Beyond Academy 2023, run by Know Hub Chile together with Hub APTA, kicks off with teams from UTEM and Fundación Copec UC

The program by Know Hub and Hub APTA, in collaboration with Georgia Tech, seeks to narrow the gap between R&D&I projects and industry needs. It gives researchers tools to discover customers for their technologies and validate their value propositions through direct interviews with relevant industry players. All of this to contribute to the cultural transformation of the scientific community, increasing the impact of its research and technologies.

On September 27, a new edition of Beyond Academy began. The program seeks to shift the cultural paradigm in the national scientific community by encouraging university research and development (R&D) projects to take an approach geared toward industry and the market.

Run by Know Hub Chile and Hub APTA, the initiative is based on the Customer Discovery methodology and this year also has the collaboration of Georgia Tech (United States). The program spans eight weeks, starting with the first session on September 27 and ending on November 15, 2023.

Twelve teams are taking part this year. Six of them come from Know Hub and belong to the Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana and Fundación Copec UC. Aqua Analytix, from Fundación Copec UC, is developing a remote quantitative sperm quality analysis service for the salmon industry. Optimization wine harvest focuses on logistics and operational planning of the wine harvest under uncertainty. Microvacpacking de vacunas is developing micro-vacuum packaging of vaccines within a gas layer. Membranas de Durvillea Antárctica y ácido poliláctico explores these compounds as architectural cladding. Revestimiento indoor develops indoor cladding products based on biomaterials, digital fabrication and electronics. AloeBac, meanwhile, is developing biostimulants-biofertilizers based on PGPR bacteria and a gel matrix.

Working together

At the first session, Javier Ramírez, executive director of Know Hub Chile, welcomed the teams to the program and noted that it is made possible thanks to the support of Georgia Tech and the collaboration between Know Hub Chile and Hub APTA: “This program is part of something bigger, which is promoting cultural change, both within academia and in industry, so that this rapprochement happens and there is work that truly helps Chile become a knowledge-based economy and society.”

Varinka Farren, executive director of Hub APTA, highlighted that for the third year this initiative gives the Hubs “the opportunity to have an impact on researchers in different fields so they can truly bring technologies to market, this time with Georgia Tech.”

Regarding the methodology, Ramírez placed special emphasis on the interviews. “The teams will be asked to leave the lab, conduct interviews and gather first-hand information. Doing that and carrying out that part of the program is crucial for this to have a good outcome.”

Customer discovery

Beyond Academy is aimed at teams of researchers, includes mentoring support from Georgia Tech and uses the customer discovery methodology.

Brandy Nagel, a Georgia Tech mentor, spoke at the first session about how the program works and shared with the teams the fundamentals of how an idea reaches the market and the myths surrounding that. “What we say about startups in the United States is that you always start with an idea, someone sits in a café, does the research, creates a business plan and writes about that idea. Then they contact investors and get a lot of money. Then the serious work of bringing the product to market begins and everyone loves it, and then Google calls them,” she said.

But perhaps, she argued, that is not how an idea reaches the market. “There are different ways. And most startups don’t survive the first year, half disappear, and only a small number in the United States manage to raise any money. And some of those that do raise money also fail. There is no single path, there are options; there are always different options for how to bring an idea to market,” she stressed.

In that sense, Nagel said, the customer discovery methodology used by the program will enable the teams to design and plan R&D projects focused on solving an industry problem through close and varied contact with customers. This narrows the disconnect between R&D&I projects and industry needs, giving researchers tools to discover potential customers for their technologies and validate their value propositions through direct interviews with relevant industry players, that is, through the Customer Discovery methodology.