Every two years since 2010 to want to has been holding a celebration showcasing movers and shakers and innovators. A returns this year with the focus on Tijuana's creative arts from fashion to cuisine to video games.'s away for the city to show itself and its achievements to the world. It's a way to strengthen ties with San Diego. Joining me is Claudia Basurto , special program director, Tijuana Innovadora . Welcome. Hello. Good morning. The theme for Tijuana Innovadora changes. Why focus on creative industries like fashion this year? The fashion industry has been very successful in Tijuana and Tijuana has been known as an industry side so we have a bunch of artists and creative people around. We got many artist so this year we decided it is time to dedicate to the cultural and creative industries. What types of events happened during the Tijuana Innovadora ? Can you give us a range of the kinds of events that people can experience. We will have conference, panels, workshops, and food and also our run/walk. We are talking about gamers YouTubers, filming for example, we will have an artist and she is a composer for video games. She's coming from Japan and we will have another person he opened the industry for Mexicans right now we are winning some Oscars and we are going to have a film director also we are going to have the circle Salai. -- Circle Salai. We are going to have them and entertain these -- entertainers. We have an industry dedicated to the protection of the environment. There are a number of offense that focus on environmental sustainability. Has Tijuana struggled with being environmental cautious? Yes. We share this water and air and every two months nongovernmental organizations from San Diego and from Tijuana gather to talk about this issue. So that is why on the 10th we are going to have all the activities regarding the protection of our environment. We work very close with our neighbors and try to take care of the things that we share. For example, will have James which is a great environmentalist and he will do a conference. We will have someone else who will share with us all of the things that the world is doing for protecting our environment. Let me take you back to 2010 when the Tijuana Innovadora started. There was serious drug violence and Tijuana was losing jobs. How has the economy changed? Those times were really tough. What happens is in 2010 some businesspeople and volunteers and people from -- gathered together to say what are we going to do? We have to take care of our city. We asked the government to help us with that. What happens is our society gets empowered. We know that we have to talk about the good things that are happening. We have been invited from different parts of Mexico and in the United States to share because it is a community model that we have to joint efforts with our neighbors, Robert men, our schools to take care of our city. What would you say the previous Tijuana Innovadora has done for Tijuana and the region? I would say that we have to work together. We shouldn't rely on the government or in the institutions to solve our everyday problems. We have to join efforts I would say that is the first one. The second one is empowering the city and empowering the organizations to show off and share what they are doing. Sometimes you're in Tijuana and you think everybody knows. That is not true. You have to share. The third one is because we invite so many important people and movers. They do business. They see our city and they meet people that is in the business are on the academic or in the education. After that, they keep on doing things and investing and seeing firsthand the opportunities of the city. On a practical level, in the past, there were Mexico shuttles to Tijuana Innovadora with expedited border crossings. How are San Diego people going to be able to get their. What are the ways that they can get down there to attend? They have to gather some friends and have some fun. Go to Balboa Park and we will have shuttles their and you can go to our website and we have bilingual and register for the shadow. They're going to cross the border and stayed the whole day. It runs from November 3 through November 10 at the Tijuana World Trade Center. I've been speaking with special program director, Tijuana Innovadora , Claudia Basurto. Thank you so much. Thank you for inviting us. I want to tell everyone just come. We are waiting for you. Plans to renovate their Marine terminable bumped up health concerns and bar your Logan. It is 12:21 and you are listening to KPBS Midday Edition.
Tijuana Innovadora has been showcasing the city's innovators every two years since 2010.
On Thursday, it returns with a spotlight on Tijuana's creative arts — from fashion to video games.
The weeklong conference began in part to project a more positive image of Tijuana, which at the time had rising drug violence and was losing thousands of manufacturing jobs. Though the city’s economy is improving, Innovadora planners say one of the event’s key roles is to continue boosting Tijuana's reputation.
“All the time we have to take care of that misperception,” said Claudia Basurto, special program director at Tijuana Innovadora. “There’s always a prejudice around.”
This year's event, nicknamed Creativa, will feature dozens of speakers, a fashion show with local designers, a food festival and a hackathon.
Basurto joins KPBS Midday Edition on Tuesday with a rundown of Innovadora's biggest events.
