A new type of obstinacy addresses pending social challenges.

Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez described Latin America as “a boundless realm of haunted men and historic women, whose unending obstinacy blurs into legend.”

Latin America once was the world’s most prosperous emerging region, but now it is on the verge of being overtaken, and falling behind, unless they aggressively focus on a comprehensive commitment to innovative growth with inclusion.

Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, together account for 60 percent of Latin America’s GDP.

Education increases the prospects not only for higher income but for the required knowledge and skills that drive growth.

In the new era of automation and adoption of artificial intelligence, education has become a decisive tool to ensure that future generations are equipped with the skills they need for an evolving world of work.

The development and adoption of advanced technologies has the potential not only to raise productivity and GDP growth in Latin America, but also to improve well-being with massive proportions.

Education itself will not solve all of Latin America’s economic challenges, but it will ignite a sustained era of broad-based prosperity to which most people aspire.

We are at a very unique time of humanity, where we are able to include and tap into 100% of the available talent in the region (all women, all rural areas, all races, all cultural backgrounds and all disabilities) if we make the right decisions.

The region will require an emphasis on innovation-led growth and careful management of the teachers, students and other stakeholders as they transition to effective technology adoption and diffusion. A critical element for this digital age, has to do with the demand for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) capabilities, which far exceeds the supply.

The disparity in professional talent reflects a painful missed opportunity. This indicator gets even worst when you include the share of female STEM graduates. The story of disruption in the digital era is almost mythical, but most heroes are males.

Periods of intense change provide remarkable opportunities. The opportunity for attracting young females to the new skills and experiences required to prosper in the digital age.

In the dizzying race toward digital transformation, it is common to find more resistance to the disruptive consequences and more discussions around the potentially destabilizing effects on society than a true impulse for innovation.

Change has always provoked a broad spectrum of hopes and fears, this time it is coming at an unprecedented scope, speed and with radical uncertainties.

For the education sector this means, losing control and embracing chaos. The goal of professional educators is to reach students in a way for the student to internalize the material taught, grasp the material for future application as they advance within their educational career.

So, the appetite to accomplish this relevant task goes against losing control.

Governments, academic institutions and enterprises companies face the daunting task of setting the right tone, vision, and path forward. We can decide which way to go, as innovation effects are driven by human choices and actions. Driving digital transformations

Failing to recognize and adapt to these challenges could have disastrous consequences for social inequality and unemployment. Historical evidence suggests technology augments human productivity and ultimately increases the number of jobs over time, the transition can be challenging.

Intense “connectedness” between governments, businesses and schools is a common trait of talent. As the world we live in is so unpredictable, the ability to learn and to adapt to change is imperative, alongside creativity, problem solving and communication skills.

But fortunately, the markets are beginning to respond. Some form of Capitalism 2.0 represents the coming of age of a new class of investors and entrepreneurs who are building a new economy based on addressing these pending social challenges, while at the same time generating compelling financial returns for investors.

These new haunted men and women are about to create a new type of obstinacy: one that will make us proud.

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