The contest organized by the Ministry of Energy seeks to generate efficient solutions for households and neighborhoods and improve the access and use of renewable energies in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi, President of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, will be part of the contest jury.
The “Impacta Energía” contest, organized by the Chilean Ministry of Energy and supported by the Laboratorio de Gobierno, seeks to generate innovations in the field of energy by attracting and encouraging talented entrepreneurs and innovators, and inviting them to get involved in the public challenges of the country with ideas, technologies, products or services.
“Impacta Energía” is an open contest for public innovation that seeks to find efficient energy solutions for households and neighborhoods and improve the access and use of renewable energies in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to enhance their productivity.
The call includes a Bootcamp stage or accelerated incubation process, where the selected teams will have the possibility of co-creating, improving and modifying their projects with the mentoring of representatives of the Government and the support of real users.
The four winners- who will be announced in November this year- will receive 75 million pesos each for piloting their ideas. They will have six months to implement their projects and will have the support of the Ministry of Energy in order that their ideas can become public policies.
Applications can be submitted in the link www.impactaenergia.cl, until August 23rd. Both Chilean and foreign applicants can participate, as well as small, medium and large-sized companies from Chile or abroad.
Partnership between universities and companies
As one of the 16 members of the jury that will select the winning projects, Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi, President of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, highlighted that innovation is an essential matter in this public and state university.
He invited “students and young people in general to face these problems and propose ideas to progress in this challenge.”
For his part, Máximo Pacheco, Minister of Energy, said that he was proud to have President Zolezzi in the jury and also of the relation with Universidad de Santiago de Chile.
Asimismo, destacó la relación entre la academia, el Estado, la sociedad civil y el mundo empresarial para trabajar en conjunto y enfrentar los desafíos en el ámbito de la energía. “Tenemos la convicción de que la energía no es solamente algo estratégico, sino que es a partir de ella que se construyen las civilizaciones”, expresó el ministro.
He also stressed the importance of the relation among the State, universities, civil society and business world as partners to face energy challenges. “We are certain that energy is not only a strategic issue: it is the base on which civilizations are built,” the Minister said.
“Companies need to work in partnership with universities like Universidad de Santiago de Chile,” he concluded, insisting on the importance of committing to innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.
Translated by Marcela Contreras