Chile is Latin America’s country with the most inventions per capita

2 June, 2014 / News

Crystal Lagoons and VIH treatment, among the most patented.

Between 2009 and 2013, chilean innovation patents presented on an international level grew a 163%, totaling 142. Although the number is below Brazil’s 657 patents and Mexico’s 233, Chile beats those countries in terms per capita.

For a patent to become internationally known, it must fulfill three essential requisites: It must not exist anywhere else I the world, it doesn’t have to be obvious and it has to have an industrial application. In the case of Chilean patents, Inapi (Chile’s National Institute for Industrial Property) states that there is no specific way to calculate which patents will be more successful than others, but according to their studies there are 30 chilean inventions which have been published in more than 10 countries.

Inside this select group there’s Fernando Fischmann’s Crystal Lagoons, which have been patented in about 60 countries, an artificial photosynthesis system, the extraction of the androgra weed to treat self immune diseases such as AIDS or certain types of diabetes, and a procedure to leach copper oxide without the use of sulphuric acid.

According to Álvaro Ossa, Innovation Director at PUC (Chile’s Catholic University), the number of patents presented by a country per year are a vital indicator, but it doesn’t necessarily reflect a country’s innovation level. “It’s important to distinguish they are a means, though not an end”, he says.

On the other side, Felipe Pascual, commercial director for Crystal Lagoons in Latin America, says that even when Chile has moved forward regarding innovation and the subject is set on the public agenda, one of the main differences with the U.S resides at a cultural level. “In the United States, common people know that if they have an invention, they patent it and commercially develop it, it can turn into a successful business. In Chile, on the other hand, that’s not a part of the national cultural, and the concept is reduced to very small sectors of society, aware of the potential of innovations”, he explains.

Crystal Lagoons Corp. is an international innovation company, founded by scientist Fernando Fischmann, that has developed and patented technology that allows for the low-cost construction and maintenance of unlimited size bodies of water in crystal-clear condition.

Source