The Decalogues will be presented to our Congress under Law 24.747 as State Policies that will be maintained, whoever governs. Until then, they are under construction for the contribution of all compatriots with knowledge and concerns in this regard.
Decalogue for the development of the country based on the knowledge economy.
1. Macroeconomic equilibrium.
A stabilisation plan and the recovery of fiscal federalism are tools that urgently need to be applied. Within such a macroeconomic stabilisation plan, the knowledge economy sector must function completely deregulated from state interventionism, de-monopolised and where free internal and external competition prevails, allowing the eradication of inflationary chronicity.
Fiscal stability must be re-established and the powers of the implementing authority reduced. If the annual fiscal quota is not reached, the Authority will be the one to determine to whom to give the benefits.
At the same time, in order to re-establish fiscal stability, Law 25.922 should be recovered and the BICE should provide an option to cover the mismatch between the evolution of wage increases in pesos and the exchange rate.
2. Emphasise the export bias.
Argentina has the conditions to become an international benchmark in the sector. Its compatible timetable, its good English language base and cultural affinity are advantages that are not being exploited due to the stagnation of exports.
Argentina must position itself as a preferential destination, in this aspect, maintaining the
structure of the original Knowledge Economy Act of 2019 should be an objective of the
fundamental.
Organising a permanent Competitiveness Observatory could help to measure the gap vis-à-vis benchmark countries and their development policies. Mapping opportunities and markets. As long as an exchange rate gap persists, foreign exchange earnings from EoC exports should be allowed to be freely available. At the same time, export duties are currently set at a "zero rate". The power of the PEN to re-impose them should be removed. The formalisation of treaties with high value countries is another potential measure that would allow avoiding the withholding of the withholding tax. As long as they do not exist, compensate exporters with tax deductions for the withholding taxes they suffer on their export value. At the level of equipment imports, a regime of foreign exchange availability should be established for the cancellation of EoC imports, which establishes the priority of these imports in access to foreign exchange due to their strategic value.
3. Reduce administrative bureaucracy.
EoC issues should be the responsibility of a specific government unit with a rank and powers equivalent to those of the main national productive sectors -agro, energy, industry, etc. Argentina's offer to the world should be managed by a professional and autonomous unit, with active private participation, with powers similar to those of other leading countries. Customs procedures and import permits should be made less bureaucratic in order to facilitate the disposal of goods and inputs imported by the EoC.
4. Equalise the treatment of promoted activities where all should operate under the same rules.
The state's promotion criteria should avoid subsidy systems, favouring the development of self-sustainable verticals with the potential for growth and insertion in global production chains. In turn, the incentives provided to companies should be in line with the fiscal contribution they generate. In turn, the state must redesign its knowledge industries management units, recognising their relevance in the productive matrix and modernising their instruments.
5. Role of the state.
The knowledge economy industry must operate free of any state involvement or intervention (in all its jurisdictions). The state should only ensure free competition in markets. The regulatory role of the state is limited to preventing and correcting monopolistic practices in energy markets and encouraging rational and sustainable use in line with international best practice.
At the same time, competition must be guaranteed, and energy resources must be made available to private investors, allowing them to export, build infrastructure and consolidate markets. The most virtuous method for the local development of knowledge industries is the creation of hubs specialised in different areas. These hubs should be built around pioneering companies and university centres. This would allow local governments to retain their inhabitants in their original villages in quality jobs, working in the most modern technologies and with a direct connection to the world. The political forces that make up the State could in turn establish a strategic agreement, where the EoC is valued by all political forces as a strategic social good for national development, with a stable and continuous framework of development.
6. Infrastructure.
The backbone of knowledge economies rests on the availability of powerful and reliable connectivity channels that keep pace with the development of new communication technologies. An essential role of provincial governments is to ensure the existence of such infrastructure, at a competitive level of quality and cost.
It should be noted that the design, planning, implementation, financing and operation of this infrastructure should be in the hands of experienced private companies regardless of their origin, national or international. Concession and licensing legislation should be brought up to international best practice.
Energy infrastructure should be planned, implemented and operated by private investors themselves. Existing legislation on concessions and licensing should be improved and updated in line with international best practice.
At the equipment level, import charges should be liberalised, extending the scope of Law 25.613, on the IMPORT REGIME FOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH INPUTS, to companies covered by Law 27.506. In this way, the import of capital goods and inputs required for their activities will be exempted from the payment of import duties and other taxes created or to be created.
7. Innovation.
The sector is constantly evolving, innovations are added daily in international markets. The recognised talent of our professionals and of our service centres and the high capacity for innovation in technologies could be stimulated by tax incentives for Argentinean innovators.
In this segment, a programme to encourage local entrepreneurs to develop new technological projects and SMEs is essential. Companies that manage to develop a certain degree of mastery in a certain area have ample possibilities of internationalising their markets.
The government's interventions in stimulating entrepreneurs are multiple: from organising hackathons and competitions that inspire young people's entrepreneurial vocation, to accompanying new developments that have already been launched.
8. Education and communication.
The sector in turn must have a strong connection with the education system, promoting the updating of its contents as well as increasing the curriculum load at primary and secondary levels of English language and NTICX. To this end, a profound reconversion must be implemented to adapt its contents to the demands of the digital era and to the jobs required. The dynamics of the EoC are much greater than the traditional pace of change of educational contents and methods, and therefore a new approach is required, with ideas and instruments that are appropriate for this time.
A task that cannot be delegated to the authorities that define education at the provincial level is to direct educational investment towards training paths that offer young people real employment alternatives in the industries of the future. Broaden the scope of technological training at the social base, favouring the induction of careers aligned to jobs in the knowledge industries. To this end, specific programmes should be developed both in schools and in out-of-school segments.
At the university level, redesign the educational offer of universities and INET, renewing contents and teaching methods to align study with employment demands. Establish new specialised technical training institutes. Strengthen asynchronous virtual education. Continue initiatives such as Argentina Programa and Codo a Codo.
A good way to promote change is to develop complementary and parallel training offers to formal education, accessible to learners in an optional, free and virtual way. The EoC is fuelled by talent and connectivity, conditions that make its federal deployment possible.
9. Federal and transversal deployment.
Just as it is essential to return to fiscal federalism in tax matters, where provinces and municipalities are self-financed by their own taxes.
A National/Provincial Programme for the Digitalisation of essential public services should be implemented: justice, health system and hospitals, public registries, citizen care, security and police services, etc. that support an Industry 4.0 Programme for companies developing digital transformation programmes in traditional verticals. The Federal Poles play a fundamental role in this deployment, providing technology linkage services, facilitating the set up of new companies, and providing spaces for training, innovation and communication in the IT sector.
Bibliography:
- Argenconomics, June 2022. National Plan for the Knowledge Economy.
- BAE Negocios, 29-08-2022. Nestor Nocetti: "We have to leverage on the technology industry to move forward".
- El Economista. 09-10.2020. Business disagreement with the new Knowledge Economy Law.
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