San Jose, California and Guadalajara, two cities at the center of their country’s tech industry, have declared a partnership for the purposes of mutual economic growth based on the exchange of each other’s technology-based businesses, ideas and labor forces.
According to San Jose Vice Mayor Magdalena Carrasco, in an interview with Guadalajara daily Milenio, it’s only natural for the two metropolises, already bonded in a formal Sister City relationship, to “further exchange ideas and companies.”
Projects highlighted by Carrasco and Guadalajara Mayor Enrique Alfaro at a meeting last week included San Jose’s BMC Software, which recently opened an office in the Centro del Software on Avenida Lopez Mateos, and local business development firm Balero, which plans to open, in partnership with Silicon Valley-based GSVlabs, a “business incubator” for fostering innovation.
Balero President Angel Bañuelos told Milenio that he believes the partnership between the two cities would be hugely beneficial for the development of startups in Mexico.
Apart from all things tech-related, Carrasco had another item on her agenda: to observe Guadalajara’s Via RecreActiva - wherein 60 kilometers’ worth of some of the city’s largest thoroughfares are closed to traffic every Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., allowing for the citizenry of Jalisco’s capital to stroll, jog and bike at their leisure. San Jose currently has but one day a year similarly dedicated to its pedestrian population, but Carrasco would like to change that, eventually transitioning to the model presented by Guadalajara.