Local governments play an important role in fostering economic development, with innovation and entrepreneurship being the two main driving forces. This article introduces the case of the Quito Innovation Centre in the Municipality of Quito, Ecuador.
Watch the explanatory video from Mr. Gonzalo Criollo Galván, Executive Director of ConQuito, on how this innovation centre fosters local development here.
Context
The municipality of Quito is working to position itself as the leader of national development in Ecuador.
Recognizing the city’s strengths and weaknesses is a crucial first step for effective strategic planning. After an initial research, the city has identified its competitive advantages, including the largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the highest growth in gross value and the largest active workforce in Ecuador.
The GEIAL report in 2023 and 2025 highlighted several weaknesses in the city’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Specifically, the report compared various cities across Latin America on different dimensions and visualized the results in a chart. This chart helps city leaders identify gaps, prioritize areas with the largest disparities, and develop public policies accordingly. In Quito’s case, the biggest gaps are in financing and platforms for science, technology, and innovation.
Based on these results, the municipality identified the need to enhance platforms for science, technology, and innovation, as well as expand commercial opportunities in these areas. According to the GEIAL report, these categories involve three main elements. Below, Quito’s performance in these elements is compared to the regional average.
Credit: The Municipality of Quito
Quito envisioned establishing itself as one of the most innovative cities in the region by the year 2034. The city’s objectives include addressing the existing gaps and attaining scores that are at least above the regional average.
Against this backdrop, ConQuito, the city’s development agency proposed the establishment of the Quito Innovation Centre in partnership with Korean collaborations.
The Quito Innovation Centre
The Quito Innovation Centre aims to promote local development tools by strengthening training, strategic sectors, and coordination among various stakeholders. It brings together public sectors, private sectors, academia, international organizations, the community, the solidarity economy, and civic societies, fostering partnerships among these groups.
The center serves as more than a physical space; it represents a strategic shift in the project’s vision to position Quito as an innovative city. While the initial concept in 2016 focused primarily on infrastructure and facilities, the center has since evolved into a coordination and governance platform, bringing together stakeholders from multiple sectors to drive innovation.
It also offers spaces for experimentation, where industrial and social pilot projects are implemented and validated. There is also an interface for encouraging co-creating innovation challenges and other elements for ventures. Furthermore, training is provided to both public officials and local entrepreneurs.
Credit: The Municipality of Quito
The Quito strategy
The Quito Innovation Centre adopted the Quito strategy, which offers guiding principles for the centre’s operations. The strategy includes five elements:
- Chemistry: the physical spaces, the building, offices, coworking areas, and showrooms where work can be done.
- Units of knowledge: coordination with universities and training programs.
- Ideas and research: rapid prototyping labs within the centre and connection with university labs.
- Technology transfer: bridging academia and the private sector by effectively transferring technologies from universities to companies, while also monitoring international trends and offering technology foresight.
- Opportunities: local and international connections.
Key elements
The four key elements for effective implementation are:
- Strengthening local institutions.
- Coordination among development actors.
- Challenge-driven innovations.
- Model adaptable to different contexts.
Looking forward
In 2025, the Quito Innovation Centre initially focused on innovation and technology transfer for monitoring and intelligence. By 2026, the center emphasizes digital transformation by supporting the digitalization of the private sector. Digital transformation could boost productivity by 26%.
Mentor training is a key priority, requiring a strong ecosystem supported by skilled human capital. The centre will also develop and implement innovative methodologies for the public sector, recognising that local governments,being closest to communities and stakeholders, play a critical role in driving effective and context-specific innovation at the local level.
The presentation by Mr. Gonzalo Criollo Galván is available here.