Hinicio and Technopolis Group have collaborated successfully in Europe providing policy advice and consulting services in the energy, climate change, science, technology and innovation fields. Early in 2016, Hinicio and Technopolis Group agreed to extend their alliance in order to grow their presence in Latin America. Both companies will establish jointly a regional base in Bogotá, Colombia, from where they will actively support public and private sector needs at the national and Latin-American levels.
Patrick Maio, CEO of Hinicio stated “This is a new chapter in the history of Hinicio and Technopolis Group. At Hinicio, we have been active in the Latin American markets for a number of years, but we have now decided to accelerate our regional development and Technopolis Group is the perfect partner: both companies enjoy fantastic synergies, sectoral knowledge and joint experiences which are highly relevant to our clients, whether in the public or private sector. Latin America has strong sustainable development opportunities, and, beyond its natural resources and commodity markets, it is actively engaged in the global race to address energy and climate change challenges through technology, science and innovation. We are extremely eager to become an active player in this development, with our colleagues at Technopolis Group, and I am convinced Angelica is the perfect person to help us take that challenge forwards”
Hinicio’s Colombian branch office will be led by Mrs. Angélica Torres, a Colombian-Brazilian engineer with a master’s degree in project management in energy and environment engineering from l’Ecole des Mines de Nantes, in France, and a bachelor’s in electronic engineering from the University of Los Andes, Bogotá, in Colombia. Angélica has accumulated international work experience in Latin America (Brazil, Colombia and Mexico), Asia, Middle East and Europe. Before joining Hinicio in Brussels in 2014, Angélica had worked as a field engineer at Schlumberger, and earlier as a service engineer in power transmission and distribution services at Siemens in Colombia.
Dr Patries Boekholt, Managing Director of Technopolis Group, added: “From our location in Colombia we will provide policy advice and support to decision makers – grounded in evidence and experience – to organizations and people with a mission to drive sustainable growth by means of science, technology, innovation and education in Colombia and other Latin American countries. HINICIO and Technopolis Group’s highly complementary expertise has led to excellent collaborations in the past for clients such as the CAF Development Bank of Latin America, the European Commission and regional authorities across Europe. I’m certain this endeavor will allow us to provide continued support in tackling some of the region’s most pressing sustainability policy challenges”.
Mr. Juan Carlos Salazar will lead Technopolis Group’s business in Colombia. Mr. Salazar is a widely respected public policy consultant with a multidisciplinary background in areas related to social, economic and environmental challenges facing developing countries, particularly Colombia. He earned a Civil Engineering degree, and holds an MSc degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics (LSE), and an MBA from the Universidad de los Andes (Colombia). He is PhD candidate in economics at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. With 28 years of experience working in both the private and public sectors, he has advised decision makers on a range of public policy issues such as education, scientific and technological development, innovation, poverty reduction and institutional development, as well as developed and led specific initiatives in support of these policy objectives.
