intelligence, economic growth, talent of the future, investment in Mexico, and female leadership.
There were two venues for the incMTY Summit: the first day at the Borregos Arena on the Tec’s Monterrey campus, and the second day at the University Theater on UANL’s Mederos campus.
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