Corporation Ruta N
History
History
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Corporation Ruta\-N was founded in 2009 as a [regional innovation agency](/wiki/Regional_innovation_agency "Regional innovation agency") to support [Medellín](/wiki/Medell%C3%ADn "Medellín")'s transition from an industrial city into a knowledge city.Morisson, A. \& Doussineau, M. (2019\). Regional innovation governance and place\-based policies: design, implementation and implications. Regional Studies, Regional Science,6(1\),101–116\. [https://rsa.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10\.1080/21681376\.2019\.1578257](https://rsa.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21681376.2019.1578257). Ruta\-N's first years were led by its inaugural director Andres Montoya Izasa. The Second Director was Juan Pablo Ortega MIT Alumni, who prior to serving as director, worked for EPM Originally, [Hewlett\-Packard](/wiki/Hewlett-Packard "Hewlett-Packard") was slated to invest in Ruta\-N and persist as a long\-term partner, with permanent residency in one of the three buildings. However, citing internal financial and logistical difficulties, the company officially exited its prior agreement with the city of [Medellín](/wiki/Medell%C3%ADn "Medellín") in June 2015\.

In an effort to create a favorable environment for investment and entrepreneurship in the city, Ruta\-N contains a landing program that provides companies with office space, utilities, and conference rooms at a market cost. In the last 6 years (March 2018\), 210 companies have been attracted from 30 countries that have generated more than 2800 jobs in areas of innovation alone. In November 2015 there were 84 companies in Ruta\-N's landing program. However, by September 2016 there were more than 141 companies from a combined 23 different countries, directly resulting in 2111 new jobs in the city since 2012 alone.

[Yuxi Pacific](/wiki/Yuxi_Pacific "Yuxi Pacific") was the first company to successfully exit Ruta\-N's landing program with a successful acquisition. Founded by serial entrepreneur [Michael Puscar](/wiki/Michael_Puscar "Michael Puscar"), Yuxi Pacific used Ruta\-N's offices to grow to over 100 full\-time employees before being acquired in June 2013 by [Cincinnati](/wiki/Cincinnati "Cincinnati")\-based [Blue Loop Capital](/wiki/Blue_Loop_Capital "Blue Loop Capital"). Other successful companies that have been a part of Ruta\-N's landing program include SproutLoud, XQuire, Idiomotion and Back2U.

On February 10, 2016, recently inaugurated mayor [Federico Gutiérrez](/wiki/Federico_Guti%C3%A9rrez "Federico Gutiérrez") appointed [Alejandro Franco](/wiki/Alejandro_Franco "Alejandro Franco") as the new director of Ruta\-N.

Ruta\-N is in active competition with other major cities and programs in Central and [South America](/wiki/South_America "South America"). Other programs with whom Ruta\-N compete include [Start\-Up Chile](/wiki/Start-Up_Chile "Start-Up Chile"), [500 Startups](/wiki/500_Startups "500 Startups") [Mexico](/wiki/Mexico "Mexico") and [Start\-Up Brasil](/wiki/Start-Up_Brasil "Start-Up Brasil").

In an academic article, Morisson (2018\) argues that Ruta N has played the role of a knowledge gatekeeper that facilitated the "tropicalization" of extra\-regional knowledge to support new technological trajectories for the city of Medellin


What is the goal of Ruta-N's transition in Medellín?