Jorge Karadima and Andrés Zahler have extensive track records in entrepreneurship, consulting and venture capital, and in science, technology and innovation public policy, respectively.
Thanks to his vast experience in entrepreneurship, consulting and venture capital, Jorge Karadima became a mentor to the first cohort of Know Hub Ignition (in 2019), Know Hub Chile’s program supporting the creation and maturation of science- and technology-based ventures. Jorge played an outstanding role supporting Know Hub Ignition participants, and went on to repeat the experience in 2020 and later in Avante, the Navy’s open innovation challenge organized jointly with Know Hub Chile.
Now Jorge, an agribusiness investment consultant and former CEO of Sembrador Capital de Riesgo for more than 10 years, joins Know Hub Chile as an independent Director.
“I wanted to join the board because the Hub has established itself as a benchmark in innovation and entrepreneurship in Chile. I feel that with my experience I could contribute the best of my knowledge to the Hub’s development and growth,” says the agronomist from the Universidad Católica de Chile, who holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) and is also the guitarist of the amateur blues and hard rock band The Bullying Brothers.
“I am very impressed with the hub’s programs that use the iCorps methodology, in which I have taken part and served as a mentor since 2018, and which have given a major boost to science- and technology-based entrepreneurship in Chile. I have the strong impression that they will also become a benchmark for the Latin American region,” adds the former development and innovation manager of agribusiness multinational Chiquita Global Transaction Center (GTC) in San José, Costa Rica, one of the five countries where Karadima has lived and worked (along with the United States, El Salvador, Great Britain and, of course, Chile).
Andrés Zahler
Andrés Zahler, senior consultant in Innovation and Competitiveness at the World Bank and Director of the School of Business Engineering at the Universidad Diego Portales (UDP), joins as alternate Director.
“For me, it is an opportunity to get to know the epicenter of cutting-edge technology transfer in Chile, beyond my experience of how these policies are designed and conceived: how they operate and where the bottlenecks are in one of the hardest areas to achieve results in science, technology and innovation policy, in Chile and in any country,” says Andrés, former head of the Innovation Division at the Ministry of Economy.
Regarding his contribution to the board, the business engineer from the Universidad Católica de Chile, who holds a PhD in public policy from Harvard University (United States), believes his experience and knowledge can “provide a perspective from the role of the State, the private sector and civil society toward greater innovativeness in the productive sector and a stronger university-industry connection. And, in light of the challenges facing Know Hub and the hubs in general, also contribute to their valorization.”
Andrés adds that “Know Hub has been effectively bringing cutting-edge research closer to the possibility of turning it into real products, filling this technology development gap, which is very hard to close in countries like Chile. I believe Know Hub is making a serious contribution in that space through science- and technology-based entrepreneurship.”
Naturally, he also acknowledges that “there is still much to be done.” “There is enormous room for concrete impact. So Know Hub needs to be given time to achieve results. That is why it is important for this public policy on hubs, which is still being developed, to allow the necessary time and space, because these are slow processes,” says Andrés, a lover of stamp collecting and growing tomatoes.
“We are very pleased to welcome Jorge and Andrés to the board. Both have tremendous experience and incredible CVs, but most importantly, they come from very different backgrounds. That broadens our institution’s vision at a key moment, as we are on the verge of beginning a second stage in which, of course, we want to keep contributing successful technology transfer cases and making significant contributions to the ecosystem and the country,” said Javier Ramírez, Executive Director of Know Hub Chile.
Know Hub Chile’s board has nine members, six of whom come from its partner institutions (nine in total) and three of whom are independent directors linked to industry and to the definition of science, technology, innovation and society (CTIS) public policy.
Know Hub Chile thanks Ramón Molina, who served as a director of the corporation for almost three years, between 2018 and 2021, as well as a mentor for the Know Hub Ignition program. We wish him every success in his role as Executive Director of the Centro de Innovación UC Anacleto Angelini, a position in which he has already shown his usual leadership.
We also deeply thank his alternate, Víctor Pérez, Director of Minería Verde (Alta Ley), Executive Director of ASDIT Chile (a national and international consortium for the management and development of the Chilean Clean Technology Institute, ITL) and former senior executive at Codelco. Víctor will continue to collaborate with the corporation as a mentor for Know Hub Ignition.
Want to meet Know Hub Chile’s team and board? Click here.
