With a Reflection on Leadership, UC Innovation Center Celebrated 10 Years

With the motto "10 years orchestrating innovation in Chile", the UC Anacleto Angelini Innovation Center celebrated its tenth anniversary in a big way, in its building on the San Joaquin Campus, the largest campus of the UC Chile in Santiago of Chile.

The event, which was attended by the Minister of Science, Aisén Etcheverry, and the Minister of Transportation, Juan Carlos Muñoz, as well as the Executive Vice President of Corfo, José Miguel Benavente, and the businessman Roberto Angelini, was a reaffirmation of the ambition with which this project was born.

"There have been years of great effort and a lot of work that have borne fruit and that have inspired, connected and orchestrated innovation not only in Chile, but also in Latin America," President of UC Chile, Ignacio Sánchez, stated in his speech.

In addition, he stated that the center has worked with more than 500 companies and has supported almost 35 thousand entrepreneurs from 14 countries, through programs such as Brain Chile, Jump Chile, Discovery-A and Incuba UC, alliances with institutional centers and building continuous work networks at the national and international level to be able to learn more and better.

Along those same lines, the Minister of Science Aisén Etcheverry recalled that, at the time, there was "the idea that it was a high-risk project and many questioned whether we really needed something like that. What has been done here is to demonstrate that when we incorporate science, technology and knowledge into our work, what is achieved is progress towards development."

The authority, in particular, valued how the center has channeled the innovation needs of many companies. and how it has been a protagonist in the development of companies as varied as Micromundo, Polimorfes, an innovative board game, Fintual, a technology company that allows people to organize people's savings and Tika, a revolutionary snack company in Chile. In fact, the center itself was possible thanks to the commitment of the private world and, especially, of the Angelini family -a renowned Chilean business consortium- who arrived in a van for the anniversary.

In his speech, Roberto Angelini, president of Empresas Copec -a company that distributes fuel in Chile- emphasized the vision behind this support. "Innovation cannot exist without a long-term vision, he said, adding that such a project does not seek immediate results”.

"There have been years of great effort and a lot of work that have borne fruit and that have inspired, connected and orchestrated innovation not only in Chile, but also in Latin America," President of UC Chile, Ignacio Sánchez, stated 

Looking forward, President Ignacio Sánchez acknowledged that "we need to think about the growth of the Innovation Center. The house was too small for us, mainly due to the number of ideas, projects and desire to interact."

That leadership when it comes to "orchestrating innovation" in the country that is at the core of the center's ambition was reflected in the fact that that the main talk of the event was given by the conductor and business consultant Itay Talgam, author of "The Ignorant Maestro."

His presentation focused on what leadership is required to carry out tasks as complex as achieving dozens of musicians to collaborate to perform a symphony. He started by covering the different leadership styles exercised by conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Richard Strauss, Nathalie Stutzmann, Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein and Carlos Kleiber.

Some are more severe, others more attached to the score, others who have to guess what they think, others who emphasize professionalism, others who care more about the purpose and others who manage to value people, while correcting errors and recognize those who exceed their expectations.

"I want them to stay with a central idea.They saw different types of orchestra conductors and were able to see how each one does their job, understanding that those who allow the music and the abilities of their musicians to flow better transport us to better states of sensitivity," Talgam indicated in closing.

And that last condition, that of a leadership that manages to promote excellence among people without telling them what to do or nullifying the individual vision, he highlighted, are the keys needed to lead processes as complex as promoting innovation in a country.

In light of this celebration, the implicit challenge assumed by the center on this anniversary seems even more ambitious than the one it signed when opening its doors in 2014.