Juan Chaves, autor en Reddi - Conectamos la innovación tecnológica con el mundo empresarial

Xpanz by Reddi: Connecting innovation, talent and opportunities in the Cauca Valley

The most anticipated event in the innovation ecosystem of southwestern Colombia is back! Xpanz by Reddi, in its third edition, promises to be the epicenter where transformative ideas, exceptional talent, and strategic alliances converge to drive the future of the region. Save the date: December 6, 2024, at the Almendros Auditorium of the Pontifical Javeriana University in Cali.

An event to inspire, connect and transform

Xpanz is the space where universities, companies and government entities come together to create synergies that respond to the main challenges of the industry, maximizing the impact of talent and resources in the Cauca Valley.

” Our goal is clear: to bring solutions to the market, strengthen regional competitiveness and consolidate the Valley as a benchmark in Science, Technology and Innovation,” said Juan Manuel Chaves, manager of Reddi Colombia.

Xpanz es el espacio donde universidades, empresas y entidades gubernamentales se reúnen para crear sinergias que respondan a los principales desafíos de la industria, maximizando el impacto del talento y los recursos en el Valle del Cauca.

“Nuestro objetivo es claro: llevar las soluciones al mercado, fortalecer la competitividad regional y consolidar al Valle como un referente en Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación” afirmó Juan Manuel Chaves, gerente de Reddi Colombia.

What you can't miss in this edition:

1. Get inspired by the innovation that's changing the world on Reddit2Impact:

Discover how NotCo, the first Latin American unicorn in the FoodTech sector, is revolutionizing the industry. Its Commercial Director for Colombia, Agustín Londoño, will share his experience and the keys to its global success.

2. Connect with sustainable solutions at the AgriFoodTech Challenge Demo Day:

Be part of the pitch battle between disruptive solvers addressing the most pressing sustainability challenges in agribusiness and food. An initiative of the Valle del Cauca Governorate and NIDO, led by Reddi Colombia and Eatable Adventures.

3. Turn your ideas into reality

The Icesi University Mentoring Network will offer personalized advice to enhance ideas and projects, and turn them into reality.

An open invitation to innovate together

“We invite the academic, business, and government communities to join this space for inspiration, connection, and collaboration. It’s time to transform ideas into actions that generate a real impact,” Chaves added.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to connect with leaders, innovators, and visionaries. Xpanz by Reddi awaits you to write the next chapter of innovation in the Cauca Valley.

Fusióni3 Valle Innovation Voucher: 26 challenges faced by SMEs seek solutions from partner universities

26 new challenges, from 19 MSMEs benefiting from Fusióni3 Valle, were uploaded to the Fusióni360 platform to participate in the Innovation Voucher Invitation, an initiative that will give entrepreneurs access to up to $18,000,000 pesos to generate innovative, new or improved products or services, with the support of the universities allied to Fusióni3 Valle.

This time, universities will have the opportunity to contribute their experience and capabilities to help companies achieve innovative results through the technical and commercial validation of these challenges. This process will be carried out through a paid service model, without the need for alliances, intellectual property agreements, or co-development activities, as is the case in other initiatives.

To participate, universities must apply as solvers of the challenges identified as Voucher Fusióni3 Valle, which are registered on the Fusióni360 platform, before November 25, 2024, the date on which the call will close.

Para participar, las universidades deberán postularse como solucionadores de los retos identificados como Váucher Fusióni3 Valle, que se encuentran registrados en la plataforma Fusióni360, antes del 25 de noviembre de 2024, fecha en la que cerrará la convocatoria.

These are the steps to perform an effective registration:

1. Create a user account at www.fusioni360.voltea.co:

Access the Fusióni360 platform. If you don’t have a registered account, create a new one and link it to the account of the university you’re applying to. Currently, the five universities partnered with the project are already on the platform.

2. Submission of the solution by the universities providing the service:

Select the Challenges option from the main menu and, in Search, type “Váucher Fusióni3 Valle” to filter the participating challenges.

3. Provide a solution:

Once you have reviewed the challenges and selected the one you wish to work on, click the +Contribute a solution button and fill out all the required fields on the form. Additionally, you must attach the corresponding quote in the Documents section.

Among the challenges presented on the platform are commercial validations of new food products, the creation of digital platforms for internal, external and training use for SMEs, and the search for sustainable solutions for sectors such as health, agriculture and ICT.

Eliana Briceño Clavijo, coordinator of Strengthening MSMEs at Fusióni3 Valle, extended the invitation to allied universities to participate.

