Corfo has played since its founding by President Pedro Aguirre Cerda a serious role in the productive development of the country. It can be said that as a Corfo institution it has been the practical arm of productive promotion – industrial and technological – that the State of Chile has promoted for key sectors of the country and with full collaboration of the national private sector.
It is worth noting as one of the central milestones of recent times, the Start-Up Chile program, an initiative that is already to be completed by a decade of experience. This program is not only known globally where directly and indirectly it has had an impact, but has also been awarded many international awards in world-class business and technology entrepreneurship forums.
In this note we focus two particularly significant points on the role of Start-Up Chile and its contributions to new business development in the countries where it radiates, and especially in Chile.
The literature in the field of Economic Development accumulates conceptual and solid empirical advances on the process of taking risks in investments, entrepreneurship and technological advances in the field of business and jobs.
From the work of the concept of Big Push by Eminences of the tenor of W. Rostow and P Rosenstein Rodan (MIT) are known for the significance of productive scale issues, diversification of scopes, and critical factors involved in risk-taking by business agents. Precisely because of the issue of externalities involved in each case, by the restrictions of capital markets, and by the relevant long horizons for new investments in the context of countries in motion, is that the nature of cooperative and facilitating associativity of agencies such as Corfo in start-Up Chile tenor programs is that a co-supporting social role is fulfilled in the private projects of the case. The riskholder is stimulated and accompanied by the delicate process of designing, planning and covering time-advancing milestones, accompanying the business plan of all creative innovation.
All of this is an undoubted contribution, both productive and social, to society.
Start-Up Chile figures support systematic progress – never free of difficulties – in achieving support for projects of interest that are embedded in the cluster economy, service provision, application and development of applied technologies to better serve consumers and base producers.
Some illustrative figures that mark this progress for the period 1990-2020.
Measured until 2018, Start-Up Chile’s portfolio has directly meant the creation of some 15,000 productive jobs. And the financial capital that has risen so far on the international global scene already totals about $33 million accumulated. Gender leadership in the entrepreneurs benefited also shows – year after year – a high incidence in favor of women-led projects. That’s another important benefit.
Finally, there is one element in the economic basis of What Corfo did in this, with the following figure: for every dollar of support resources provided by Corfo in Start-Up Chile, the final value of capital raised by private investors in the market for this multiplied by 17.3 times. The projects have been relevant, and the market interest has been consistent.
The Corfo is in the midst of a new and upcoming design of the Growth program. This is a new initiative very complementary to the one discussed here. One that advances beyond the early stages, focused on supporting and accompanying some of the subsequent phases (management, accesses) of the numerous programs that are advancing in materiality through the pipeline.
We believe that this new line of Corfo will make those projects supported by Start-Up Chile that intend to scale its operations over time even more complementary, viable, and profitable. Particularly those that contribute to raising the technical qualifications of work and jobs.
In this way, CORFO remains true to its dual role of productive promotion and social development in Chile.
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