Bioway: The product created using bacteria to stabilize soils and reduce pollutant emissions
This technology, developed by Hydra Research in collaboration with CMPC, won the first edition of the Corporate Impact Venturing Award in Chile.
In the context of the first day of EtMday 2024 in Chile, Socialab, in conjunction with Wayra, ChileGlobal Ventures and IF, held the final pitch for the Corporate Impact Venturing prize, where startups, together with partner companies, presented their pilots to win the award.
The five pilots that appeared on stage were: Ainwater with Agrosuper; Walkers with Santiago Metro; Bluetek and Parque Arauco; Virgilio Rays with the National Institute of Wounds and Bioway with CMPC, who performed the final pitch in which they only had five minutes to convince a demanding jury composed of Sol Valiente - Deputy Director of Corporate Initiatives of Corfo; Andrés Iriondo, Chairman of the Board of Socialab; Sebastián Acevedo, Manager of ChileGlobal Ventures; Lionel Kaufmann, co-founder of IF, and Mario Reyes, Methodology leader of Wayra Hispam.
Following the introductions, the winning startup was Hydra Research, which developed the product "Bioway", a technology that improved the routes used by CMPC in its forestry operations.
Follow us on: 
What is it about?
Using a product created with bacteria, it is possible to produce a soil stabilizer that increases the resistance of trails and, therefore, reduces the use of aggregates. The pilot was so successful, that the company permanently adopted the solution, scaling up to over 50 kms, generating savings of 40% and a decrease in emissions.
"We are happy to have won and to have been invited. This has truly been an adventure, so we are very pleased with everything that has happened and we hope to continue growing together here in Chile and in other countries," expressed Jonathan Henríquez, CEO of Hydra Research.
WHO WERE THE 5 FINALIST SOLUTIONS?
These are the 5 solutions that made it to the final of the first edition of the Corporate Impact Venturing Award:
1.- Ainwater: the intelligence of water
Create the digital transformation of RILES treatment at the Rosario plant with a Digital Twin using artificial intelligence to: 1. Centrally visualize the plant scheme on our platform 2. Monitor real-time process variables: sensors, operation spreadsheet and laboratory 3. Forecast anomalies 4. Provide control recommendations for efficient aeration (10% savings) 5. Develop a preventive maintenance module for hardware equipment.
Allied Company: Agrosuper
2.- Walkers
The service of Walkers consists of distributing ecommerce orders using the infrastructure and service of Metro, in an ecological, efficient, safe, and fast way to smart lockers located at the stations on the network. In January and February 2024, a pilot was carried out with 2 lockers located at the University of Chile and Plaza de Armas. Since then, these lockers have been operational. The pilot was part of the conditions of Metro for the signing of commercial contracts.
Allied Company: Santiago Metro
3.- Bluetek
Through the Parque Arauco Startup Challenge, we were able to implement a climate systems automation project at Parque La Colina, the prime asset of the Parque Arauco group in Bogotá, Colombia. Sensors, smart thermostats and connectivity gateways were implemented, and we have managed to reduce up to 30% of the energy consumption of the climate systems and up to 3.5 tons of CO2 equivalent.
Allied Company: Parque Arauco
4.- Virgilio Rays
The pilot conducted with the National Institute of Wounds (INH) focused on implementing and evaluating the Virgilio Rays device, designed to improve the treatment of chronic wounds and reduce recovery time in patients with complex ulcers. Virgilio Rays employs high-precision UV-C radiation technology to disinfect and speed up the healing process without the use of drugs.
Allied company: National Institute of Wounds
5.- Bioway: Efficiency in Forest Roads (WINNING PROJECT)
The stabilization of our forest roads is key, as it provides ground resistance for the passage of trucks. This uses aggregates and represents 50% of the road cost. The product Bioway, from Hydra Research, was piloted, a soil stabilizer that allows to increase its resistance and therefore, reduce the use of aggregates. A successful POC was carried out and the solution was definitively adopted, scaling to more than 50 kms, generating savings of 40% and reduction in emissions.
Allied Company: CMPC
Partnerships between startups and large companies: a key synergy.
According to a GCV report, investment in Corporate Venturing (CV) reached $73 billion in 2022, highlighting the importance of collaboration between large corporations and startups to tackle complex challenges and accelerate innovation.
This is something they are convinced of at Socialab, as expressed by their Co-founder, Matías Rojas: "At Socialab, we are very pleased because we have been able to showcase real cases of Corporate Venturing implementation. This is not just an announcement or a mere promise, this is real impact in economic, social, and environmental terms. So I am very pleased and we will do everything possible to ensure this repeats every year too."
Similar satisfaction was expressed by Mario Reyes, Innovation Leader at Wayra, who stated that instances like this demonstrate that there is a lot of potential in terms of innovation in Chile and that thanks to Corporate Venturing, they can become a reality: "It's good that these technologies have the opportunity to be tested, tried out, validated, and to also see the impact they have, demonstrate their viability and in that way, others can see, take and scale".
In this regard, he underscored that this award makes visible initiatives that have a real impact, albeit still on a very small scale, but the fact of rewarding them and making them known, will allow them to later be replicated, scaled up, and for these opportunities, to get their chance of receiving the necessary support, financing required so they can later have the impact they promise.
For her part, Sol Valiente, deputy director of Corporate Initiatives at Corfo and judge of the award, highlighted the winning solution, because it addresses "a problem that we have throughout the entire South", so "a system that is environmentally friendly, which allows you, in essence, greater durability of roads seems spectacular to me".
Valiente also highlights the value of Corporate Venturing in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. It's a system from which we all end up learning, companies, entrepreneurs, spawning a dynamic of innovation that allows teams to evolve and adopt new technologies. So, I think the initiative is superb.