Take one part SXSW, and one part Art Basel, and you get eMerge Americas. Diane Sanchez, CEO of Technology Foundation of the Americas, and organizer of the event is doing a fantastic job in positioning South Florida as a reputable technology hub.

The eMerge Americas technology conference won’t be just taking over the Miami Beach Convention Center next year, but also the Fontainebleau Miami Beach and a lot of Lincoln Road, the CEO of the foundation that’s organizing it said on Thursday.

Diane S. Sánchez, CEO of Manny Medina‘s Technology Foundation of the Americas, said the event will be a combination of Art Basel and the South by Southwest event made famous in Austin.

The foundation is seeking 5,000 participants internationally and trying to identify 500 businesses and organizations that reflect the best in technology in South Florida to attend eMerge Americas, Sánchez said in a keynote address at the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance’s mid-year meeting.

The group’s sponsorship packages are peaking out at $150,000 while exhibitor packages will be available for $10,000.

Sánchez’s ambitious goals have credibility because Medina developed Terremark Worldwide and the NAP of the Americas, which he sold to Verizon Communcations (NSYE: VZ) for $1.5 billion. I interviewed Medina for the print edition of the Business Journal on April 12.

Sánchez also has plenty of high-level experience, too. She was president and CEO for Telefónica’s operations in North America and Puerto Rico, CEO of Global Crossing Latin America and president of Terremark.

Sánchez said plans for the conference are well timed because South Florida is emerging as the technology hub of the Americas and is probably the fifth-largest communications hub globally, partly because of undersea cables that land in the region.

She doesn’t see the region competing against San Francisco or Austin, but taking advantage of north-south trade.

“We are unique and we need to take advantage of it. If we don’t, shame on us,” she said.

Sánchez gave some statistics that compared Latin America to the U.S. and China.

In gross domestic product, Latin America has hit $7.2 trillion compared with $11.3 trillion in China and $15.1 trillion in the U.S.

The 600 million mobile phones in Latin America is a lot more than the 327 million in the U.S., although short of the 1 billion in China.

Latin America has 188 million Facebook users, more than the 167 million in the U.S. and the 580,000 in China.

Miami has a strategic advantage because the U.S. is rated fourth globally in ease of doing business compared with 126th for Brazil, 53rd for Mexico and 113th for Argentina, she said.

Citing statistics from World City, Sánchez said the region hosts more than 1,400 multinational corporations and the Miami Custom’s District had $124.73 billion in global trade. More than 70 percent of the workforce in Miami is bilingual.

Strong growth in Broward

In his remarks, new Alliance Chairman Gerard Litrento, the senior executive VP of retail and business banking at BankUnited, provided upbeat statistics about the state of business in Broward.

The 5.7 percent unemployment rate is the lowest of any major county in Florida and the Alliance has 164 relocation and expansion projects in its pipeline, he said.

The alliance counts $105 million in direct capital investment in the first half of its fiscal year, which is five times more than its $21 million goal.

The number of retained jobs at 748 is well ahead of the goal of 400.

With all the pieces in place, it is going to be exciting to observe the end product. With Real Estate, and Hospitality as dominating industries in South Florida, it is gratifying to see that biotech, and high tech companies are building strong footholds in the region and establishing themselves as respectable industries.