Abiel is the name of a friendly robot that an inventor named Walter built for his twin grandchildren David and Elisa. He is the star of Grandpa’s Robot, a 3-D computer animated television series created by Morpho, an animation studio based in San Jose.

Yesterday, Abiel took a break from being a playmate to David and Elisa to travel to Hyderabad, India. Abiel’s mission was to accompany Anabel Gonzalez, our Minister of Commerce and Trade, to the INDIASOFT 2012 business conference and expo. INDIASOFT 2012 is a premier Information Technology (IT) and business-to-business (B2B) expo event that attract executives from all over the world looking for sensible IT solutions.

Minister Gonzalez was a guest of honor at INDIASOFT 2012, and she introduced Abiel to members of the planning committee and special guests. Abiel played the part of gracious host robot, interacting with Minister Gonzalez and greeting the audience. Minister Gonzalez explained that Abiel is just one example of the work that Ticos are conducting in the fields of computer animation. A business mission also traveled with our Minister of Commerce, including the following IT firms:

• Morpho – 3D animation.
• GBSYS – Platform developer in SQL, Oracle, Java, and .NET.
• ALKAID Consulting – developer of Internet-based applications.
• InnovaSoft – Microsoft’s premier partner in Costa Rica and developer of academic solutions.

Minister Gonzalez explained to the conference that Costa Rica already enjoys business ties with India in the form of third-party outsourcing and near-shoring. The latter solution has been employed by American firms that outsource some business processes to India, and in turn looks for a solution that is closer in the cultural and geographic sense. Indian companies can look to Costa Rica whenever they need a partner that can get them closer to the North American markets. Jorge Sequeira, the General Manager at PROCOMER, the Costa Rican entity in charge of stimulating foreign trade, explained that Tico animators could adapt India-produced television shows for Latin American markets.

India is the number one destination for business outsourcing, and in recent years they have been challenged by projects that cater to the Latin American population of the United States. Indian companies have been looking at Costa Rica as their best option to launch projects involving Hispanic end customers.

Source: Ministerio de Comercio Exterior de Costa Rica (COMEX)