By Emilio J. Lopez for EFE with additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star

Miami, Feb 2015 (EFE).- Miami wants to augment its cultural offerings, leisure activities, sun and beaches by making itself – over the next few years – into an alternative technology zone to Silicon Valley, a plan that Miami Dade College is convinced can be achieved.

Over the past five years, the South Florida city has been the set-up site of choice for a score of firms in the animation and game development industry, and it has been promoting itself as a hub for the sector.

Now, MDC has thrown itself into an ambitious project: launching the Miami Animation & Gaming International Complex, or MAGIC, on its campus, a three-year degree in the field of animation with the most advanced technology that replaces classrooms with professional studies and training.

“We’re enthusiastic about this new program and the quality of the education in this specialty. The students will be able to create any kind of animated film like ‘Toy Story,'” MAGIC president Mauricio Ferrazza told Efe on Tuesday.

This is an industry involving billions of dollars worldwide each year that has enormous potential over the next few years and beyond.

“The effort to build MAGIC is going to be very big and costly, because of all the technology we have to acquire so that our students receive the best instruction,” he said.

Another relevant aspect of the program is that it will have a very accessible price tag for students: “The cost of the complete course in this same specialty at a private university is around $90,000, while at MDC it will be $3,600 per year,” Ferrazza said.

“It’s very inexpensive and a first quality education, and it’s an expenditure that will not trap them for the rest of their lives,” Ferrazza said.

“We’re convinced that if we change the community, everyone will live better, people will be able to get a job that they can be proud of,” he said, adding that, “What we want is to create a ‘Silicon Miami.'”

The emergence in Miami of new tech firms directly influences the need to hire professionals and, along those lines, companies like Sierra Entertainment “are hiring at this time between 50 and 100 people, of whom 90 percent are coming from other states,” because they cannot find people who are sufficiently prepared to work there in southeastern Florida.

Consequently, the MAGIC program is designed to provide good professionals to firms specializing in the area of computer animation, visual effects, games and visual design that are establishing themselves in the city, Ferrazza said.

A Similar Effort in Costa Rica

In Latin America, Brazil and Chile are much closer than Costa Rica to creating a Silicon Valley-like atmosphere of business. Nonetheless, the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (Spanish acronym: CINDE) has been focusing on mending the damage done by the abrupt transfer of Intel’s chip manufacturing operations from Costa Rica to Vietnam.

As previously reported by The Costa Rica Star, CINDE has done a good job of working with public schools to develop curricula that will help students acquire certain skills that will make them attractive to tech employers. Costa Rica is taking things a step further than Miami because there is a strong sense of urgency in terms of job creation.

Computer animation and video game development are two sectors that are maturing along with biotech manufacturing in Costa Rica, but more is needed. To this effect, President Luis Guillermo Solis has personally visited Silicon Valley in California to sell our country to tech firms therein. Speaking to Karl Kahler of the San Jose Mercury News, President Solis explained:

I’m here because Costa Rica has had a long relationship with companies, with investors in this area, especially with Intel. We have a number of important companies located in Costa Rica. I visited Cisco, VMware and Intel, and we will see Hewlett-Packard.

It is also important to note that a few video game development studios from Costa Rica will exhibit at the B2B expo Game Connection America, and their presence is being supported by a government agency.