Costa Rica offers a series of talent capacities and technologies, that also integrate several stakeholders in a truly connected environment. This enables greater efficiencies and the development of more relevant solutions for their clients.
Discover howA competitive incentive package to reach true ROI.
Building the next era of human capital.
Fostering shared growth through innovation.
Ensuring smooth entry and optimizing your supply chain
The upsurge of new investment opportunities.
Working hand in hand to make change happen
Costa Rica's tax incentives offers a strong framework to reach ROI with transparency and equal treatment to any and all investors. Costa Rica’s Free Trade Zone Regine meet World Trade Organizations as well as OCDE standards. There is no need for negotiation on a per case basis, incentives as granted to investors that meet requirements.
In addition, entities wishing to set up operations in areas outside the Greater Metropolitan Area (GMA) can enjoy greater benefits. Display your preferred option and toggle according to your needs.
The Free Trade Zone Regime is the mainstay of Costa Rica‘s export and investment promotion strategy. It is a set of incentives and benefits granted by the Costa Rican government to companies making new investments in the country and it provides tax incentives on income, imports and exports of goods among many others. This allows companies to more efficiently have access to any needed production inputs, to add specialization and value to make final products locally and finally reach end markets in an easier way.
EXPLORE THE FREE TRADE ZONES
EXPORT SERVICES COMPANIES
50% of services must be exported
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FIRMS
Either companies or organizations
STRATEGIC SECTORS OR COMPANIES
Outside the Greater Metropolitan Area
SIGNIFICANT SUPPLIERS
40% of sales to FTZ companies
Costa Rica’s tax incentives and benefits are standardized. They apply to any and all companies according to their operation, so there is no need for negotiation on a per case basis.
Costa Rica continues to strengthen its main differentiating factor in attracting foreign direct investment: human talent. Our ongoing mission is to acquire the skills for the knowledge economy and the jobs of the future.
CINDE’s collaborative work and academic partnerships in Costa Rica and abroad, aims to foster learning in a constantly changing environment, strengthening areas such as STEM, digital skills, languages, soft skills and cross-sector expertise for industry 4.0.
Crystal Ball is CINDE’s program that aims to help match the supply of knowledge economy jobs with the demand for them.
With an investment of $2.8 million dollars, the project consists of the development of an artificial intelligence-based digital employment orientation platform to predict and recommend lifelong learning paths to keep user's employability opportunities high, personalized to each person's professional experience, capabilities and interests, with the aim of impacting over 30,000 people.
The International Strategic Academic Alliance Program (ISAA) seeks to accelerate the knowledge transfer and bridge the gaps in specialized areas through alliances with international experts, institutions and organizations.
An innovative web platform aimed at informing and creating awareness about areas and providing vocational orientation in line with high demand and market trends, certifications and technologies, online training and specialized tools, among others. In addition, to support the companies recruitment efforts, over 200 internships are posted in the platform on a yearly basis in high-tech areas (engineering, R&D, innovation, design, business), with a result of 30% to 40% of interns that become permanent employees.
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GET is a joint strategy developed between multinationals in Costa Rica and CINDE that seeks to maximize efforts and have a higher impact on initiatives related to closing the gender gaps, improving education/specialization programs and enabling access to technology and trends.
Tools for Success Plus is an English and Portuguese scholarship with the objective to improve employment opportunities for Technical High School graduates by expanding their language skills.
Students must do an internship as a requirement for graduation that can be performed at the sponsoring company and become a permanent employee afterwards.
Strengthening and adapting people's professional profile through soft skills, English proficiency and access to information, in order to increase their employability opportunities.
S4L is part of a Public-Private Partnership, between the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the Costa Rica Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) and ALIARSE, within the Bilingualism Initiative framework.
CINDE Jobs is an employment community, specialized in the recruitment of multilingual and highly-skilled talent through 2 main events: CINDE Job Fair, the largest job fair in Costa Rica, and its virtual edition CINDE Job Link.
The Fair has been going on for fifteen editions in its face-to-face modality with over 12.000 participants each year, and the online fair has been organized for three years.
