Buenos Aires, October 1, 2015.- The technological revolution is changing the way we produce and trade, and new forms of integrating our nations are emerging. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of its creation, the Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL), a unit of the Inter-American Bank (IDB), has organized a conference on Oct. 7 to re-imagine the future of the region.

The potential for transformation offered by disruptive technologies is amazing: they create markets where before there was nothing. It has happened with the automobile, with the Internet and with mobile telephony, and it will continue to happen. The potential of biotechnology, digital manufacturing, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and Big Data, among other new technologies, continue to surprise us every day. At the same time, these technologies present new challenges on employment, social inclusion, and environmental protection.

Panelists will analyze a series of questions: How can public policies encourage innovation? How can we increase our exports and incorporate SMEs into global value chains? How can the rules of the multilateral trade system be updated to suit new technologies? How will new technologies impact the daily lives of people in Latin America and the Caribbean? How should we modernize education in order to prepare new generations for the labor market of the future?