Technological Center for Circular Economy of the Northern Macrozone of Chile
On June 3, 2019, Corfo launched the call for the creation of a Circular Economy Technology Center for the Northern Macrozone. In the call, the CEUC together with the UC Innovation Center actively participated in coordinating the representation of the UC in the technical work groups that were developed for the preparation of the final proposal, in which a consortium made up of 11 entities, plus another 21 associated institutions that participate in the project. Finally, in October 2019, the call was awarded to the consortium led by the Innovation Center for the Circular Economy (CIEC) of the Tarapacá Region.
The consortium is made up of the Center for Innovation for the Circular Economy (CIEC), Arturo Prat University, Antofagasta University, Atacama University, Northern Catholic University, University of Chile, University of Santiago, University of Tarapacá, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile , HUB APTA and KNOW HUB, who must constitute a non-profit legal entity in order to receive the contributions.
For the creation of this center, the first circular economy in South America, US$21.5 million will be available over 10 years, of which US$10 million corresponds to the agreement signed between Corfo and Albemarle, and the rest is contributed by the Regional Government, private sector, universities, and centers, among others.
The objective of the center will be to advance in the development and commercial scaling of companies and potential new technological ventures, oriented to the generation of new business models and industrial production under the concepts of Circular Economy. It seeks to promote areas related to solar energy, salts and lithium batteries, energy storage, and metallic and non-metallic mining.
