Pablo Terrazas, Corfo vice president: "Today, being sustainable is a duty ..."

"The economic model is not an end in itself but a tool that we must know how to use to solve Chile's problems"

The executive vice president of the Production Promotion Corporation (Corfo) talks about the role that the circular economy will have on the road to sustainable development. "To advance in this matter, continuous innovation is needed, and as Corfo we have several tools that encourage the creation of a virtuous ecosystem," he says. As a declaration of principles, Pablo Terrazas declares that: “The economic model is not an end in itself but a tool that we must know how to use to solve Chile's problems. In this sense, what we are doing with the circular economy is to use a model of economic development for the benefit of the environment. We have no doubt that in our role of promoting the economy and diversifying the productive matrix, sustainable development is a priority ”, he stresses.

In terms of sustainable development, one aspect that is having importance in Chile is the circular economy, mainly through the REP Law and the Pact for Plastics. Corfo has played an active role in this, both in the training of professionals and in the financing of projects.

How will you continue to work in this area, and why is it so important?

  • This will be one of the great challenges this year. Clearly, the gap is important, in terms of the added value that we are generating in relation to our consumed materials. Chile has signed numerous regional trade agreements, most of which contain environmental provisions of some kind. The agreements signed with Canada, the United States and the European Union have strict environmental requirements, which places greater demands on exports.
    Given the above, we must support this transition from a linear to a circular model if we want to achieve sustainable development in the country. To do this, we have three lines of action to continue positioning sustainable innovation and the circular economy within Chilean companies.
    The first one is related to financing with a sustainable focus, where companies have the opportunity to contract consultancies to identify gaps and opportunities within the framework of this model.
    Secondly, there is the support we provide as Corfo to activate the ecosystem, inviting all relevant actors who want to join the circular economy, with or without experience, to different spreading instances, but generating connection spaces and motivating them to work in set.
    Finally, our beneficiaries increasingly request more knowledge to enhance their business, and in that we must make training tools available, so we must generate packages of innovative training modules related to circular economy, both with our own professionals and with experts in the matter that they manage to transfer the knowledge to everyone who wants to participate in these instances at the national level.

What role do companies have in the change towards sustainable development?

  • Today being sustainable is a must, and all companies, SMEs, startups, have a great role in this journey. To advance in this matter, continuous innovation is needed. As Corfo we have several tools that encourage the creation of a virtuous ecosystem, where we are making it possible to build innovative solutions aligned with the changing needs of society. It is the entrepreneurs, through innovation, who identify solutions to the needs, and as Corfo we support the generation of entrepreneurs, and then their scaling so that the contribution achieves a greater social, economic and environmental impact. Likewise, we encourage the use of the R&D law, which through tax benefits supports companies to innovate and investigate to make their processes more efficient and also sustainable.

What is Corfo's roadmap to promote sustainable development in the future?

  • We are working on an action plan with objectives and goals for 2020 and 2021 that includes multiple initiatives, such as the Circular Economy Center, Electromobility, the Institute of Clean Technologies, the promotion of new forms of energy, such as green hydrogen, among others. As Corfo's Executive Vice President, I have installed sustainable development as an axis of my management and I have seen a great commitment from the officials and a great interest of the society to advance in this direction. Today more than ever, sustainable development is a duty more than an option.

"Innovation is key to moving from a linear to a circular model, but so is the role of SMEs and startups in the implementation of these projects. Clearly, it is the latter that can support and identify the environmental impacts caused throughout the life cycle of the product and / or process or service within companies, and visualize these negative externalities as a business opportunity ”, he concludes.

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