“ We know that, working hand in hand with universities, we can boost innovation in the SMEs benefiting from Fusióni3 Valle, leveraging and highlighting the capabilities of higher education institutions. Therefore, we encourage them to participate, to learn about the challenges on the platform, and to be part of this new opportunity for collaboration.”

Key dates

November 25, 2024 will be the deadline for submitting solutions.
From November 26 to 29, 2024, the Fusióni3 Valle team will review compliance with the requirements of the challenges submitted by the SMEs.
On December 11, 2024, the challenges that will benefit from the Innovation Voucher will be published.
Between January and February 2025, contracts will be signed with the universities that will provide services for each challenge.
The services will begin to be implemented between February and March 2025 .

Effective Collaboration: Significant Advances in Innovation in Fusióni3 Cauca.

During 2024, three innovation sprints were held in Cauca, where key advances and initial results from the 10 alliances benefiting from the Fusióni3 Cauca Knowledge and Technology Maturation Fund were shared. These meetings allowed companies and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to present their achievements, strengthening ties in joint projects that seek to transform the region’s productive fabric.

In the third sprint, a significant milestone was reached with the presentation of the first prototypes developed by some alliances, reflecting the collaborative effort in creating innovative solutions for strategic sectors.

On November 21st , the fourth connection sprint will take place, with the goal of presenting the progress of each project, highlighting the results achieved, the collaborative experience between researchers and entrepreneurs, and the next steps in each innovation process. This final sprint aims to consolidate the impact of the partnerships, strengthening their role in the growth and competitiveness of SMEs, and contributing to the sustainable development of the Cauca department.

University-Business collaboration as an engine of innovation

Participate in the in-person conference with Efrén Romero Riaño

On November 14th, the Fusióni3 Valle project will hold an in-person conference entitled "University-Business Collaboration: A Perspective from the Analysis and Interpretation of Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) Indicators." The event will feature Efrén Romero Riaño, Executive Director of the Colombian Observatory of Science and Technology, as the keynote speaker.

This forum, aimed at the academic and administrative community of universities partnered with Fusióni3 Valle, is designed to explain how to use STI (Science, Technology, and Innovation) indicators, which assess the progress and impact of innovation in the country, including the results derived from partnerships between academia and the productive sector. Participants are expected to understand how this data can be integrated into their collaborative strategies and activities.

Michael Urbano, coordinator of University Strengthening at Fusióni3 Valle, spoke about the expectations for the project in this talk:

“We hope that conference attendees will learn about the indicators used to measure progress in science, technology, and innovation in our country. These indicators allow us to evaluate progress, challenges, and strengths with the goal of moving toward a knowledge society. It is essential that universities and the productive sector work together to generate knowledge that positively impacts our economies and production systems.”

For his part, speaker Efrén Romero Riaño emphasized the need to promote policies that foster university-industry collaboration. According to the director of the Colombian Observatory of Science and Technology, the existence of clear guidelines that encourage collaboration between these sectors in the regions can be a decisive factor in strengthening this relationship.

He also mentioned the importance of incorporating people motivated by scientific publication into organizations:

“Introducing people with doctorates, for example, or whose knowledge production dynamic is more typical due to the nature of their studies, will surely generate an additional impact that fosters collaboration with academia.”

Invitation to the university community

Fusióni3 Valle extends an invitation to the entire university and administrative community of our partner universities. This is a key moment to strengthen the innovation ecosystem and advance the connection between higher education institutions and businesses in the region.

Those interested can register and confirm their attendance using the provided registration form. We look forward to your valuable participation!

Event details

Date: November 14, 2024
Time: 8:30 am to 10:00 am
Location: Varela Auditorium, Building D, Icesi University
Registration: Registration form

Young people from Fundautónoma discovered the innovative projects of Fusióni3 Valle

Questions related to the functioning of technologies and innovative proposals to add a social focus to innovation projects were some of the comments from the young people who are part of the Fundautónoma Entrepreneurship School, who participated in the presentation of the alliances benefiting from the Fusióni3 Valle Maturation Fund.

In a dynamic afternoon, which took place at the Design Factory of the Pontifical Javeriana University Cali, about 40 students, between 15 and 19 years old, from the communes 13 and 14 of Cali, learned, through videos, the objectives of the ten projects and the expectations of their members, as well as some details about the beginning of their collaborative work.

Subsequently, they had the opportunity to expand their knowledge, guided by the managers of Fusióni3 Valle, and to ask their questions, demonstrating enthusiasm and interest in learning about technological innovation, guided by research professors and entrepreneurs.

