The call for the first Desafío Avante, organized by the Chilean Navy (Armada de Chile), AthenaLab and Know Hub Chile, has just come to a successful close. It is a first step on a long road that raises a series of challenges and questions, but also brings undeniable benefits for the ecosystem and the country. A column by Javier Ramírez, Executive Director of Know Hub Chile.
The question in the title of this column sums up the first reaction of countless people on hearing about Avante, the Chilean Navy’s open innovation challenge, which seeks to have a series of the institution’s specific problems solved by national research teams and entrepreneurs. In practice, this means working closely with a range of people and institutions the Navy does not usually deal with.
Indeed, in most cases the value chain that gradually and painfully turns a technology into a specific product or service is so complex that no one is in a position to cover it all. This involves many very different players, who take on different places in the chain, sometimes collaborating, sometimes competing and sometimes working without being aware of each other’s existence: universities and research centers, investment funds, entrepreneurs, public development agencies, regulatory authorities, business incubators and accelerators, banks, large and small companies, scientists, political leaders and countless specialists. These players and their complex web of relationships make up the “innovation ecosystem”.
Working there means managing an enormous heterogeneity of individuals and institutions, with differences in structure, goals, incentives and legal status, including generational and cultural gaps, which, if not managed properly, can cause critical failures in the process.
This leads many institutions to question their real chances of success, or even the practical or legal feasibility of actively engaging in the ecosystem’s work. Since risk and uncertainty are inherent to innovation, it is impossible to offer any kind of certainty; moreover, it is easy to predict that most institutions that engage in this work will face countless ups and downs, internal and external, unfair and deserved, where failure is not just possible but likely.
So why do it? For the Chilean Navy the answer is simple. In all the advanced innovation ecosystems we admire, the defense world is a fundamental player, and public spending on R&D&I in this area serves as the State’s main tool for shaping its general development policy, beyond the fields of research and defense. In the absence of quantitative data, we can say that the Navy’s entry into the ecosystem, and through it that of the defense world, will generate a fundamental boost that will mark a turning point not only in innovation but also in our productive matrix, regionalization and social cohesion, ultimately making an important contribution to our country’s development. Precisely “Contributing to national development” is one of the mission areas of the Navy (and of the armed forces in general), and through Desafío Avante we can see how this institution fully delivers on that mandate.
The answer to the question that inspired this column is therefore misleading, because for the Navy it was never about weighing the chances of success and timidly testing a foray into the ecosystem; on the contrary, it made its entry decisively, fully aware of the work involved but also aware of the positive impact it brings to the country.
Javier Ramírez
Executive Director
Know Hub Chile
