Mexico’s Next Leap: From Manufacturing to Technology

After more than 20 years in the consumer electronics and automotive industries, working both in hands-on design and in the creation and leadership of high-performance teams that today develop cutting-edge automotive technology, proudly from our Aumovio Mexico product development center in the wonderful city of Queretaro, it has become clear to me that the talent we have in Mexico is more than capable of achieving great things.

Thanks to this talent, we developed the first solid-state LiDAR sensor — a laser sensor capable of creating a real-time 3D model of the vehicle’s surroundings without moving parts — to enter production in the automotive industry, a global milestone. Thanks to this talent, advanced airbag deployment algorithms are developed that save lives. Thanks to this talent, vehicles equipped with autonomous driving sensors and algorithms can be tested in 100% virtual environments. Driving tests, without ever driving.

In some of these areas, the knowledge and experience of certain teams here in Mexico are among the highest within a company with more than 96,000 employees and a presence in 50 countries. This is not a small thing.

And yet, recurring questions remain in my mind: Why are there not more high-capability R&D centers in Mexico? Why, if we have this level of talent, are we not designing and producing technology for ourselves and for the world?

In a recent example in 2025, I observed the launch in India of a high-technology vehicle designed and produced by a major automotive company from that country — a vehicle for which engineers from our Mexican design center contributed to the development of certain autonomous driving functions. I saw with pride a piece of Mexican talent reflected in those features that the company’s CEO proudly presented. But at the same time, I asked myself: What allows India to have not just one, but several automotive brands capable of designing complete vehicles for domestic and other markets, while we do not?

Why, after more than 26 years of product development history for Aumovio (until recently Continental Automotive) in Mexico, do we not see more Mexican technological design?

Without oversimplifying, I believe a critical factor is the need to challenge our dependence on manufacturing as our primary differentiator for the future, and to take much more seriously the importance of moving one step higher in the value chain: the design of technology and the creation of ecosystems that enable the development of products.

With the rapid increase of automation and robotics, it is only a matter of time before “cheap labor” ceases to be a meaningful differentiator.

Manufacturing alone is not a robust strategy for the future.

What Mexico lacks, in my view, is a focused, long-term national strategy. A strategy built on clear objectives, defined jointly by government and academia and focused on industry because if there is no market, there is no prosperity. Such a strategy must align the interests and needs of the triple helix actors in our country and move us toward global technological leadership, with the ultimate purpose of improving the quality of life of our citizens.

Successful examples exist.

One of them, returning to India, is the creation of the Ministry of Heavy Industries in 1956, with a clear vision toward global technological development. More recently, under this same Ministry, India created the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP), whose vision is “to create state-of-the-art research and testing infrastructure to drive India into the future of global automotive excellence.”

Through this initiative, India has invested in the creation of self-sustaining, world-class, high-technology testing and R&D centers that provide services to industry.

Within these dynamics, their strategy of supporting and subsidizing battery development stands out. These programs include clear technical specifications defining which technologies are supported and which are not, deliberately avoiding investment in technologies that may soon become obsolete.

This is a clear example of how national technological strategies should be designed.

It is not simply about supporting battery development, or supporting the creation of an electric vehicle, just for the sake of doing so.

Policies must be designed to increase national competitiveness from a strategic perspective, integrated with market realities and supported by a holistic medium- and long-term technological vision.

Another example of how national strategies drive competitiveness is Romania’s tax incentive program for software engineers, in place from 2001 to 2025. Software developers with qualifying degrees were exempt from income tax, effectively increasing their net income and making Romania one of the most competitive countries in Eastern Europe for software talent.

This policy was not designed to build software products directly. It was designed to build talent density, talent retention, and talent attraction.

This distinction is fundamental.

More than having strategies to “make” specific products, México needs holistic strategies that consider internal and external realities, including global competition, market demand, technological trends, and access to markets.

A semiconductor strategy, for example, must consider global demand, competitive positioning, and technological evolution. Success depends on its integration with real market needs.

Designing strategies to take Mexico to the next technological level—to transform us from technology consumers into technology providers, and to use this transformation as a mechanism to improve our citizens’ quality of life—requires aligning the interests of all involved parties.

Otherwise, such initiatives become dependent on individual efforts and are unlikely to endure.

For long-term continuity, these strategies must enable:

• Government to achieve economic growth, high-value job creation, tax revenue, national competitiveness, technological sovereignty, and improved quality of life.
• Academia to achieve research funding, relevance, talent development, industry collaboration, real-world impact, and prestige.
• Industry to achieve access to talent, access to markets, innovation capability, increased competitiveness, higher margins, and reduced technological dependence.

Defining clear, systemic, and strategic technological priorities as a country — understanding the interests of all involved parties, working together with a global competitive mindset, and deliberately leveraging our existing strengths — is essential to unlocking Mexico’s full technological potential.

The talent is already here. 

The capability is already here.

What remains is the collective decision to build our future with it.