Culiacan is the principal municipality in the country devoted to crop production. It has a harvest area of more than 200,000 hectares, whose output value goes beyond 200 millions USD.

Culiacan and its urban areas have become the leader in cattle raising in the state of Sinaloa ranking as one of the five most important cattle breeders of the country.

Culiacan is the seat of Sukarne, a company responsible for the 70% of the beef exportations of the country, without mentioning that three of the five most important cattle breeders in Mexico undertook and established their venture in this region.

THE RESEARCH CENTER ON FOOD AND DEVELOPMENT (Centro de investigación en alimentación y desarrollo, CIAD).

CIAD is a scientific arm intended to carry out research and innovation in Sinaloa. It was created in 1993 by the Federal and Local Government of Sinaloa, the Confederation of Agricultural Associations of the State of Sinaloa (Confederación de Asociaciones Agrícolas del Estado de Sinaloa, CAADES), and the Commission for the Research and Defense of Vegetables (Comisión para la Investigación y Defensa de las Hortalizas, CIDH). CIAD is a member of the Public Research Centers of the National Council for Science and Technology (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, CONACYT).

CIAD’s major focus are: basic and applied research, training of highly–skilled human resources, and productive and social sector involvement.

CIAD’s goals:

• To contribute to the generation and promotion of the scientific and technological knowledge by means of investigation projects.
• To provide human resources a specialized training on local an international expertise with the help of Scientific Initiation and Postgraduate Study Programs registered in CONACYT’s National Program of Postgraduates of Quality (Programa Nacional de Posgrados de Calidad, PNPC).
• To support public, social, and private sectors by managing and developing projects, production systems, processes, goods, services and counseling on food security.
• To foster competition and innovation through scientific and corporate alliances.

http://www.ciad.edu.mx

ENTREPRENEURIAL AND INNOVATION PARK OF THE STATE OF SINALOA (PARQUE DE EMPRENDIMIENTO E INNOVACIÓN SINALOA, PEIS)

The Technologic Park of the State of Sinaloa (Parque Tecnológico Sinaloa, PTS) is a new concept coined by the Technological Institute of Monterrey intended to 1) foster the development of corporations based on knowledge and technology, 2) provide technology, and 3) accelerate the new technology trading. PTS is committed to generate a suitable environment to encourage growth, business incubation and adaptation to the global market in Latin America.

Inspired in the best world innovation models, PTS hosts guest companies for reasonable and specific periods of time while it starts developing a business model until the company is able to operate on its own account. Once it is ready, the company seeks to fit in the regional productive chains. Besides the incredible facilities, PTS is a strategic site that introduces new projects to the talent pool (human capital), resources, and networking availability (relational capital) of the Technological Institute of Monterrey.

http://parquetec.sin.itesm.mx

The importance of food production in Culiacan has led to a high demand of activities that strengthen research on this matter. Therefore, there has been a constant and active connection between the academic, productive and food-processing sectors.

Main research centers devoted to food production:

• Food Science and Technology (Ciencia y Tecnología de los Alimentos)
• Food Safety (Inocuidad Alimentaria)
• Horticulture
• Biological Resources

Similarly, significant innovation and entrepreneurial centers are strengthening the development of skills in the region.

The greatness of the coastlines of Sinaloa makes Culiacan a major producer in the fishing industry.