Watch the Beyond Academy closing event:
The program’s closing event featured testimonials from participants, representatives of Know Hub Chile and Hub Apta, and guests from the University of California, Riverside and the National Research and Development Agency (ANID).
Nine projects involving professionals from eight Chilean universities took part in “Beyond Academy” 2021, an initiative of the technology transfer (TT) hubs Know Hub Chile and Hub APTA that seeks to narrow the disconnect between R&D&I projects and the needs of industry, with the collaboration of the University of California, Riverside.
The closing event was attended by the executive directors of Hub APTA and Know Hub Chile, Varinka Farren and Javier Ramírez, respectively, along with Carlos Ladrix, deputy director of Applied Research and Innovation at the National Research and Development Agency (ANID).
Based on the National Science Foundation (NSF) iCorps methodology, the program gives researchers tools to discover potential customers for their technologies and validate their value propositions through direct interviews with relevant industry players, a methodology known as customer discovery. In this way, the TT hubs hope to contribute to the cultural transformation of the scientific community, increasing the impact of its research results and technologies.
At the event, two researchers trained in the customer discovery methodology shared their experience: Dr. Rodrigo Andler, a researcher at Universidad Católica del Maule (UCM), and Dr. Federico Antico, a researcher at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (UAI).
The first pilot ran last year, coordinated by UC Riverside, which is certified in the iCorps methodology and has international mentors trained in it. In 2021, the TT hubs took the lead in its implementation. Mentoring remained in the hands of UC Riverside, led by Alexandra Orozco, Associate Director of International Partnerships for UC Riverside’s Office of Technology Partnerships, who also took part in the program’s closing event.
Beyond Academy consisted of six sessions, in which the participating teams shared their findings from the interviews they conducted, information that helped them design an attractive value proposition for their technology aimed at companies. They made this whole journey with the support of professionals from Know Hub Chile and Hub APTA, coordinated by Marcelo González and Javier von Marées, respectively.
At the event, both professionals gave the presentation “Customer Discovery Method: opening new paths for applied science,” in which they provided an overview of Beyond Academy’s figures and objectives. In total, over its two editions, Beyond Academy has brought together 20 research teams, with a total of 110 researchers and managers from various Chilean higher education institutions that are members of Know Hub Chile and Hub APTA, as well as the science- and technology-based venture Inner Core, with its IC Med technology.
Over the course of the program, approximately 10 hours of individual mentoring, more than 200 interviews with industry players and group sessions with UC Riverside mentors took place.
To meet the teams that took part in Beyond Academy in 2021, click here.
And to meet the 2020 teams, click here.
Watch the testimonials from the Beyond Academy closing event:
