Corporation Ruta N (better known as Ruta N) is a public joint venture between the mayor's office of
Medellín
Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...
,
UNE and
EPM. Founded in 2009, Ruta-N was created in order to inspire and encourage innovation in the city and create favorable conditions for business and entrepreneurship.
Ruta-N Complex is located in the "innovation district" of Medellin, a newly created sector located in the north of the city in the Sevilla neighborhood. The offices consist of three buildings, one originally dedicated to
Hewlett-Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...
and two others used as an landing coworking space to house companies of any size, startup companies, laboratories, and the offices of Ruta-N personnel.
History
Corporation Ruta-N was founded in 2009 as a
regional innovation agency to support
Medellín
Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...
's transition from an industrial city into a knowledge city. Ruta-N's first years were led by its inaugural director Andres Montoya Izasa. The Second Director was Juan Pablo Ortega MIT Alumni, who prior to serving as director, worked for EPM Originally,
Hewlett-Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...
was slated to invest in Ruta-N and persist as a long-term partner, with permanent residency in one of the three buildings. However, citing internal financial and logistical difficulties, the company officially exited its prior agreement with the city of
Medellín
Medellín ( ; or ), officially the Special District of Science, Technology and Innovation of Medellín (), is the List of cities in Colombia, second-largest city in Colombia after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia Departme ...
in June 2015.
In an effort to create a favorable environment for investment and entrepreneurship in the city, Ruta-N contains a landing program that provides companies with office space, utilities, and conference rooms at a market cost. In the last 6 years (March 2018), 210 companies have been attracted from 30 countries that have generated more than 2800 jobs in areas of innovation alone. In November 2015 there were 84 companies in Ruta-N's landing program. However, by September 2016 there were more than 141 companies from a combined 23 different countries, directly resulting in 2111 new jobs in the city since 2012 alone.
Yuxi Pacific was the first company to successfully exit Ruta-N's landing program with a successful acquisition. Founded by serial entrepreneur
Michael Puscar, Yuxi Pacific used Ruta-N's offices to grow to over 100 full-time employees before being acquired in June 2013 by
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
-based
Blue Loop Capital. Other successful companies that have been a part of Ruta-N's landing program include SproutLoud, XQuire, Idiomotion and Back2U.
On February 10, 2016, recently inaugurated mayor
Federico Gutiérrez appointed
Alejandro Franco as the new director of Ruta-N.
Ruta-N is in active competition with other major cities and programs in Central and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
. Other programs with whom Ruta-N compete include
Start-Up Chile,
500 Startups
500 Global (previously 500 Startups) is an early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator founded in 2010 by Dave McClure and Christine Tsai. The fund admitted a first "class" of twelve startups to its incubator office in Mountain View, Californ ...
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and
Start-Up Brasil.
In an academic article, Morisson (2018) argues that Ruta N has played the role of a knowledge gatekeeper that facilitated the "tropicalization" of extra-regional knowledge to support new technological trajectories for the city of Medellin
Descriptions
The first floor is composed of the elements of a quadruple helix: university, company, state and citizens (society).. Ruta n can also serves a variety of roles, accompanying early stage companies through the entire lifecycle from product development through seed investment and formulates community and network events to connect those entrepreneurs with venture capitalists and
investment
Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...
firms. This community includes alliances with various universities and La Red de Capital Inteligente (Intelligent Capital Network), a group of more than 30 investment groups in Colombia that meet and collaborate to grow the ecosystem of entrepreneurship in the city.
In addition, Ruta-N manages a wide variety of "convocatorias" (public grants) to help bootstrap young companies and provide training programs. According to
Juan Camilo Quintero, Ruta-N's third director from August 2013 to February 2016, the goal of these convocatorias is to nurture entrepreneurs and stimulate ideas that are reproducible in the marketplace.
The Ruta-N Complex
The Ruta-N Complex was designed as an eco-friendly building, with a
sustainable design
Environmentally sustainable design (also called environmentally conscious design, eco-design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability ...
and construction materials made with recyclable material. The building is complete with offices, expansive conference areas, restaurants, and a rooftop terrace. The design focuses upon collaboration and has several areas that can be used by entrepreneurs to share ideas and form alliances. It is the first public building in
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
with
LEED
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a Green building certification systems, green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating ...
gold category certification.
Ruta-N Innovation District
The district includes 44,905 square meters of infrastructure, created specifically to house both national and international companies from advanced, high-tech sectors.
References
{{reflist
Business incubators
Startup accelerators