The Problem 

  

As investments move from China to the Americas through the current trend of nearshoring, the government of a state in Mexico needed to start preparing to become a more attractive destination for foreign investment, and to protect its economy from higher volatility from external factors.  

  

The Solution 

  

The Intelligence Mill team conducted an initial assessment to understand the economic and political environment in the state, nationally and abroad, the main economic and social vulnerabilities, and the areas of opportunity to build a more resilient economy. Our team surveyed and assembled an international team of experts across institutions in the United States that started working on recommendations based on best-practices after a thorough understanding of the state’s needs and situation. 

 

Our team coordinated the project establishing collaboration connections between the selected institutions in the United States and the state government in Mexico, ensuring smooth and timely delivery, and solutions grounded in political, economic, and budgetary realities.  

  

The international Intelligence Mill team provided recommendations to boost human capital in the state through collaboration between universities and community colleges, and specific recommendations to strengthen the state’s physical infrastructure in strategic sectors, as two primary areas that needed reinforcement to build a more resilient economy. 

  

The Outcome 

  

The State government implemented a comprehensive strategy that included the recommendations acquired through the cross-border collaboration consortium. The strategy led to an increase of investment in infrastructure and human capital in the state through international collaboration, and the development of an infrastructure program, allowing its economy to become more resilient. 

The Problem 

  

A large organization saw the AI revolution coming. But their team had (valid) reservations. They had engaged in some early adoption efforts and found their initial tool exploration to lack value and be more cumbersome than useful. They also found that while their team was reservedly cautious, they had very disparate ideas for how they wanted to use AI and very disparate ideas for what tools they wanted to use. 

  

The Solution 

  

The Intelligence Mill team selected key leaders in the organization to interview and held team group sessions to understand priorities and goals, conducted a peer assessment for approaches to AI adoption, and lightly evaluated the AI knowledge and skill level of the organization. Discoveries indicated that more cohesion, cooperation, knowledge, and an organizing structure would yield positive adoption and use outcomes and returns on investment.  

  

After priorities were set and agreed upon, Intelligence Mill worked with the team to facilitate initial adoption and socialization sessions so that the organization could create and support a common vision and approach for AI. Organizational teams engaged in curated in-person and online learning sessions to establish baseline and more advanced AI education and experience. A governance body that focused on promoting exploration and innovation while providing the right bumpers and safeguards was put in place.  

  

The Outcome 

  

The organization acquired a set of tools that would be deployed in a common space for people to explore and use. They provided the right initial and plan for in time training so that they can continually grow in the AI space and that leaps in the technology, as they come, can be managed as small leaps that grow the whole organization. And they created a body that would help enable AI while making sure that exploration and AI environment is safe. The next phase in AI growth will involve evaluating the innovations that come from the AI exploration to determine which new creations have the most potential to help the organization grow and be resilient for the next innovation leap. 

The problem 

  

Open source software is essential to corporate, not-for-profit, national and international resilience. Open source software is used in everything from mobile apps that help run transportation routes, to cancer identification systems, to running military drones, to developing next generation research, and more. However, open source software is difficult to understand, manage, and account for in a way that communicates its value.   

  

The Solution 

  

Intelligence Mill is working with several national and international organizations to think about how the value of open source software can be captured qualitatively and quantitatively and captured appropriately so that standards and procurement requirements can be set to acquire and maintain open source properly.  

  

The Outcome 

  

In production is an economic model, a series of qualitative questions, and a method for storytelling that helps to capture the value and resilience potential of open source software for organizations and policy makers.   

The Problem 

  

We live in an increasingly complex and volatile world. Understanding the economic, social, and political environment of a country or region is key for companies that are seeking to expand or that already have investments or serve markets abroad. A technology firm that had developed a public safety tool geared toward primarily serving the public-sector was seeking to enter the Latin American market but had no real expertise in the economic and political trends and realities of the region.   

  

The Solution 

  

Through our deep expertise and experience analyzing geopolitics, the Intelligence Mill team designed an international market entry strategy based on rigorous research of the political and legislative environment, use of our network, and couching the product in the right political realm. Because the tool had security implications, the right political realm was paramount to international growth. 

 

Our team provided in-depth market research so the technology start up could get a better understanding of market size and opportunities, complemented by an assessment of the regulatory environment in different markets, as well as the economic and political trends. Intelligence Mill provided the company with actionable intelligence for each market including regulations, political and economic stakeholders, security risks, and primary areas of opportunity. Our team developed an index tool to allow our client to bring the information together in a way that they could act on it.  

