Although the serious restrictions of travelling at global level and the health regulations due to Covid-19 have impacted on the realisation of large face-to-face events, it has not prevented them from being held, even more given the need to reactivate commercial relations in the world to face the economic effects of the global crisis. In fact, many of these events have been activated virtually in order to give companies a unique opportunity to access the European market, generate collaboration agreements, find partners for commercial and technological projects or simply generate alliances for the transfer of know-how.

And in this scenario, today Eurochile is co-organiser of several Virtual Brokerage Events that seek to support and promote the development of commercial and technological collaborations between Chile and Europe. These platforms are integrated by different partners of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) and Eurochile, the only partner and contact point in Chile for this network, is inviting all Chilean companies to join these initiatives, being these exclusive opportunities to access the European market.

“Eurochile participates every year in fairs and business conferences. The difference this year is that all the face-to-face events became virtually. For us this has been very positive, because we have had much more participation of Chilean companies in these activities since they do not have to travel or leave their companies. Many of the companies have had to reinvent themselves, so these virtual meetings have been a unique opportunity for companies”, explains Manuela Caruz, Director of Networks at Eurochile.

This phenomenon of “virtualisation” of events, she adds, has allowed many people to connect from home, favoring those who in previous years could not travel due to time, agendas or resources, which has increased the number of national participants. “This year, the events have been very relevant in all sectors. We have more than 140 Chilean companies participating. That is very positive”, she says.

This new normality, explains Manuela Caruz, is showing that it is no longer necessary to travel in order to interact with European counterparts. “To participate in a virtual meeting, you can do it in a practical and easy way from your home. For companies they are very good opportunities. Obviously, you do not see immediately the results of the meetings held in these events,  but rather in the long term. But we already know of some entities that participated in virtual meetings that had their first contact and are in deeper conversations for the development of projects and technology transfers”.

12 major events, accompanied by Eurochile

Far from decreasing, the pandemic crisis that has occurred worldwide has meant a greater interest and boost on the part of the European organisations to organise this type of event, changing the face-to-face activities to a virtual format. Today, the platforms that Eurochile is co-organising are aimed at different sectors, including wind energy, recyclable materials in food packaging, smart cities, circular economy and agri-food, Covid-19, environment, apple production and calls of the Green Deal.

The large number of events in which Eurochile is participating in the last part of the year, explains Manuela Caruz, is related to the permanent role of the Foundation of acting as a bridge between Chile and Europe, to support companies in their internationalisation processes, commercial and technological links and making our networks available to companies to achieve their objective.

“The Business Cooperation team is constantly monitoring and looking for initiatives and opportunities that can favor and support companies. Now, with the health situation we are living in, we believe that these virtual meetings are truly unique opportunities to find partners for collaboration and knowledge exchange”, she explains.

Of the 12 meetings that Eurochile is co-organising jointly with organisations from the EEN network, some have just concluded and others are the process, but most of them are scheduled for the third quarter.

Among those that have already concluded are Food Connections 2020 (17,22 and 24 September) from Belgium, dedicated to agriculture and food; Match2Pack2020 (September 21-25) from Germany, dedicated to recyclable materials in food packaging; and PIC (Plan Inter Cluster), which was carried out in June.

For the remainder of the year, the Meet in Italy for life science 2021 (September 15, 2020 – May 14, 2021) is scheduled, a virtual meeting dedicated to the entire value chain of life sciences, from research to business and development, manufacturing, distribution, supply chain, regulatory affairs, professional and consulting services and investment.

In October, the Sustainability and Circular Economy for Food Technology event (October 8-10) will take place, which seeks to support international cooperation between SMEs, Clusters, Research and Technology Centers and Universities on sustainability and circular economy in the agri- food sector. Between the 13th and 14th of the same month, the Horizon 2020 Virtual Brokerage Event on the European Green Deal Call will be held, an event that will present the calls of the European Green Deal, the ideas and expectations of the European Commission, while offering an experience of unique international networking to expand networks of contacts and generate alliances through meetings.

The following month there will be two events: between November 17 and 18 – Smart City Live 2020 Brokerage Event- the traditional event focused on smart cities and new technologies that this time is held in virtual format. It will focus on success stories in the face of Covid-19 and how it has impacted and redefined the new normal for citizens, as well as the visions to face post-pandemic challenges. Later, Interpomma (19-20) will be held, an event dedicated to the apple from the production, cultivation, processing of the product to its distribution.

Finally, December will open with the Green Days Pollutec 2020 (December 1-4) in Lyon,  event that offers a wide range of activities, such as bilateral meetings and meetings with experts for companies to boost their businesses and find international opportunities in the environment, energy and circular economy sectors. On those same dates (3-4 December) the WindEnergyMatch 2020 will be held, which offers companies and research centers along the value chain of the wind industry a platform to generate high-value contacts and identify new aspects of possible international collaborations.

To this are added two virtual encounters that have been running for some months and that remain open until December: Innovation in Environment & Energy & Circular Economy (May 30-December 31), a virtual meeting whose main themes are the circular economy, waste and recycling, renewable energy, water and energy efficiency; and Care & Industry together against Corona (March 30 – December 31), a platform that seeks to bring together available offers with the needs that emerge in the fight against the pandemic, share different knowledge and approaches, and provide a vision of personalized support to challenges of each region, bringing together the different actors that work in this matter both in Europe and outside it.

All these events, with the exception of Interpomma, are free of charge for participants. The registration process in them requires completing a concise and clear profile in English of the company, what type of partner you are looking for and indicate your offer or demand.

“It is important to mention that if the participant does not complete the profile upload process, they will not appear on the platform and they will not be able to participate. All profiles are reviewed and validated by Eurochile with the aim of complying with the standards and criteria requested by the platforms. Once this process is completed, the participant receives an email confirming their participation”, explains Manuela Caruz.

For more information, contact mcaruz@eurochile.cl or www.eurochile.cl