When you are sitting on a beach enjoying a beautiful Costa Rica sunrise, or sunset, it’s hard to picture Costa Rica as ranking #4 in the world for technology exports. Yet, according to the World Bank’s World Development Indicators, 41% of Costa Rica’s export income is from high technology. For the reporting period of 2011-2012, Costa Rica ranked #1 in Latin America for the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Technology Transfer components of the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI).

More than 30 years ago, Costa Rica started investing in technology curriculum at the university level. This educational effort returned in its investment with companies such as Intel, HP, Microsoft, Fujitsu, and IBM establishing ITO (Information Technology Outsourcing) operations in Costa Rica. In addition, there are third-party ITO companies such as Gears Soft, Arkkosoft, InterNexo, Coral Technologies, ieSoft, and eFIBS SA. Costa Rica is a great country for ICT, as indicated by this data from CINDE:

-In 2010, digital technologies represented 30% of the total goods and services exports
-The sector employees 4% of the Costa Rican labor force
-In 2010, digital technologies represented 15% of the GDP
-The projected growth rate of the sector is 17% for 2011

According to the Chamber of Information and Communication Technologies (CAMTIC), the digital technologies are composed of the following segments:

-Digital services account for 50%
-Software development represents 36%
-IT enabled services is just 9%
-Hardware and components account for just 5%

As shown in the CINDE report “Costa Rica Human Capital Cost – Services Sector” (PDF download), the salaries for this sector are commensurate with the skill level:

Job Position	Monthly Average	Monthly Average + Mandatory Benefits
Project Manager	$2152	$2895
Software Development Manager	$3381	$4547
Systems Support Manager	$2804	$3772
Junior Technology Analyst	$1103	$1483
Junior Architect	$2266	$3048
Junior Business Consultant	$1824	$2453
Junior Software Developer	$1424	$1915
Junior Quality Control Engineer	$1505	$2024
Software Developer	$2175	$2926
Senior Architect	$3915	$5266
Senior Business Consultant	$2599	$3496
Senior Software Developer	$2678	$3601
Senior Quality Control Engineer	$2317	$3117
Senior Technical Support Engineer	$2324	$3126
Support Technician	$1122	$1509
Technical Support Engineer	$1560	$2098

The above table reflects the average salaries for September 2011, when the exchange rate was 510 colones equaled one US Dollar. The Mandatory Benefits includes the Christmas Bonus, which is equal to one month of pay.

The rapid advancement of technology in a country creates a digital divide between those who have access to technology and those who do not. The digital divide limits the technology growth prospects, as it lowers the number of entrants into the labor pool required to support the expansion of the industry. The Network Readiness Index in the World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report measures capacity of a countries citizens to adopt technology into their daily lives. In the 2010-2011 Global Information Technology Report, Costa Rica ranked #3 in Latin America on the Network Readiness Index. There are other indicators that show the expansion of technology use by the citizens of Costa Rica:

–SUTEL states that there are 4 million activated cellphones in Costa Rica, which means that approximately 93% of the Costa Ricans have access to a cellphone.
-A study performed by Unimer for La Nacion indicates that 26% of the Costa Rican’s say that have smartphones.
-According to Internet World Stats, 43.7% of the population of Costa Rica has access to the Internet. In terms of Latin America, Costa Rica ranks #5 in Internet penetration.

SUTEL is currently work with 30 stakeholders to create a management unit for the National Telecommunications Fund (FONATEL). There is approximately 190 million dollars in the fund, which exists to reduce the digital divide in Costa Rica.

While enjoying the beauty of Costa Rica, just remember that it is one of the most advanced countries in Latin America, in terms of technology.