In its third edition, the innovation initiative led by the Chilean Navy (Armada de Chile) and Know Hub Chile will once again call for the best technological solutions to solve problems identified by the Chilean Navy within the institution, solutions that can also reach the civilian market.
This year’s theme is Active Health, a concept focused on modernizing the preventive medicine model based on data, with the aim of providing the Chilean Navy with physically and psychologically healthy personnel to carry out the tasks and missions entrusted to it by the State.
Avante connects the Chilean Navy’s technological challenges with national scientific and technological capabilities from startups, universities, research centers, technical training centers, professional institutes and other players in the national innovation ecosystem that can address national defense problems through innovative dual-use solutions; that is, solutions that can be applied by national defense organizations as well as by the public or private sectors, with high potential impact on the market and society.
This initiative, led by the Chilean Navy and Know Hub Chile and first launched in 2020, unveiled its third edition at the Academia Politécnica Naval on Friday, October 14, at the closing event of Innovapolinav 2022, which featured a talk by Corfo vice president José Miguel Benavente, who described Avante as “a very ingenious and very interesting mechanism from which one can only expect improvements.”
The launch also presented the results of Desafío Avante 2021, whose teams spent six months developing their products together with the Chilean Navy. They were Calmly, Gollaborate and Jacksol, who presented their technological solutions. “This is the result of a great deal of effort, and it is one of the paths we have chosen to pursue as the Chilean Navy’s contribution to the development of national science- and technology-based entrepreneurship,” said Rear Admiral Fernando Le-Dantec Hudson, Director of Research and Development Programs of the Chilean Navy, of the work carried out by these teams.
Avante 3
For its third edition, Desafío Avante has chosen the theme of Active Health, a concept focused on modernizing the preventive medicine model based on data, with the aim of providing the Navy with physically and psychologically healthy personnel to carry out the tasks and missions entrusted to it by the State. Accordingly, the priority areas are: health data capture, definition of risk indices and dynamic scheduling of medical care.
Participating teams may present technological solutions that address one or more of the areas described above, taking into account the information that will be gathered and validated using the methodology taught during Desafío Avante 3.
In addition, the Chilean Navy establishes as a permanent priority area all technological challenges linked to Maritime Situational Awareness (Maritime Domain Awareness, or M.D.A.) that may fall outside the areas above; that is, those that seek to close gaps or can make a substantial contribution to related institutional work.
Dual technologies
The purpose of Desafío Avante is to develop dual technologies, that is, technologies that can be used both in the defense industry and in civilian fields, such as aquaculture, transportation and port industries, among others.
To achieve this dual focus, participating teams will receive training in the Dual Tech methodology, which is based on Innovation Corps (I-Corps, developed for the National Science Foundation, NSF) and on Hacking for Defense, H4D (developed for the US Department of Defense, DoD). The winners will receive funding so their technology can be transferred to both the defense industry and the civilian market.
In total, 19 teams of tech entrepreneurs have taken part in previous editions of Avante, and four of them were selected by Corfo in its Startup Ciencia competition, funding that allows them to refine their technologies to solve dual-use problems.
For the Chilean Navy, this initiative feeds into the Continuous National Shipbuilding Plan (PNCCN), a 30-year program to build larger naval units such as multipurpose vessels and national frigates, projects that bring with them investment, knowledge, research, development, innovation, job creation and entrepreneurship for the country.
The application deadline is January 30, 2023, at 23:59:59, mainland Chile time.
More information at www.innovapolinav.cl/avante and www.knowhub.cl/avante
