The program, run by the Foundation for Agrarian Innovation and Corfo, seeks a potential market of 4,000 million dollars a year. An ambitious program that aims to create a healthier food industry in the country, which has access to a potential export market. of 4,000 million dollars a year, they launched the Foundation for Agrarian Innovation (FIA), the Ministry of Agriculture and Corfo for more than 200 people.
The initiative, in which ProChile, the Choose Living Healthy program, the Office of Agrarian Studies and Policies (Odepa) and the Chilean Food Safety Agency (Achipia) participate as allies, considers the creation of information networks in the fields of technology, markets and regulation, while empowering technology managers and brokers in that area, the organization of face-to-face activities (seminars, talks, meetings, etc.) and the implementation of a virtual platform.
“By promoting the creation of a healthier food supply, agricultural and food entrepreneurs will be able to turn to markets that show an increasingly dynamic demand for this type of product, such as the USA, Europe and Asia”, pointed out the Minister of Agriculture (S), Álvaro Cruzat.
The Healthier Food Innovation Program (PIA+S) was generated after FIA and Corfo discovered the existence of information asymmetry in the local value chain, which prevented the global demand for healthier food from being met, a market that today would exceed USD 100,000 million a year.
“SMEs and entrepreneurs are the business segments that have the greatest opportunities for developing new businesses in this industry. If we want to be a developed country by 2020, we need to add value to our goods, as this program encourages,” said Corfa’s Executive Vice President, Hernán Cheyre.
Therefore, the initiative is aimed both at entrepreneurs with new projects, as well as at small and medium-sized enterprises that want to innovate food, which will be given access to relevant information in the field of new technologies, business, and legal and regulatory aspects. A lower search cost than the current one.
“Through our network of 54 commercial offices around the world, we will support initiatives such as researching international trends, developing specific market profiles for healthy products and positioning campaigns abroad so that our entrepreneurs have more tools to enable them to internationalize their healthy food offering ,” added ProChile’s international deputy director, Carlos Honorato.
The launch – held at the Gabriela Mistral Center (GAM) – was also attended by the director of Achipio, Nuri Gras; deputy director of Odepa José Ignacio Vargas and executive secretary of the Choose Living Healthy program Pauline Kantor.
Network generation
Prior to launch, the Program held a series of meetings with potential beneficiaries in the Metropolitan, Maule and Los Lagos regions, which will be replicated elsewhere in the country.
“The aim of these meetings is to expand the networks of participants – businessmen, entrepreneurs, suppliers, researchers, investment funds, incubators and the public sector – and to support the exchange of information between them, for example, through dynamics that will facilitate networking,” reported the executive director of the FIA Fernando Bass.
In addition, strong community building work was conducted through social media, an effort that resulted in the creation of a community of more than 1,000 entrepreneurs and innovators in healthier food.
