Know Hub Ignition 04, Know Hub Chile’s acceleration program for science and technology startups, which in its fourth edition has the collaboration of Mexico’s Tec de Monterrey, is accepting applications from May 29 to July 16. Teams can apply in two categories, general and dual innovation, and USD 140,000 will be shared among the winners.
Consolidating a knowledge-based economy is a challenge for many countries in Latin America. How can it be achieved? The answer lies largely in increasing the number and national and international reach of technology businesses based on the research and development (R&D) results generated by universities and research centers.
In Chile, that is the mission of Know Hub Chile, created in 2018 by the Corporación de Fomento de la Producción, Corfo. Through various initiatives, and especially since 2019 with the Know Hub Ignition program, it accelerates the early and global growth of science-based startups (EBCTs).
More than 140 teams have taken part in Know Hub Ignition. Developed by Know Hub Chile, now in its fourth edition and with a call open to all of Latin America, it has the collaboration of Mexico’s Tec de Monterrey, the support of Chile’s National Research and Development Agency, ANID, and Lockheed Martin as partner company. The program runs in a hybrid format for teams from Chile and fully online for teams from the rest of Latin America.
Javier Ramírez, executive director of Know Hub Chile, says that “across its different editions, Know Hub Ignition has proven to be an effective tool for turning science into innovation; in this new edition, in addition to Chile, we will use that knowledge, experience and network to expand our search to Colombia and Mexico.”
Silvia Mora, associate director of Outreach, Market Strategy and Fund Management at Tec de Monterrey, stresses that joining the Know Hub Ignition 04 program is very important, “because with this training, through our mentors, we will be able to identify and guide Latin American entrepreneurial talent so they can create their EBCTs and connect with the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in Mexico and our EBCTec-Bridge softlanding program.”
A Latin American call
The program will share USD 140,000 among the winning teams and has two categories. The first covers all areas of science and technology, such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics, software, synthetic biology, sensors and space technologies, among others. The second focuses on dual innovation, understood as the process through which science and technology act as a bridge between the defense world and the civilian world, creating value in both contexts.
Launched in 2019, its first edition partnered with the University of California, Riverside, in the United States, and the business accelerator Imagine Lab. The following year it partnered with Cientech, the Regional Technology Transfer Office in the Colombian Caribbean; and in 2023, Lockheed Martin and CircularTec collaborated, with two categories: the first open to all types of EBCTs, and the second with dual innovation and circular economy verticals.
The call, which runs from May 29 to July 16, is open to multidisciplinary teams of entrepreneurs, researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs and other professionals linked to research and development institutions in countries across the region. Each team must have at least two members, and the ability to combine technical and business skills, as well as others relevant to the entrepreneurial challenge, is valued.
Strengthening EBCTs
The initiative strengthens the capabilities of EBCTs through the support of mentors from Chile and Mexico, focusing on the value proposition and customer segment to accelerate their early and global growth. In addition, the three winning teams will have an immersion phase in an ecosystem suited to their target market, business model and technology readiness level, which could be, for example, Mexico, Spain, France or the United States, among others, a destination that will be determined during the program.
Taking part gives EBCTs the chance to move up the Technology Readiness Levels scale, or TRL, that is, to mature their technologies. So says Ariel Crespo, CEO of Elementum, the team that developed a portable modular unit that upcycles plastic waste into an organic liquid, and a winner in the program’s second edition. “Throughout the preparation, one of the main lessons was being able to go from roughly TRL 3, where we had some tests, to TRL 5. And today we are about to move to TRL 6. None of that would have been possible without the program,” he says.
In the case of MOV, a sonar-field sensory band that helps people with visual impairments orient themselves in space and a winner of the second edition, CEO Silvana Herrera says they managed to go from being a university startup to entering the market. They also came to understand early-stage entrepreneurship and how business works in a science-based company, as well as getting to know their users and their needs.
“When we joined we were at TRL 2, and the program helped us advance to TRL 7. We ran validations with elderly people with visual impairments, and it also helped us get to know both the national and international ecosystem. We were in contact with the Spanish National Organization of the Blind (ONCE) and with other institutes for the visually impaired worldwide to validate our device in a safe environment,” says MOV’s CEO.
Gabriel Sanllehi, CEO of Beloop, a circularity analysis software tool that reduces environmental impact through new packaging systems and a 2023 winner, says they were able to pinpoint more precisely the problems they needed to tackle in order to have a faster work plan. “The Customer Discovery process we worked on in Ignition was key to accelerating development from a relatively general prototype to a much more specific product, with which we are now working on our first 10 validations,” he explains.
For Vasco León, commercial lead at Bioproc, an EBCT whose system supports gas and odor decontamination processes through a biological filtration unit with an automatic electrochemical biofilter system and a 2023 winner, taking part allowed them to sharpen the focus of their solution, that is, their customer segment. “We were able to set short- and medium-term goals for our technology packaging and market entry, thanks to the guidance of our national and international mentors. It helped us bring our technology to market, advance to TRL 7 and design more scalable models with more value for our customers,” he says.
Applications for Know Hub Ignition 04 are open until July 16, 2024, on its official website.
