IT industry in Uruguay

The countryUruguay has an strategic geographic location in the heart of MERCOSUR, a US$ 2 trillion - GDP free trade zone that also includes Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

Uruguay is one of the fastest growing countries in Latin America. Its GDP grew, on average, 6.3% between 2004 – 2010.

Booming Foreign Direct Investment – the FDI tripled over the past 5 years.

Strong democracy characterized by political and social stability.

Open, growing economy with reliable and high level institutions and a modern, attractive invest-ment regime.

Strengths of the IT Industry in UruguayMultilingual labor force.

Good labor value for money.

Time zone allows to work with the US and Europe, and is a good complement to the East Asian time zones.

Uruguay ranked among the top 50 locations for offshoring services in A.T. Kearney’s Global Services Location Index, 2011.

IT industry highlights Uruguay is the main Latin American software exporter in relative terms.

IT Exports targeted toward 52 different markets.

International expansion supported by a wide network of international offices and foreign business partners.

Over 12,000 people employed in the sector.

Uruguay was the 2nd LatAm country recognized by the European Commission for its adequate level of data protection.

More than 250 companies develop software and IT solutions.

First country to adopt the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative.

11% of tertiary enrollment in Uruguay is in Engi-neering programs.

100% of 15-year-old attending public high schools have completed at least 3 years of English and 2 years of computer training.

Human Capital Tax and other incentivesBroad tax benefits – in Uruguay software production is not subject to profit tax or VAT, when it is produced for export.

Tax Free Zones, where companies are exempt of ALL national taxes and foreign staff may opt not to contribute to the Uruguayan social security system.

Exports of the Uruguayan IT industry (millions of dollars)

Source: CUTI

Main destinations of IT Exports

Source: CUTI

Continued growth in exports and market diversification sustained by  high quality professionals in IT and companies strongly oriented to product development.

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United States - 19%Mexico - 11%Argentina - 10%Spain - 10%Chile - 7%Brazil - 7%Colombia - 6%Puerto Rico - 3%Peru - 3%Other - 24%

“The reason why we decided on Uruguay is that we found that the legal system in Uruguay protects the foreign investor, the transparency of the system is very important to us, the stability of the country was very important and the attention the government gives to investors from overseas was key for us to decide to come here. This country provides an ideal context for the development of the software industry. Uruguay’s advantages as outsourcing center were crucial in setting up the TATA Consul-tancy Services development center.” GABRIEL ROZMAN. Vice President for Emerging Markets, Tata Consultancy Services.

“In outsourcing, Uruguay has leapt ahead of its neighbors by being the first to understand what could be done -that in today’s world having an Indian company led by a Hungarian-Uruguayan servicing American Banks with Montevidean engineers managed by Indian technologists who have learned to eat Uruguayan veggie is just the new normal.” THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN. The New York Times.

Success stories

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