TIJUANA. There is a new wave of brave Tijuanenses that are attempting to transform the city via innovation, and the best place to take a stab at this is at "Startup Weekend", an initiative that will take place for the sixth time in the city, from October 24th through October 26th at HUB STN.

Organizers and participants alike want to leave the days of a maquiladora-based Tijuana behind and turn the city into an internationally recognized innovation hub. Thanks to its proximity with the U.S. it has the best of both worlds in terms of talent and market opportunities. Just in 2013 alone, San Diego supported the creation of 400 startups and generated more than 1200 new jobs, why couldn't this happen in Tijuana as well?

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The team for Startup Weekend Tijuana (SWTJ) describes the event as, "an intense workshop that lasts 54 hours from Friday through Sunday where ideas transform into businesses. It all starts on Friday, where participants have one minute to pitch their idea to the other participants. After that, work groups are formed to work on developing the best pitch ideas into actual projects, meanwhile they receive mentorship from people that already have significant business experience. On Sunday, each group presents prototypes of their project before a panel of experts who give them their feedback with the goal of supporting their potential".

Startup Weekend is an initiative that has taken place in more than 700 cities around the world, and has created more than 13 thousand new companies. The movement also organizes summits in strategic places, such as Latin America last September where more than 50 entrepreneurs from eleven different countries shared their experiences at the "First Regional UP Summit Latin America". Another example is Startup Weekend Americas, where participants from Tijuana stood out with projects related to education, culture, health, and tourism with the prototype of an application that responds to the name "Mapp".

For those that stand out in Startup Weekend events, the work is not over after the third day of the event. Once selected, with prizes in hand, the new companies continue their development process and also participate in follow-up events to keep developing the project with the help of experts who mentor them.

If you are interested in possibly becoming another SWTJ success story, find out more at swtijuana.com and hubstn.com

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Brenda.Colon@sandiegored.com

borderzonie@gmail.com