Last week, LATU (Laboratorio Tecnologico del Uruguay or Technological Laboratory of Uruguay) and Universidad ORT Uruguay signed an agreement to jointly create a business incubator, promoting the creation of new firms in the sector of information and telecommunications technologies. LATU is a national laboratory chartered as a private organization. Its Board is integrated by the Uruguayan state, the Uruguayan Chamber of Industries and the National Bank. The business incubator project will provide basic services to IT entrepreneurs such as legal and accounting counsel, tax advising, secretarial support and access to a good technological infrastructure, for a maximum of two years. The newborn firms’ business plans will be closely monitored by experienced management consultants. ‘Within the framework of the agreement, LATU will contribute physical infrastructure, administration and basic services, while ORT will contribute the access to technology and academic resources,’ said Charlotte de Grunberg, Director General of ORT Uruguay. ORT Uruguay’s decision to propose the incubator to LATU was made after the example of several of its own graduates in the field of IT had developed successful products or services in that sector of the economy, which is among the most dynamic in Uruguay. The Presidential Commission for the New Information Society of the Uruguayan government warmly supports the initiative, which is linked to a series of cooperation activities between ORT and the LATU. The project has already obtained the support of several firms and institutions, among them the Latin American division of Oracle Corporations and ANTEL, the Uruguayan telecommunications company.