Prominent experts from the region’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem met with representatives of the academy at the “MatchUp Engineering: Discovering our Technological Partner” event, organized by the Direction of Innovation, through its Transference and Discharge Office (OTL, for its name in Spanish), the InES I+D institutional project and the School of Engineering at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV).
The activity gathered 16 businesses and 42 scholars, who shared their experiences and laid out the real needs of the production sector to analyze how, from the engineering world, the PUCV can contribute to solve these issues through the development of joint projects, applied research and collaboration agreements.
The 2023-2029 Institutional Strategic Development Plan of the University, proposes the development of research and the creation and innovation with an impact on society, an aspect that is favored when bridges are laid between the industry and the academy.
According to Gianni Olguín, dean of the School of Engineering, “there is a very close relationship between our University’s Strategic Development Plan and the activities that tend to build bridges between the industrial and academic sectors. This is done through applied research, which is conceived and seeks to give solutions to specific problems of society or the industry sector”.
“The goal is to articulate our capabilities with the real challenges of the socio-productive sector. We have already done this MatchUp in sciences, where important collaborations that have led to innovation projects have been achieved. In this sense, starting the research and development process together with businesses, allows us to increase the probabilities of those products and services generated with the PUCV capabilities reach society and the market”, Macarena Rosenkranz, innovation director of the PUCV, stated.
INDUSTRY-ACADEMIA COOPERATION
During this MatchUp a cooperation agreement between the PUCV and KeyProcess was signed, which will strengthen the relationship between the university and the production sector to encourage innovation and technological development from the academia.
Regarding this agreement, the Dean of Engineering highlighted that “generating appropriate spaces for a fruitful relationship between both parties is fundamental for the development of joint applied research projects, aiming towards an effective technological transference”.
For his part, Cristhian Mercado, CEO of KeyProcess, expressed that his company has been working for many years with the PUCV, carrying out innovative projects with different units such as the School of Chemistry Engineering, the Applied Research Laboratory in the Extractive Metallurgic field (LIAM), the Mining Center, the Interdisciplinary Engineering Center, the School of Engineering and the Chemistry Institute, among others.
“We think its relevant to be able to connect scholars and their researchers with the industry in order to reach solutions and take advantage of the capabilities of the academia. The signing of this agreement comes to reinforce our commitment and strengthen new cooperation possibilities with the university”, Mercado added.
Through initiatives such as MatchUp Engineering, we seek to strengthen the contribution of the PUCV to development and technological transfer, innovation and positive impact on society.
By Erika Schubert
Strategic Communications Department
