Startup Campus: The New Technological Entrepreneurship Hub in Chile, a Reference for LATAM
Amid the commemoration of Corfos 85th anniversary, President Boric announced this physical space, a collaboration between the public and private sectors.
Being a reference in Latin America in terms of dynamic and high-impact entrepreneurship is the goal of Startup Campus, the new Regional Hub for Technological Entrepreneurship announced by President Gabriel Boric.
In the context of celebrating Corfo’s 85 years, the president announced the creation of this hub that will contribute to articulating support for startups, their connection with industry, and catalyzing their success.
Thus, Startup Campus, a hub for technological entrepreneurship, will contribute to strengthening the ecosystem and the development of applied research, technologies, and innovation in productive sectors to promote economic diversification and the country’s competitiveness.
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According to the President of Fundación Chile, Pablo Zamora, “these dynamic ventures are more complex and require the coordination of academia and technological centers. For entrepreneurs, it is more difficult to navigate this path and be successful because they require access to instrumentation, which is very difficult and very expensive, and they require expertise and skills that are hard to find in the market.”
REVITALIZING THE VALUE OF DOWNTOWN SANTIAGO
Startup Campus will have a strategic location with good connectivity in Downtown Santiago, Metropolitan Region. It will be located at Campus Santa Lucía (Avda Santa Rosa #76), owned by Inmobiliaria Territoria, and will occupy a total space of 3,850 m2.
Its infrastructure will consist of five types of facilities: coworking spaces, an auditorium, private offices, a laboratory for biological sciences, and a prototyping laboratory for hardware, materials, and electronics.
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In its first five years of execution, Startup Campus will support 200 high-potential growth startups, contributing to increasing their staffing, technological advancement, sales, and exports. The profile will be ventures that use science and technology as engines of innovation and development to generate solutions to major challenges in the country and the world, contributing to sustainable and equitable development.
“What President Boric has announced is Startup Campus, a partnership agreement between Corfo and Fundación Chile, to have a physical location, a building of over 14 floors in downtown Santiago, a meeting space for entrepreneurs with a scientific and technological basis, for the use of laboratories, infrastructure, and other needs,” said José Miguel Benavente, Executive Vice President of Corfo.
HIGH INVESTMENT: THE IMPORTANCE OF LITHIUM FOR ITS DEVELOPMENT
For this project, the investment amount will be around US$11 million, resources coming from the R&D support clauses of the lithium contracts that Corfo maintains with Albemarle. These resources will be supplemented with private financing based on a sustainability model, through income from space rentals, memberships, services to corporations, and/or sponsorships, among others.
Once established, Startup Campus will collaborate closely with Start-Up Chile, other Corfo managements, and other public and private organizations It is expected that the impact of this new space on the ecosystem will be even greater considering the installation of capabilities that can be replicated and amplified.
The Vice President of Corfo emphasized, “We have the commitment of many institutions, both national and foreign, private and public, to develop this ecosystem and deliver solutions, in this first stage, related to environmental technologies, to support entrepreneurship development in Chile. This is a great opportunity for entrepreneurship in Chile, in the region, and internationally, to position Chile as a space, a hub to address these major challenges.”
“We see Startup Campus as a space that will bring together the world of scientific and technological entrepreneurship, investment, and is nourished by a large part of the private companies, both medium and large in Chile, and a convergence space for this space to be made available and end up impacting through the creation of startups and scaleups, technological companies that have knowledge as part of their business model,” expressed Zamora, president of Fundación Chile.
“(...) The announcement of Startup Campus will allow not only the articulation but also the strengthening of support for scientific and technological-based companies because we want these companies to grow and contribute from job creation and knowledge to the development of our country,” highlighted Javiera Petersen, Undersecretary of Economy and Small Business.”