Our Initiatives
The RIAC is a regional platform that brings together High-Level Authorities and other key stakeholders leading the Competitiveness, Innovation, and Economic Development agendas of the 34 Member States of the Organization of American States (OAS).
The RIAC promotes policy dialogue, exchange of experiences and collaborative initiatives among decision-makers from the public, private, and academic sectors to foster inclusive and sustainable economic development in the Americas.
In the context of RIAC, the OAS convenes the Americas Competitiveness Forum (ACF), the Americas Competitiveness Exchange (ACE), the Group of Experts on Subnational Competitiveness (GTECS), and offers the RIAC Covid-19 Ideas Accelerator.
The Americas Competitiveness Forum (ACF)
The ACF is a hemispheric policy space for Ministers, government, and business and academic leaders to discuss economic competitiveness and promote innovation in the Americas. It seeks to find joint solutions to common challenges and help foster greater economic competitiveness in the region. During the Forum, actors find multiple occasions to interact, share experiences, and forge greater collaboration.
The ACF features keynote speakers, plenaries, bilateral meetings, and networking events. It is an opportunity to find and promote business and develop new commercial relations in the Americas. Host countries have been: Chile, Colombia, United States, Guatemala, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago. The upcoming ACF will be organized by the Government of Ecuador in February 2021.
The Americas Competitiveness Exchange (ACE)
The ACE is The Premier Economic Development, Innovation, and Entrepreneurial Network of the Americas and is one of the leading High–Level events of the OAS. The ACE program is one of the core initiatives of RIAC, for which the OAS serves as the Technical Secretariat.
The ACE brings together up to 50 senior-level government, business, policy, and economic decision-makers from across the Americas and beyond to experience first-hand the diverse range of projects, strategic investments, public-private partnerships, and best practices from a particular region’s economic, innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.
These top global leaders are selected to participate in the week-long program to engage with innovation hubs, advanced technology centers, leading firms, educational and research institutions; explore local, regional, urban, and rural economic development models; share experiences and knowledge; build networks to enhance competitiveness in the Americas; promote sustainable and inclusive economic development; and increase trade and investment opportunities.
The ACE program has been held 13 times, including the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Canada, Germany, and Israel. Next editions of ACE will be hosted by the State of Louisiana, United States, in 2021.
To learn more about the #ACXchange visit:
http://riacevents.org/ace/
The Group of Experts on Sub-National Competitiveness (GTECS)
The GTECS meets once a year to discuss, define and recommend strategies to enhance the efforts of regions and localities to become more competitive through the exchange of experiences with other sub-regions, countries, and institutions from the Americas and beyond.
In the context of GTECS, as a regional community of practice, experts, government representatives, academic and private sector of OAS member states, share experiences on regional innovation and competitiveness indicators, strategies to improve the business climate, methodologies to benchmark competitiveness, insights to develop local and regional competitiveness agendas, projects to map and support clusters, and incentives to build smart specialization.
GTECS has 2 subgroups of work in the following topics:
• Business Facilitation – Procedures and Construction Permits
• Indicators and Methodologies of Competitiveness
To learn about the GTECS, please visit:
http://riacevents.org/gtecs/
The RIAC Covid-19 Ideas Accelerator
The Accelerator is a platform to identify and share solution-driven innovative products and services to address some of the most pressing needs generated by COVID-19. The purpose of the platform is to share good practices to support government authorities, local leaders, academic experts, innovators, and entrepreneurs from the Americas and beyond engaged in efforts to address the Covid-19 pandemic. Facilitating collaboration opportunities with timely information, contact points, and new technologies can provide valuable resources for leaders and policymakers.
Economic Recovery and Development Plans
Tech-Based Tools and Health Solutions
Business and Entrepreneur Support Programs
To visit the #RIAXelerator and share information, please visit: https://riacevents.org/COVID/
Countries and their regions/provinces/localities are welcome to present proposals to host in-person and virtual activities under the abovementioned programs.
