Mexico faces a significant lag in terms of innovation and development of artificial intelligence (AI) and needs an accelerated transformation to avoid losing competitiveness against powers such as the United States, China or South Korea, Horacio Fernández Castillo, Secretary of Innovation, Science and Technology of Jalisco, told EFE.
The official, who participated in the Innovation Fest 2025 event, stressed this Friday that, according to his vision, the country is not prepared for the changes brought by AI.
“I think we are not prepared, we are very, very behind and I hope we get our act together very quickly,” he said.
He explained that, while other nations have been investing for years in research, infrastructure and specialized talent, Mexico is advancing slowly, especially due to the rigidity of the academic system.
“The problem is that the academy is very slow to adapt,” he said.
To reverse this situation, Jalisco will launch an Academic Intelligence Council in January 2026 that will work with public and private universities, technology companies and research centers.
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The goal, he said, is to anticipate the future. “Think about what the academy should be like, not now, but in 10 years. What are the careers that will prevail in 10 years? What should young people study?”
The official recalled that Jalisco has one of the most solid technological ecosystems in the country, with almost six decades of industrial development.
“Fifty-seven years ago, two pioneering companies arrived in Jalisco. Today it is a reference ecosystem for all of Mexico and Latin America,” he noted.
Currently, the state generates about 20% of all patents in the country and concentrates the design of 70% of the semiconductors produced in Mexico, a figure that, he said, could reach 82% next year.
Even with these strengths, Fernández insisted that the challenge at the country level is enormous.
“We are a nation that has the advantage of being next to a country as powerful as the United States, and we have to take advantage of that, especially after the breakdown of supply chains” due to the pandemic.
To compete, he added, Mexico must stop being a country of “labor” and become one of “work mind,” focused on talent and advanced capabilities.
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In this strategy, learning English will be key. “In a year and a half, all teachers, all students (…) will be at the B2 level of English,” he stated about the training program that involves more than 30,000 people in Jalisco.
The secretary also highlighted the need to balance technology and humanism. “Be more human with more technology (…) have a balance, if not, we are going to get lost,” he warned when reflecting on the cultural changes that AI will bring.
Fernández defended that Jalisco’s technological leadership should be shared with the rest of the country; from here we must share all this value with the other states, and if it can go to the entire country it would be very good.
The Innovation Fest 2025, he said, was born to respond to a real demand from the ecosystem. With more than 8,900 attendees on its first day, 90 hours of content and the participation of 11 universities, research centers and global companies such as Intel, Oracle and AstraZeneca, the event seeks to inspire thousands of young people and strengthen collaboration between industry, academia and government.
With information from EFE.
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