Decree No 1528. Provide legal status and approve the rules of “Fundación Chile”

Last updated: 12 December 2023

In 1976, following the National Plan for the Scientific and Technology Development, Decree No 1528 was signed to legally create a new foundation called Fundación Chile. It is a non-profit and independent organisation aiming to carry out and promote scientific and technological research and innovation in different economic sectors.

Today, the foundation works as a public-private partnership promoting Chilean’s transformation towards sustainable development. It has supported different Chilean productive sectors, such as aquaculture, agribusiness, solar energy and mining.

Regarding mining, although Fundación Chile began to implement initiatives in this sector in 1998, it was in 2005 when the foundation started to play a key role. In that year, Minera Escondida joined Fundación Chile as a new partner. This new partnership allowed Fundación Chile to expand the scale of its innovation projects.

Some of the relevant Fundación Chile’s mining initiatives are (i) the creation of the Mining Skills Council, a coordination group to address the challenges of human capital in mining (2010); and (ii) the World Class Suppliers Program (2013). This project aimed to develop a model of open innovation in mining, articulating the demand and supply of technologies and services intensive in knowledge and technology. This initiative was updated with a new program called Expande.

In particular, the Expande Program undertakes the following:

  • Carries out prospection of the technological solutions’ supply and demand;
  • Articulates and promotes the generation of collaboration networks with innovation ecosystems at a national and international level;
  • Fosters the exchange, scaling, and technological transfer;
  • Transfers knowledge and tools to the ecosystem; and
  • Supports suppliers with innovation projects’ portfolios to enable the development of an industry of goods and services focusing on mining with export potential.

Want to know more about this policy ? Learn more (Spanish)