Chile - Finland Binational Platform unveils three key areas of collaboration for 2026
In the context of the celebration of Fundación Chile's 50th anniversary, Hernán Araneda announced the three areas with which the implementation of the technological transfer platform between both countries will begin for this year.
Courtesy of photos and videos: Cristóbal Pizarro, special correspondent for Entreprenerd in Chile
January 8, 2026 - We have launched the Chile-Finland platform for the development of technology transfer. We have linked both systems of both countries to generate technology and innovation in three areas to begin with: Sustainable mining, forestry and wood industry, and smart territorial development, with this announcement made by Hernán Araneda, general manager of Fundación Chile, the celebration of the organization's 50th anniversary was concluded.
In this context, moreover, Fundación Chile signed a collaboration agreement with SOFOFA aimed at promoting technological innovation, productive sustainability, and industrial decarbonization, strengthening capabilities in environmental monitoring, circular economy, and bio-economy, in order to reinforce the Chile-Finland Binational Platform.
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As indicated by Hernán Araneda, an investment of USD 50 million is projected between Chile and Finland in the coming years. This strategic alliance aims to design, adapt, and transfer innovative solutions to tackle challenges in key sectors such as sustainable mining, forestry bioeconomy, the wood derivative industry, and smart regional development.
Kalle Härkki, president and CEO of VTT, explained to Entreprenerd the importance of the announcement of the work guidelines in this first year of the implementation of the Chile-Finland Bi-national Platform. "It's extremely important that we manage to translate technological knowledge and research into market applications and real results for businesses. A key aspect is connecting new initiatives and startups with technological knowledge. That's a fundamental part of the challenge".
At the same time, it is equally important to support existing industries - such as the forestry sector and other traditional sectors - to develop new products, new solutions, and use different types of materials. This applies to both the renewal of established companies and the creation of new initiatives and startups.
In the same vein, the Chilean -one of the main architects of the idea- Andro Lindsay, Business Development VTT, explained to Entreprenerd that, "The main objective this year is to articulate and execute and achieve concrete milestones in initiatives that demonstrate the potential of the platform, that demonstrate the public-private leverage between both countries, technical-professional leverage and the leverage of the ecosystems of both countries (...) The idea is by the end of the year, to have an initiative with concrete milestones able to leverage more financing for subsequent stages."
THREE IMPLEMENTATION AREAS
Working with mid-tier mining: The goal is to characterize and diagnose its main gaps, pilot innovations based on Finnish models, and subsequently scale these solutions towards large-scale mining.
Forestry and Wood Industry: from forest bioeconomy, promoting the industrialization of wood construction and the development of biomaterials from cellulose and lignin, strengthening value chains with national companies and international alliances.
Intelligent territorial development: this is related to territory management. In this aspect, the Vice President of Corfo, José Miguel Benavente explained it this way during a conversation held at the Fundación Chile event. "One of the major problems we have had in Chile in terms of natural resources is that we have not considered territory management when there are large investments. The mining case in Chile may be the most paradigmatic. Today, there is a very important sector for the medium and long term, which is green hydrogen, mainly in areas such as Magallanes that have the best standard of life in Chile and the people of Magellan are very concerned that big investments could be established with large wind turbines and large industries that could somehow alter their way of life. Obviously, understanding territory management in a harmonious way is tremendously important. VTT and Finland have a lot of experience in this and therefore it is another area of work in this platform".
The Pillars of Finland: Education, Sustainability and Trust
One of the speakers was Kalle Härkki, president and CEO of VTT, who explained the role that this institution plays in Finland and the importance of this strategic alliance for both countries.
According to his explanation, there are three fundamental pillars in Finland: Education, sustainability, and trust.
"In Finland, education has always been fundamental. It integrates with science and technology from early ages to university. The entire system - both public and private - works in a coordinated manner".
"Sustainability is nothing new for us. We started over 50 years ago out of necessity: to reuse energy, water, and materials. Today, when we talk about green transition, Finland is decades ahead".
"Social trust is key: without deep trust, new technologies or new companies cannot be developed. When we agree on something, we fulfill it. Such trust exists among companies, between public and private sectors, and among individuals".
Another reason highlighted about the importance of this strategic alliance is that, as a small country with challenging conditions, we need to cooperate. Companies work closely with each other; the public and private sectors work together; spin-offs and startups collaborate with large companies.
Other Industries to Develop
While this time around three areas were chosen to start the implementation of the Binational Platform, Andro Lindsay explained, in a conversation with Entreprenerd that "the idea is not only limited to mining, forestry value chain, city development, green hydrogen, etc., but also to identify opportunities that both countries, thanks to the synergy they generate, can lead globally. For example, it could be space technology, due to the great development in deeptech startups and ventures of aerospace sector companies in Finland and with all the capabilities and comparative advantages that Chile has in social terms, but it could also be biotechnology, Agro solutions, maritime development solutions, etc".
He also highlighted this for Entreprenerd, Kalle Häkki, "This is a very big challenge, but there's no doubt there are many things we can do together. The most important step is to start with concrete joint projects. Through this process, we will increasingly discover more areas where we can collaborate in a more profound way (...)"
In general terms, it is crucial to transform technological knowledge and research into market-ready solutions and services. One of the main challenges is to drive new initiatives and develop new capabilities. At the same time, the renewal of existing industries -such as forestry and paper- is equally important, allowing them to create new products, new services, and use alternative materials.
"In essence, it is a process of renewal at all levels: renewing existing initiatives and, at the same time, creating completely new ones and giving birth to new businesses," he maintained.
The event was graced by the presence of various authorities and personalities from the public and private sector, as well as the Ambassador of Finland in Chile, Johanna Kotkajärvi; Kalle Härkki, president and CEO of VTT, Technical Research Center of Finland; Jussi Manninen, Executive Vice President of Carbon Neutral Solutions at VTT; and Andro Lindsay, business development VTT, an entity with which Fundación Chile is collaborating on the implementation of the Chile-finland technology transfer platform; Rosario Navarro, president of the SOFOFA; José Miguel Benavente, Executive Vice President of Corfo; Pablo Zamora, chairman of the board of Fundación Chile; Hernán Araneda, general manager of Fundación Chile; René Muga, vice chairman of the board of Fundación Chile and vice president of Corporate Affairs for BHP.