Carrillo has a masters in economics from the London School of Economics and a doctorate in the psychology of science and technology from King's College London. He is an expert in knowledge cities and knowledge based development and introduced to the concept to Mexico.. His specialty is the creation and development of knowledge with the aim of stimulating the economy. This not only includes supporting business ideas with financing, but also making available intellectual capital and sources of knowledge. He developed a system called the Capital Systems Framework as a model for knowledge-based organizations, which has been adopted in various countries. His book Knowledge Cites has been described as successfully challenging “the prevailing urban planning paradigm with a powerful vision of a future based on the critical resource of human capital.” and “the most important new book in urban planning since the publication of Jay Forrester’s “Urban Dynamics.” by Steven A. Cavaleri of Central Connecticut State University. He believes that growing the economy based on knowledge resources is urgent, with Mexico losing competitiveness due to an outdated industrial base, low productivity of is labor force and the lack of political and social cohesion, making it unable to exploit its natural, social and other resources. He also believes that Mexico is capable of an economic level much higher than is generally imagined. He also believes that the Tec of Monterrey is one of the main movers of change in Latin America and the world. He began working with the Tec de Monterrey in 1989, when the new Centro de Tecnologia Avanzada para la Producción, generally called CETEC opened its doors, precisely to join that institution, billed as a center of innovation. He arrived to the Monterrey campus with his wife is Rosa María Sánchez Cantú, who also is a professor and researcher of the institution. In 1992, he established the Centro de Sistemas de Conocimiento at the Monterrey campus, which promotes the creation of new knowledge in the Spanish language. With this institution, he has led over 100 contracted projects. In addition to his activities at the Tec de Monterrey, he is also an international consultant and leads another of other organizations and projects. Carrillo is the founder and president of the World Capital Institute as well as president of the Comunidad Iberoamericana de Sistemas de Conocimiento. The World Capital Institute sponsors the annual MAKCi Awards as well as the Knowledge Cities World Summit, which has been held in various parts of the world including Melbourne. He is a founding member of the New Club of Paris and served on the editorial boards of several international journals, as well as founder and editor of MetaSite, a “site of sites” about knowledge management. He is part of a program called Monterrey Ciudad Internacional de Conocimiento, which aims to develop the city along knowledge management lines. Carrillo is listed in Who’s Who in the World, Who´s Who in Global Banking and Finance and in the Special Edition 2000 of The Barons 500.
Publications
Books
Knowledge Cities, 2006
Building Prosperous Knowledge Cities: Policies, Plans and Metrics with Tan Yigitcanlar and Kostas Metaxiotis, 2012
En Desarrollo Basado en el Conocimiento. 2007
Knowledge Mobilization in the Social Sciences and Humanities –Moving from Research to Action, 2007.
Construyendo una Ciudad-Región del Conocimiento en Bogotá: Desafíos que se Confrontan y una Propuesta de Acción. Informe del Centro de Gestión del Conocimiento y la Innovación de la Universidad del Rosario, presentado a la Secretaría Distrital de Planeación ., 2007:
Knowledge Economics: Emerging Principles, Practices and Policies, 2006.