The Chilean Navy’s Desafío Avante: the unexpected startup seedbed born around shipbuilding

THE CHILEAN NAVY’S DESAFÍO AVANTE:

THE UNEXPECTED STARTUP SEEDBED BORN AROUND SHIPBUILDING

Since 2020, the Navy has invited science- and technology-based startups to solve some of the problems identified by the institution, with the aim of turning these ventures into sophisticated suppliers to the defense sector.

The strategic decision to build ships in Chile, set out in the Plan Nacional Continuo de Construcción Naval (National Continuous Shipbuilding Plan), has ended up generating a promising ripple effect for the innovation ecosystem.

Source: El Mercurio

The strategic decision to build ships in Chile, set out in the Plan Nacional Continuo de Construcción Naval (National Continuous Shipbuilding Plan), has ended up generating a promising ripple effect for the innovation ecosystem.

“The intention is for us to be able to build all the ships the country needs so that the Navy can do its job efficiently,” says Vice Admiral Ramiro Navajas, Director of Personnel of the Chilean Navy (Armada de Chile). As a result, construction is now underway on the first icebreaker built in the Southwestern Pacific, and two multipurpose vessels will be built over the next 12 years.

Since these ships incorporate cutting-edge technology, the Navy expects these systems to be developed in Chile. To this end, since 2020 it has been promoting Desafío Avante, an open innovation competition to solve problems identified by the institution, with the aim of turning participating startups into sophisticated suppliers to the defense sector and the civilian market.

The third edition (Avante 3) has just been launched and places a strong emphasis on data management to achieve two goals: improving preventive medicine processes and providing Navy ships with a low-cost, easy-to-operate capability for advanced observation and identification of “contacts” (visual confirmation), whether on land or at sea.

Javier Ramírez, executive director of Know Hub Chile (the Navy’s partner in this activity), highlights that the initiative shows the institution’s intention not only to improve its own capabilities “but also to become an engine of industrial, scientific and technological development for the country.” He adds that interest in this challenge is high: “For a startup, the opportunity to access a potential client of the Navy’s size and strategic importance is extremely attractive.”

Some 40 teams are expected to apply, of which five will be chosen by a jury to receive funding to develop their minimum viable product. In the end, two winners will be selected, who will receive a total of CLP 90 million to implement a six-month work plan, scale up and bring the technology closer to its market.

In the first edition of Avante, the winning project was Acústica Marina, a vessel detection system using hydroacoustic technology with real-time data processing to optimize inspection operations for smaller vessels on the country’s northern coast. The second call was won by JackSol, a predictive and prescriptive maintenance platform for engineering systems. Both later won funding from the Startup Ciencia program, have continued to advance and consolidate their technologies, and are already starting to scale their solutions to other countries. Three other startups that went through Avante were also recognized: Innercore (formerly IA Grafimar), Streltech and Calmly.

“I invite everyone who is eager to take on innovation challenges, who enjoys a challenge, to read the rules of this new competition at www.innovapolinav.cl, sign up and participate,” says Navajas, one of the pioneers of Desafío Avante when he was director of the Navy’s Programs, Research and Development Directorate.