Their principal means are education and transfer of knowledge. Generally one can state that the employment opportunities for GIS professionals in Ecuador are still limited. Companies are not yet aware of the full possibilities of GIS technology and therefore did not create the corresponding job positions. The main possibilities at this moment are governmental institutions and universities. Regarding the employment opportunities in universities, one has to consider that these are usually not very attractive because of the low appreciations and salaries and the limited resources for research.
Universities are also subject to the national economic pressures.
The task of education and transfer of knowledge will take a long time, but can be sped up through small development centers with a catalytic function and which serve as examples. The growing interest from both foreign development aid organizations and local institutions to apply GIS to a huge variety of, still largely unexplored, problems, should be guided by well trained personnel. These courses should be organized around a well-thought GIS curriculum. As it is rather hard to believe that the existing faculties will create the space for such a complete GIS curriculum within their program, one should try to create introductory GIS courses within the given structure and extend these with a specialization post-graduate course. As stated above, the problems, needs and possibilities for GIS are quite similar in developing countries and in developed countries.