  

The Outcome 

  

The index developed by Intelligence Mill allowed our client to create a realistic market-entry strategy for Latin America, by prioritizing markets and making any risks visible and transparent. The technology firm was able to create a resilient international expansion strategy.  

The Problem 

  

Mexico is one of the most attractive destinations for investment and the development of commercial partnerships in light of the current nearshoring trend. However, following the dissolution of the Mexican government agency responsible for promoting Mexico as a foreign investment destination and supporting Mexican firms abroad, many businesses have been left without a reliable platform to connect with credible and vetted partners in Mexico.  

  

The Solution 

  

Intelligence Mill has partnered with El Gran Bajío, a private business organization in Mexico that represents the business sector across six central states in the Bajío region. These states collectively contribute over 15% of Mexico's total GDP and industrial activity. As a membership-based organization, El Gran Bajío represents thoroughly vetted Mexico-based businesses that are ready to serve as trusted partners for U.S.-based firms. 

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As the official representative of El Gran Bajío in Texas, Intelligence Mill provides its members with training and resources to meet the most rigorous quality and security standards required by U.S. firms. This partnership ensures that businesses in the Bajío region are prepared to engage in successful cross-border collaborations.  

  

The Outcome 

  

Through its partnership with Intelligence Mill, El Gran Bajío has established formal collaboration agreements with key counterparts in Texas. It is now positioning itself as the leading ambassador for identifying investment opportunities and facilitating partnerships in the region, contributing to a stronger and more integrated North America. 

The Problem 

  

People who start companies have great ideas, great ideas that need traction. Traction is gained by understanding potential markets and niches. Sometimes those markets are obvious, others not. Sometimes those markets are complicated. One particular firm developed a software that dealt with monitoring and enhancing total health. Medical information systems are notoriously difficult to penetrate, even if a product is fantastic.  

  

The Solution 

  

The Intelligence Mill team conducted an initial situational analysis to understand the environment, political and legislative influence and rule space, and potential market streams including co-producing with an existing medical software company as well as developing a complementary software.  

  

Initial analysis showed that attaching to the emerging field of concierge medicine. The team developed the deepest and most comprehensive databanks of concierge providers and the services that they offer. In and of itself, that databank proved a valuable product. From the data, valuable partnerships began to emerge. Intelligence Mill found the right market and brokered relationships that helped that company gain traction.  

  

The Outcome 

  

The medical firm was able to situate itself into the right market and advance from seed funding to formal venture capital cycles. We can’t wait to see where they will grow!  

The Problem  

  

The pandemic presented huge opportunity for new health businesses. For that business to be sustainable, it had to be data-driven and effectively offer testing and treatment sites for the Covid pandemic.  

  

The solution 

  

The Intelligence Mill team constructed a comprehensive analysis of geographic, economic, and demographic indicators for a given set of regions to determine site establishment and stratification so that mobile testing and treatment sites could be deployed in a way that would cover the largest population possible.  

  

The outcome 

  

States in the portfolio of this company are ranked #1, #4, #6, and #11 by the Bureau of Economic Research in addressing the Covid pandemic. Using political and legislative research packages investigated and prepared by Intelligence Mill, along with our evaluation methodology to expand service streams and find firm resilience beyond Covid. 

The Problem 

  

A leading private university in Latin America had hundreds of collaboration agreements with other universities around the world but it was having trouble identifying those that were truly aligned to the university’s strategic goals and that could produce visible positive impact to the university’s research objectives, international positioning, and opportunities for students.  

  

The Solution 

  

The Intelligence Mill team designed a two-tiered strategy to identify the most valuable partners for our client: First we focused on alignment with the university’s strategic priorities to identify among the university’s current international partners those that had leading programs in those areas flagged as key strategic priorities. Then we looked where the university had an important presence of alumni, industry partners, and active academic collaborations to strengthen the connections with those institutions that we identified in the first step. We helped the university design a new international partnership strategy to create half a dozen high-impact collaborations where more resources could be directed.    

  

The Outcome 

  

The new international partnership strategy was implemented and it allowed the university to focus its energy on furthering programs that created active student-exchange programs, innovation ecosystem international collaboration programs, joint-research ventures, and even new internship programs for students, effectively transforming hundreds of inactive collaboration agreements into a smaller number of very active, focused, and productive partnerships with benefits to students and faculty.