US chip maker Intel has built an IoT (internet of things) lab in the south-eastern Mexican state of Yucatan, providing the tools and space required for local entrepreneurs, academia, and civil society to develop technology solutions.

Located in the Yucatan Polytechnic University (UPY), the lab is designed to foster a technology ecosystem, creating a platform for young people to turn their ideas into products, which will help toward stimulating Mexico’s economy.

Entrepreneurs can use the lab to create prototypes they want to produce on a large scale, or to test their own assets such as wireless sensor networks and digital systems.

The lab offers tools, technology, and engineering know-how, in addition to a team of experts who will assist business people and students in developing new solutions.

For small- and medium-sized enterprises, this could be an ideal place to take IoT projects into commercial deployment, say analysts.

The university reportedly wants to take up 10 innovative projects this year in key areas including agriculture, health, education, and governance.

Some local technology firms, including Plenumsoft Marina, have already begun working in the laboratory to develop a product that monitors the movement of vessels via satellites, as well as to build prototypes of sensors that measure humidity, temperature, and salinity of water.

Intel runs nearly a dozen similar labs in major Mexican states, including Baja California, Sonora, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Hidalgo, and Puebla.

The global IoT market is expected to be worth about US$14.4 trillion over the next five years. With Mexico being an industrialized nation, the potential for growth is far greater here than most other countries in the region.