Thriving Against the Odds with Alvaro Ossa

Today’s guest hails from Chile, a country which still has a long way to go in terms of its capacity for technology transfer, but being the home of many world-class scientists, and with people like today’s guest, Alvaro Ossa, leading the charge, the future looks bright.  For over 15 years Alvaro Ossa has combined his creativity with his engineering skills to head-up the R&D effort, IP protection and commercialization of research at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC). Despite a lack of government funding and a technology transfer policy, UC has achieved a number of major successes over the years, some of which you will hear about in today’s episode. Among other valuable knowledge, Alvaro also shares the 6 golden rules for promoting successful technology transfer processes, which are detailed in his book. Alvaro’s passion for advancing the technology transfer ecosystem extends to the whole of Latin America; watch this space!  In This Episode:[00:50] An introduction to today’s guest, Alvaro Ossa. [03:23] Alvaro shares what drew him to the field of technology transfer. [04:26] Some of the characteristics that make Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC) a stand-out educational institution in Chile. [06:17] A broad overview of the economic ecosystem and technology transfer industry in Latin America.  [08:04] How the Chilean government is evolving to support technology transfer, and the work that still needs to be done. [09:45] A major factor which makes partnerships between universities and the private sector challenging, and how UC is working to overcome this. [11:04] How UC supports entrepreneurship. [13:38] The venture capital fund set up by the UC, and what has been achieved through this funding stream. [15:21] Alvaro explains how his office is structured, and how they divide up their work.[16:39] What Alvaro’s office has been able to accomplish over the past year. [18:03] The competition established by UC, and how it has benefited the university’s technology transfer field.[12:12] Six golden rules proposed by Alvaro that promote successful technology transfer processes (which you can read more about in his book, Del laboratorio al mercado, currently available in Spanish).[23:50] The most significant donation that UC has received. [25:11] GeneproDX; what this UC spin-off company does.[27:39] Alvaro shares some of UC’s other technology transfer success stories.[29:06] The focus of Alvaro’s office.  [30:02] How UC is working towards enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion. [31:01] Organizations that Alvaro is a part of, and the value that he sees in them.[32:06] What Alvaro sees as the most important element of the technology transfer process. [32:54] Three wishes that Alvaro has for the technology transfer industry.  Find Alvaro:EmailInstagramTwitter LinkedIn 

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.