How did Vinnova and TecnoVid come about?

The growth in the chilean wine industry has been extraordinary in recent decades and it now ranks fifth in sales worldwide and second after Australia in export growth. However, the competition on the world market is on the rise, both because new companies from New World countries are entering the business and because of the over-supply and recovery of wineries from European countries that had lost market share.

So, we want to maintain and improve the competitiveness of our industry. And to do so, the only way is by creating a model of sustainable innovation. The merger of enterprises (vineyards/wineries) and universities in a society destined to innovate (R&D+i) and commercialize the results will make it a viable formula. The science-enterprise alliance will be based on the common interest and the benefit will be shared. We must, in order to maintain what we have achieved and grow, innovate not only through more and better products, but also through the way in which we do things.

The result: in 2006, the Vinnova S.A. and Tecnovid S.A. Enterprise Consortium was created, as the merger between the wineries and the most important universities in Chile and supported by Innova Chile (CORFO). Today, thanks to trade unification of all wineries, they are managed jointly as one Consortium, which means that the industry has 24 R&D projects under way. This consolidation was the culmination of more than 10 years of industry effort to foster scientific and technological development in the winemaking sector.