May
16
The Obelisco on the 9 de Julio Avenue, the widest street in the World
Here’s a piece of advise for all my friends and readers in the US and across the pond: Sell all your belongings now and move south. I’m not talking about Miami-Kinda-South. I’m talking about south, south, like Buenos Aires South.
José in one of the 3 Web Events held in Buenos Aires last week
For those who don’t know, my brother José (who also happens to be on the Web Scene since IBM OS/2 Warp) and his family just moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina to work with some pretty cool cats down there on a project called Keegy (which looks like a Regional Digg on steroids, in case you haven’t see it yet).
On Keegy HQ unveiling the banners for one of the Web Events, more photos of Keegy’s HQ here
Anyway, José was just telling me the other day how the IT Scene in Buenos Aires is off-tha-chain, so I decided to give y’all a heads up on what’s going on down there. Only last month there were at least 3 Web Events, the Palermo Valley 3.0, Open Social Week(with speakers from Google to Joyent) and StartMeUp.
Not long ago, Argentina was one of the most expensive countries in the world (which lead to an economic disaster and eventually knocked down the current government at the time) but that’s all in the past. These days the biggest companies on IT and Communications like Motorola, Intel, BT among others have not only returned, but made huge investments to turn Buenos Aires into the Latin American Silicon Valley.
Puerto Madero at night
But… no Silicon Valley would be completed without a Google HQ, which why last year Google opened their regional HQ in Puerto Madero, only like *THE* most stylish district in Buenos Aires.
On his visit to Argentina and after meeting with the country’s Vice President, Eric Schmidt (Google’s CEO) said:
Google’s first move into Latin America will be a key towards e-commerce as broadband usage is set to explode in the region, which also happens to be the region with fastest growth in the Internet sector, even before Asia, the U.S. and Europe
Bang! How’s that for a statement.
Photo by: formfaktor
Argentina, the land formerly known for their soccer, tango music, the widest street in the world and excellent steak is now on the verge of becoming a weird mix of Silicon Valley meets MTV Spring Break with VC’s on every stop light and Web Events every 20 minutes.
But wait, the good stuff don’t end there.
Argentina’s Capital City was founded by immigrantes from Spain, Italy and Germany so you get the best food, architecture and culture mix from all three. Not to mention, the mix of genetics between the immigrants and the natives produced some of the most beautiful and athletic people on earth.
Photo by: Simon
So if you’re any good on anything Web/IT related, love hitting the red line of your cholesterol levels with some good steak and are willing to give soccer a chance, then you should stop reading right now and start posting your belongings on Craigslist.
1
Hi,
I had heard something that Buenos Aires is becoming a nice place for web business related...Do you know if other design areas (industrial, graphic or packaging) are becoming big also? I have been in Buenos Aires (as a tourist) last year, for the first time...I fell in love with the city, the streets, stores, cafes, the mood...and I think I would not have any problem living there...except for the language :)
Nice blog by the way, keep the good work :)
2
Morning Erika!
Well, first, thank you so much for your kind words, it is much appreciated.
As for your question, definitively yeah. The Graphic Design scene was actually one of the first disciplines that bloomed a lot of years ago in Argentina. That city “breaths” design everywhere you go, from the street signs designed by one of the greatest Designers in the region (http://www.webshakespear.com.ar/) until the graphic urban expression like street painting (http://youtube.com/watch?v=uuGaqLT-gO4&feature=dir).
It’s no coincidence that there’s always a place reserved for Argentina when it comes to International Ads Awards (whether it’s tv or print) and there are always pretty neat (and affordable) Design Conferences regularly.
So, if I were you, I would get a portfolio of my best works and start introducing it to agencies in the region, and for that Latin Spots’s Bolsa de Trabajo (http://www.latinspots.com) would probably be the place to start.