Learn moreEver more so, competition is not between companies but between who thrives in the strongest ecosystems. Costa Rica aims for cluster strategies, large networks and innovation platforms to connect multiple stakeholders across a wide ecosystem, in order to boost existing capabilities and build new growth engines.
“How can we compete globally?”, “How do we create higher impact?”, “How do we create and nurture tech-based start-ups in our local economies?” are frequent questions discussed at roundtables and conferences.
We partner with governments, national innovation agencies, multinational companies, startups, and risk capital to increase global competitiveness.
Costa Rica has over 20 years of life sciences track record, both in research and in business experience. The existence of quality infrastructure and a strong knowledge base of scientists makes Costa Rica an interesting partner. There is a skilled workforce compliant with GMP, ISO standards as well as FDA and CE-mark regulations, manufacturing from Class I to Class III MD.
We develop and ship 436 different medical devices and equipment for patient use around the world, thanks to a consolidated cluster of +70 multinational companies.
Costa Rica is working to unlock the next level of economic transformation, building a knowledge economy where innovation, science and R&D come together as key growth drivers for long-term success.
We have positioned Costa Rica as a global life-centered hub in the life sciences sector, becoming ambassadors for wellbeing and healthy lifestyles, rooted in high-tech environments within the medtech, biotech and pharmaceutical industries
CR Biomed was founded by a group of entrepreneurs, scientists, professionals, members of the academy and representatives of the public and private sectors, in order to promote and optimize the biotechnology, medical devices and life sciences sectors in Costa Rica.
CRbiomed is a proud member of the International Council of Biotechnology Associations.
"Costa Rica launched the Cybersec Cluster on August 2020, an initiative that aims to place Costa Rica as a regional and global leader in the field of digital systems' vulnerabilities and online computer breaches.
Its main purpose is to generate a common framework to promote the industry's generation of knowledge and new business models, supported by the collaboration of more than 50 organizations that foster competitiveness, investment and increasing employment opportunities.
The Costa Rica Aerospace Cluster is a group composed of more than 30 companies specialized in electromechanical systems, software development, embedded software, testing, and MRO operations for over 50 years.
CRAC offers a diverse ecosystem of high value, with a deep-rooted quality culture and a growing talent base ready to join the global supply chain.
A proven partner for enterprise-wide transformation. Beyond a supplier, Costa Rica is a true value generator that integrates more and more practices and business units, ready to face the challenges of the knowledge economy.
Reduce your production costs through a higher level of especialization and flexibility, thanks to local know-how and expertise.
Access a complete set of technologically advanced providers, along with best practice sharing from innovative local companies to boost your investment in Costa Rica.
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Meet your strategic platform to connect with outsourcing experts in Costa Rica.
An innovative community of local companies in the services and IT areas which offer A-to-Z business solutions.
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Ensure a smooth entry to the country and count on years of experience serving Foreign Direct Investments to address all your business needs: from legal advisors to talent recruitment, environmental, construction, logistics, facilities management, and beyond. Find the right corporate partner for your needs.
We bring you a directory of companies to help you in almost all areas regarding setting a business in Costa Rica.
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In the last years, Costa Rica has transformed to become a global hub for FDI with inflows.
Discover how responsible, intelligent and specialized FDI initiatives are surging in new and less traditional locations within Costa Rica, a refreshing and inclusive vision for development.
Sustainable development requires inclusive partnerships and increasingly collaborative models built on shared goals and vision. These are necessary at global, regional, national, and local levels. CINDE boosts high-value strategic alliances to enhance the impact of foreign direct investment in Costa Rica.
Enhancing specialized skills development, innovation capabilities and multilingualism to strengthen the country’s capacity for growth and sophistication.
Achieving higher impact through networks of partners, access to funding for innovative projects execution, as well as expert knowledge around global trends, in order to develop our talent with the skills for the future and to drive greater employment.
Focused strategies deployment and targeted tactics to spread Costa Rica’s strengths and potential for FDI. Multiplying effect on investment attraction efforts.
Reliability of official data and stats that reflect the impacts of FDI and knowledge spillover effects in the country.
