Andovar is proud to congratulate Medellín on winning the award for “Most Innovative City” of the world and to say thank you for being a wonderful home for our Americas office. Medellín was recognized on March 1, 2013 as the world’s Most Innovative City; an award presented by the Wall Street Journal Magazine and Citibank. The WSJ and Citi partnered with the Urban Land Institute (ULI) to best determine a city's level of innovation. They based their criteria on the city’s economy and investment, environment and land use, technology and research, urban development, transportation and more. After carefully weighing all criteria the ULI selected the top 200 qualified cities and after the first round of voting the number of eligible cities went down to 25 semi-finalists. In January of 2013 the WSJ announced the three finalists:
- New York City (USA), for its high level of culture and livability.
- Tel-Aviv (Israel), for its leadership role in technology and research.
- Medellín (Colombia), for its progress and potential.
The final round of voting was left to the public and as a result Medellín was selected as the 2012 winner.
"To be among the most innovative cities of the world means for Medellín to have the perspective, to be a city of the first-world in terms of life expectancy and quality of life for the Medellín people" Marc Eichmann (President of Colombia's public telecom operator).
"Medellín, despite the difficulties that it has lived in the past, reinvents itself constantly and that has become a source of inspiration for other cities of Colombia and the world" Anibal Gaviria (Mayor of the city of Medellín).
In 2012, Medellín also received the Sustainable Transportation Award, given by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. It's not a surprise these days to hear or read about Latin America and its continuous growth. The economy of Latin America grew by 3.1% last year and in each of the past eight years, Latin American economic growth has outstripped that of Europe. The UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America predicts the region's economy will expand by 4% this year. A great affirmation to this is the fact that Colombia has become one of the countries of choice for Central and South American headquarters for foreign companies such as, Akzonobel, Renault, Hewlett Packard, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Chevron, Accenture, McGraw-Hill, Banco Santander and many more.
When opening the office in Medellín, Andovar recognized the high potential for international growth and resources, as well as the raise in the demand for localization services. We, as an international company plan to keep expanding and introducing our services to the Latin American market. Our Medellín team is composed of true professionals that understand the importance of globalization and moreover, understand the need of international companies to expand in the international marketplace.
In April 2011, Andovar relocated their Americas office from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Medellín, Colombia and has not been disappointed in the transfer decision. Our production team in Medellín has completed more than 100 projects for our Americas clients and our sales team has successfully developed new business across the United States and Latin American countries.
If you would like further information about Andovar offices or on how we can assist you with your localization needs, please contact our global team for advice.
