Could Guadalajara become the next Hollywood? While the Mexican city won’t host an Oscars ceremony any time soon, it is opening a high-tech industrial park geared toward the electronic entertainment industry.

Guadalajara’s Ciudad Creativa Digital or Creative Digital City (CCD) will enable local businesses to offer their services to global film, animation and media giants, according to Braulio Laveaga, regional director of Mexico’s National Chamber of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology (CANIETI).

Addressing a sizeable audience of students, entrepreneurs and investors at the monthly iTuesday forum, Laveaga promised the CCD will not only attract talent to Guadalajara, it will also encourage the development and retention of local talent.

The CCD was announced in January and work has been steadily progressing throughout the year. Last month Toshiba became the latest major company to lend its financial support to the ambitious project, while Laveaga said the Mexican government is currently targeting the likes of Disney, Pixar, Warner, ESPN, Sony and Nintendo.

Lights, Camera, Jobs

“If we manage to attract the big players in these industries, then there will be opportunities (for local businesses) to offer them services in the creative industry,” Laveaga said. “To produce animated films they will need not only software, but also people with creative talent to work on all the special effects and post-production.”

The development will yield opportunities for both individuals and small businesses to work in the chain of production of video games, animated movies and commercials, he said. Officials believe the CCD will create up to 20,000 jobs in media and technology, a significant number of which will go to local companies, and several thousand supporting jobs in the construction and service industries.

“Ultimately, the most important part of this project is the development of talent,” Laveaga told the iTuesday audience at the sleek, modern campus of the University of Guadalajara’s Center for Administrative and Economic Sciences (CUCEA).

He suggested the presence of major corporations in Guadalajara would create great competition as well as opportunities to learn from them. Local universities are already participating in planning councils, he said, while students can take part in a series of forums to discuss the project with its organizers.

Construction Plans

Sharing slides from the recently finished master plan with the audience, Laveaga said the planning stage, which includes plans for business, marketing and funding, will be complete by the end of the year.

He refused to put a time frame on construction, emphasizing it is a “10, 15, 20 year project.” However, he revealed plans to lay down a fiber optics ring in 2013, as well as expectations for building parking facilities, the first creative offices, a large university building and a scientific, technological and cultural museum.

The CCD will be located near Guadalajara’s Civil Hospital, Plaza Tapatia and Avenida Federalismo, with a second, smaller site in the nearby central city. The project just received its certification as a Sustainable Integral Urban Development (DUIS), which makes it eligible for a variety of government funding sources. Government officials have also visited Europe and the U.S. in an effort to raise additional capital.

Guadalajara, which is often referred to as “Mexico’s Silicon Valley,” beat out 11 other Mexican cities to win the CCD, based largely on its existing technical infrastructure, large pool of technical and creative talent, attractive labor costs and availability of a suitable site. In addition, the city is already HQ for multimedia software development companies such as Kaxan, which earlier this year released its first game for the Nintendo Wii.

By Duncan Tucker

The Metropolitan Cathedral, near the site of the proposed digital city

Guadalajara has been chosen by the federal government to host its Ciudad Creativa Digital (Creative Digital City), a planned downtown industrial park it is hoped will generate over 20,000 high-tech jobs, stimulate “many millions of dollars of investment in Jalisco and put Guadalajara on another level of competition,” according to Manuel Herrera Vega, coordinator of the Council of Industrial Chambers (CCIJ).

Creative Digital City is a federal initiative aimed at creating synergy between the technology and creative industries and encouraging foreign investment in Mexico. The project was the brainchild of ProMéxico, a government institution established under the Ministry of the Economy. Costs and funding have yet to be confirmed, as the federal, state and municipal authorities must first sign an agreement confirming the commitments and responsibilities of each level of government.

The “City” would be a large industrial park comprised of technology companies devoted to developing video games, movies, multimedia and mobile applications. It will house local software companies, but the Mexican government also wants to attract international giants such as Viacom, News Corporation, Walt Disney, Sony and Comcast/General Electric. According to ProMéxico, the project will generate $10 billion USD of investment in Guadalajara over the next five to ten years.

Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state, beat competition from 11 other Mexican cities, including finalists Monterrey, Puebla and Tijuana. Backed by the city council and state government, Guadalajara’s bid triumphed due to its strong existing infrastructure, its wide pool of technical and creative talent, the promise of low expenses and the availability of a viable site.

The project is designed to create jobs in animation and digital design, film, digital communication, image and sound design, interactive design, digital systems engineering and interactive animation engineering. Guadalajara is home to a growing number of graduates from engineering and design careers that will be eager to fill these positions.

Guadalajara was chosen in part because it represents an attractive option to foreign investors. The average salary in the city’s creative technology industry is just 15,000 – 20,000 pesos ($1,100 – $1,500 USD) per month, one fifth of the equivalent wage in the United States.

Other criteria included conditions for growth, economic and political stability, plus a suitable location for the park with room for movie sets, offices, public spaces, hotels, housing and restaurants for 50,000 inhabitants and 10,000 media and IT professionals. The projected 20,000 jobs are specifically in media and technology, with an unspecified number of additional jobs expected in the service industry and construction.

The city council offered Parque Morelos, located in the city center near the iconic Metropolitan Cathedral, as the development site. The city council owns the land and all of properties adjacent to the park, having once planned to use it for the Athletes Village in last year’s Pan American Games. The area is big enough to meet the required 200-hectare quota and is in need of the kind of urban renewal that such a project would bring. As the location has yet to be officially confirmed there is no date for when construction will begin.

The site must first be approved by five federal departments and seven public sector institutions which form the Group for the Promotion and Evaluation of Integrated Sustainable Urban Developments (GPEDUIS). One potential stumbling block is that local politicians, businesses and residents thwarted the previous mayor’s efforts to build the Athletes Village there. However, this project provides greater economic incentives and officials are confident that it will go ahead.

At present Jalisco has three industrial parks devoted to software development: in Guadalajara, Ciudad Guzman and Chapala. The Mexican government now hopes Guadalajara can become Latin America’s media and entertainment capital. The sector is already booming in Mexico, with average annual growth of 4.5 percent from 2004 to 2008, twice that of the United States and Canada. The government expects annual growth to rise to 7.2 percent, with sales reaching $17.4 billion USD by the end of next year.

The domestic market for video games alone already totals $1 billion USD, with Mexico accounting for 50 percent of total video game sales in Latin America. There are currently about 1,500 companies in Mexico’s digital media industry, ranging from film production, post-production effects, software developers and video games.

Known as “Mexico’s Silicon Valley”, Guadalajara is already home to multimedia developers such as Kaxan. In March Kaxan will release its first game for the Nintendo Wii gaming platform, “El Chavo,” (“The Guy”) based on the hugely popular Mexican T.V. show “El Chavo del 8.” The same month Kazan will also premier their 3D feature film “The Secret Jade Medallion” at Guadalajara’s International Film Festival.