“With this space we sought to present the characteristics of our projects, their objectives and work teams, since, in their process of developing technological innovation capabilities, young people will have the opportunity to connect with the project that attracts them the most and get to know it more closely ,” explained Jonathan Sandoval, coordinator of University-SME Connection at Fusióni3 Valle.

According to Claudia Uribe, executive director of the Autonomous Foundation of the West, the presentation of the projects allowed for the recognition of the innovative power of young people and enabled them to focus their personal and educational efforts in areas related to technology-based entrepreneurship.

“With this activity, Fusióni3 Valle gave us the opportunity to break down barriers and stereotypes that we must set aside when we talk about innovation and co-creation processes, because our young people showed their abilities and the potential they have. It was an important event for us, in which we saw them very happy, satisfied, and ready to believe in the great possibilities they have.”

This is how the young participants felt

“The activity with Fusióni3 Valle seemed very interesting and dynamic to me, since they presented each of the projects to us, something very significant because many young people want to try to start a business but don’t dare, and seeing that these people are succeeding can be motivating for everyone,” said Sara Murillo Casas, a student at the Santa Rosa Educational Institution.

“The activity was very special because it showed us how a simple idea can generate profits, help communities, and the environment. For me, it’s important to learn and acquire new skills because with this knowledge I’ll be able to face the working world in the best way possible,” said Alejandro Carvajal Díaz, a student at the San Marcos de León Technical and Commercial College.

What does the Fusióni3 Valle – Fundautónoma alliance consist of?

The Fusióni3 Valle project aims to strengthen the Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) ecosystem from a community perspective. To achieve this, it partnered with the Fundación Autónoma de Occidente, jointly coordinating the involvement of young people from its Entrepreneurship School in innovation processes between higher education institutions and the project’s beneficiary MSMEs.

Additionally, young people will receive guidance to develop knowledge and job skills related to innovation and technology-based entrepreneurship processes.

Reddi joins the Deeptech Colombia Alliance to promote the scientific innovation ecosystem

Reddi, the technology transfer platform in Colombia, has announced its integration into the Deeptech Colombia Alliance, a joint effort that seeks to consolidate the science-based ecosystem in the country.

The Deeptech Alliance brings together a diverse network of key players, including investors, startups, scientists, entrepreneurs, universities, corporations and ecosystem facilitators, with the goal of making a difference in the development of science-based businesses.

By joining this alliance, Reddi reinforces its commitment to technological innovation and the transfer of research results. The Deeptech Colombia Alliance is dedicated to mapping the ecosystem’s stakeholders, creating a detailed report on the sector’s current state, and centralizing the solutions offered by participating actors.

This effort will make the opportunities and advances of the Colombian scientific and technological ecosystem more visible and accessible to those seeking to promote progress and competitiveness in the country.

This alliance is a key step to strengthen Colombia’s capabilities in science, technology and innovation, and to position the country as a leader in the field of science-based business.

Reddi and the Deeptech Alliance will continue to collaborate to create synergies, attract investment, and foster the development of disruptive solutions that address global challenges.

Xpanz by Reddi: Connecting innovation, talent and opportunities in the Cauca Valley

An event to inspire, connect and transform

What you can't miss in this edition:

1. Get inspired by the innovation that's changing the world on Reddit2Impact:

2. Connect with sustainable solutions at the AgriFoodTech Challenge Demo Day:

3. Turn your ideas into reality

An open invitation to innovate together

Fusióni3 Valle Innovation Voucher: 26 challenges faced by SMEs seek solutions from partner universities

These are the steps to perform an effective registration:

1. Create a user account at www.fusioni360.voltea.co:

2. Submission of the solution by the universities providing the service:

3. Provide a solution:

Effective Collaboration: Significant Advances in Innovation in Fusióni3 Cauca.

University-Business collaboration as an engine of innovation

Participate in the in-person conference with Efrén Romero Riaño

Invitation to the university community

Event details

Young people from Fundautónoma discovered the innovative projects of Fusióni3 Valle

This is how the young participants felt

What does the Fusióni3 Valle – Fundautónoma alliance consist of?

Reddi joins the Deeptech Colombia Alliance to promote the scientific innovation ecosystem

Reddi, the technology transfer platform in Colombia, has announced its integration into the Deeptech Colombia Alliance, a joint effort that seeks to consolidate the science-based ecosystem in the country.

For more information about the Deeptech Colombia Alliance