More than 30 companies learned about the potential of this scientific discipline and about Corfo-Innova funding to use it in their developments.
Representatives of more than thirty productive entities were pleasantly surprised by the many applications nanotechnology can bring to their companies’ development as they toured CEDENNA’s laboratories to learn first-hand how Chilean nanoscience applications can help them improve their performance and solve their challenges.
The meeting was organized by the Center together with Corfo-Innova, whose executives explained to attendees how the corporation can fund projects arising from this link with CEDENNA, which led to more than a dozen connections between researchers and the visiting industries.
During the visit, attendees learned about, among other things, the development of sensors to detect uncrushables in mining and machinery wear; the use of nanotechnology to treat cancer; packaging with properties to extend food shelf life; and CEDENNA’s contributions to nanosafety under OECD standards.
CEDENNA was founded 13 years ago and is currently the most important nanoscience and nanotechnology center in the country and unique in its multidisciplinary approach in Latin America. Since then, the institution has moved into a technology transfer stage through its developments and services, some of which were presented to representatives of various companies.
Frontier science and funding
“We are very pleased with this activity held at CEDENNA, which connects what this innovation Center does with the companies that can access its services and thus develop projects in the field of nanotechnology and nanoscience. This is part of the work we have been doing with Innova and our partners, including CEDENNA, to build alliances and activate the innovation ecosystem so that our country can move towards sustainable productive development,” explained Sergio Maureira, Deputy Director of Innova Chile at CORFO.
CEDENNA’s founder and director, National Prize in Exact Sciences winner Dora Altbir, described the activity organized by CORFO as very interesting, “first, because it allows us to show the capabilities we have as a center of excellence. But also because it opens up the possibility of meeting a number of companies we can partner with, whether to develop products together, provide specific services, or learn what they are doing and the challenges they face, and thus enrich our work.”
Developments such as high-specificity filters and sensors, or the incorporation of nanoparticles into the manufacture of packaging and industrial textiles, benefited during the visit from the combination of three factors: frontier research in nanotechnology, business innovation and funding for the sustainable development of new industrial capabilities in Chile.
From oceans to childhood disability
Attendees highlighted the opportunity to see frontier technology up close and the connections that emerged from the meeting.
The founder of Green and Blue Research, Ariel Martínez Gavilán, said his company seeks to develop science and technology to benefit nature and that experiences like this are essential for a science- and technology-based venture like his. “It was a very interesting activity, because the worlds of industry and business come together with the world of science, and I believe Chile should hold more activities like this. Bringing science together with companies is mainly about talking about the future, and this was a very good contribution.”
Erika Astorga, STEM Businesswoman 2022 and Women’s SME Award 2014, said she was “happy with this link with universities, since here we find great research and development potential; moreover, as entrepreneurs we can catapult all the ideas that come out of theory here into real objects, and we contribute the practical side.”
Rayen Álvarez, representative of DOI SPA, a company that has developed products for children with disabilities for 17 years and is moving into developments for adults, made direct contact with people who can open up new social and business perspectives. “The invitation to this center has been an impressive eye-opener regarding incorporating nanotechnology into disability-oriented products and anything that means improvement for people with disabilities in general. I leave happy after seeing all the materials, what is being done and what we could do with Corfo hand in hand with the center.”
Diana Reyes, commercial manager of the National Center for Technology Piloting for Mining, agreed: “I was pleasantly surprised by CEDENNA’s level of technological development, the technologies and innovations they are working with. It is a very good initiative and project in which they work collaboratively with other universities.”
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