Production Development Corporation (Corvo) has announced the names of directors for the Coquimbo, Valparaíso, Metropolitana, La Araucanía and Los Lagos regions. This first appointment includes two women and three men, in keeping with this government’s gender parity seal.
These new authorities will be responsible for promoting, from their regions, the three main tasks that Corfu anticipates for the 2022-2026 period, namely: promoting the financing of MSMEs and start-ups; Laying the foundations for a new industrial policy. It promotes productive promotion and an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation, all of this, with a focus on sustainability, gender equality and mainly on regional development.
The Executive Vice President of Corfu, José Miguel Benavente, emphasized that they are women and men of high technical standing and knowledge of the regions that will allow them to contribute to local development and interact with actors, in particular the regional government, the private sector, academia and especially civil society. “Corfu’s commitment is to advance decentralization and it is the regions that decide how to promote entrepreneurship, innovation and productive development based on challenges, opportunities, desires and development strategies,” he said.
Corfo is present in 16 regions in Chile through its 13 regional directorates and regional productive development commissions in Antofagasta, Biobio and Los Ríos, which have a board of directors and a process for appointing their own powers. Appointments in these three committees and the remaining areas are still being implemented and will be announced soon.
The authorities in the Greater South are:
La Araucania – Nora Barrientos Cardenas: She is an agronomist from the Catholic University of Valparaíso, with a master’s degree in social sciences, listed in Regional Development. She worked for CONADI (1997-2006), was Director of Corfo Araucanía (2006-2008) and Mayor of the same region in the two terms of former President Michelle Bachelet’s government (2008-2010 / 2017-2018)
The Lakes – Gabriel Perez Gonzalez: He is an Engineer in Molecular Biotechnology from the University of Chile, a Postgraduate Diploma in Biosciences Project from the University of Auckland in New Zealand and an MSc in Biotechnology and Enterprise from the University of Manchester in the UK. He has experience in innovation, entrepreneurship, technology transfer and public policy. Previously he worked as a Director of Technology at the University of Los Lagos, as a High-Tech Technology Executive for Corfo InnovaChile, and as a Tourism Entrepreneur.
He emphasized that “the main challenge and responsibility of the CORFO Los Lagos Regional Directorate is to lead the decentralization processes promoted by the government. For this we will look at the challenges and opportunities that our lands and our social culture offer to create value through innovation and entrepreneurship. This is in the process of promoting a new development paradigm, More inclusive and respectful of both the environment and people.
For the new Regional Director of Corfo Los Lagos, “Corfo’s primary mission in the region is to create value through research, development and innovation (R+D+i), and this has led me to play roles in public policy, technology management and entrepreneurship, promoting initiatives with Allocation of public and private resources.These have focused on technological development, technology-based and traditional entrepreneurship.Therefore, by utilizing my experience and knowledge in science and business, I can be a relevant actor in the formation of the essential skills required to carry out research, development, innovation, and entrepreneurship. and public policy projects,” he explained.
Photography: Corfu