President Boric participates in opening of Nestlé’s first innovation center in Latin America
The facility is located in Santiago’s Las Condes municipality. It will have a team of 30 professionals and a platform available for start-ups to develop and test disruptive concepts, supported by the multinational’s technological teams.
Nestlé’s first Research and Development Center in Latin America has been presented, located in Santiago’s Las Condes municipality. President Gabriel Boric, Treasury Minister Mario Marcel, Labor Minister Jeannette Jara, Agriculture Minister Esteban Valenzuela, Economy Minister Nicolás Grau, and Science Undersecretary Carolina Gainza attended its unveiling.
This first Nestlé R&D LatAm regional hub will be directed by food engineer Aline Mor, who will lead a team of around 30 people. They will work on developing plant-based products that allow for healthier and more sustainable diets, accessible nutritional solutions and innovations in environmentally-friendly packaging.
President Gabriel Boric stated that this inauguration is great news, as it reinforces the ties that exist between the multinational and Chile, which already extend to 90 years.
“It is a great joy that Nestlé has once again chosen Chile, this time as the headquarters of its first Research and Development Center in Latin America. We are very happy and humbled. Happy, because Chile is always talked about as a great source of natural resources; however, we are much more than that. It is true, we have lithium, copper, tungsten, possible green hydrogen production; but we also have knowledge, innovation, academia, teachers and students who are thinking about how to innovate and make life and industry more sustainable,” the President stated.
He also explained, “productivity has stagnated for nearly ten years, and when we see initiatives like this, it is precisely the path we must follow to boost productivity and take a leap forward. For this reason, we hope to receive much more news like this in the future, where a productive chain is linked and generated, with technology transfer between the different actors in the food chain.”
Accelerator
Another advantage of this center is that it will house “The Accelerator.” It is a world-class platform for start-ups and entrepreneurs, students and Nestlé employees in Latin America to develop and test disruptive concepts in less than six months. It will give them access to Nestlé R+D expertise, collaborative workspaces and small- to medium-scale production teams to facilitate the development and/or improvement of products for a trial launch under real market conditions.
According to Nestlé executives, their regional accelerators in China, India, Sub-Saharan Africa, the United States and soon Chile work with local start-ups and students to develop innovations relevant to their regions. In fact, since 2019, more than 250 participants have benefited from these accelerators, and 90 products have been tested in 20 countries.