INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS TO OPTIMIZE THE OPERATION OF CORLAB, THE PUBLIC INNOVATION AND GOVTECH LABORATORY OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CÓRDOBA

CorLab, the public innovation and govtech lab of the Smart City and Digital Transformation Secretary, aims to contribute to the development of a smarter, more inclusive and sustainable city through the investment and implementation of innovative solutions developed by high-impact startups.

Its main programs include: 

(1) The first govtech investment fund in Latin America, “Fondo Córdoba Ciudad Inteligente”, is a program of strategic investment that promotes open innovation and public-private associate by investing in innovative and high-impact ventures. The fund has celebrated 5 calls with +500 applicants, and invested in 22 startups, creating a diverse portfolio in constant growth. 

This program presents different opportunities for improvement:

• Optimize annual scouting processes. A solution is needed that allows for a more efficient formal and technical evaluation of the applicants.

• Optimize the monitoring and reporting of the invested startups.

(2) Innovab is an open innovation, opportunities and education platform. Its main aim is to boost open innovation and strengthen the bond between the innovation and business ecosystem’s stakeholders in Córdoba, making way for the active encounter between startups, enterprises, universities, scientific and technological organisms, talents and the public sector, promoting new solutions and opportunities. 

The platform uses artificial intelligence to make recommendations and automatic matching based on the users and organizations profiles. However, some limitations are identified when uploading profiles or calls for applications which require specific tags to segment recommendations. This process could be tedious for end users and discourage its use. In this sense, a solution is needed that assists users in the uploading and maintenance of profiles and calls for applications. 

This platform introduces different opportunities for improvement:

• Streamline the uploading process in order to minimize manual input of information by end users and improve tagging efficacy and accuracy for automatic matching.

• Automate loading and periodic updating of opportunities through, for instance, an AI agent that monitors websites, databases, publications, news or social networks to identify relevant posts and keep the platform updated, filing due applications or those detected as incomplete or wrong.

• Optimize profile creation, seeking to improve quality and accuracy of the shared information, given that it is fundamental for the intelligent matching system with other users and opportunities. For this, the platform could use previously posted information by the user, extract required data for the profile and suggest the most appropriate tasks.

(3) Córdoba Startup Monitor is an annual survey of the city’s active startups to obtain valuable information about the ecosystem, gain knowledge about its composition and profile, diagnose its current state and identify its key needs.

This program introduces different improvement opportunities:

• Optimize the process of surveying information, streamlining startups participation.

• Automate the processing of data and report generation.