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In recent weeks, through the catchword #FCEorgullosadesusempresas, the Chile-Spain Foundation has been reporting on a series of initiatives by its partner companies, either through solidarity actions or developing innovative programs to manage, investigate or combat the effects of the coronavirus, as well as the expertise of its employers and collaborators.

And in the opinion of its president, Emilio Gilolmo, while the pandemic progresses in Latin America in a very unequal way, there are countries that seem to have managed to establish successful strategies in containing and mitigating the transmission and number of deaths due to COVID- 19. “This is the case of Chile, which, although it has confirmed a large number of infections (14,885 infected), so far reports one of the lowest case fatality rates in the region (216 deaths), according to the Ministry of Health. They took drastic measures very quickly, “he says.

In an interview published on the FCE website, Gilolmo recalls that -thinking about future recovery- Chile is a country open to the world, and has 29 agreements signed with 65 markets, representing 67% of the world population and 88 % of global GDP.

For this reason, he affirms, “it is still very interesting to take advantage of its export capacity, to use the Chilean market as a platform for third countries. Likewise, it is a country that encourages foreign investment which will help to overcome the economic crisis and will continue to be a very attractive place for trade and investment. Furthermore, it should be noted that, among the members of the OECD, Chile is one of the least indebted countries, which offers some space for public indebtedness”.

Today the Chile-Spain Foundation, like many institutions, has had to cancel or postpone meetings it had scheduled, but they are continuing with the programme they had planned for the last quarter. These include the III Chile-Spain Health Forum, to be held in Madrid and which will aim to present the challenges of the health sector in the 21st century and the needs and transformations of the sector that are emerging, both in Chile and in Spain from COVID-19.

“In the times we are living we believe that it is very necessary to create instances where we can share good practices, innovation and success stories between different countries and analyze the important opportunities that are opening up in this sector for companies,” says Gilolmo.

In that sense, he says, opportunities arise from all crises. This was the case in 2008, when after the crisis companies learned to internationalize quickly, finding new markets and businesses.

“In this case, the business opportunities that are emerging from this terrible pandemic are numerous and many companies, as well as entrepreneurs, are developing interesting innovative solutions for both the present and the future that lies ahead. Proof of this is the numerous applications that are being given to copper in Chile with the aim of fighting the coronavirus,” he says.

On the other hand, this crisis offers opportunities in many other sectors such as renewable energy, cybersecurity, technological innovation, and of course, in the health sector, where a window of opportunities opens up.

“In Europe, an alliance for a green recovery to the current crisis has been launched. These movements will be key for us to emerge from this crisis as environmentally more sustainable and ecological societies. We hope that the boom in investments in renewable energies, sustainable supply chains and circular economy will continue, many of which were presented at COP 25, which took place in Madrid under the presidency of Chile, which is at the forefront of the fight against climate change ”, says Emilio Gilolmo.

Opinion column of José Aravena, Executive Director of  Eurochile Foundation.

It is obvious that in the whole world the exit from the crisis will necessarily involve important investments of resources, both public and private, and therefore it becomes very relevant to discuss then the type of investments that should be made to -effectively- transform this painful crisis into a bad memory, having made it an excellent opportunity to promote policies designed to strengthen the country’s social and productive structure.

Europe and the United States have already begun this interesting reflection regarding the way the countries should get out of the crisis generated by Covid-19. And one of the images that is used mostly is that this, as well as the necessary and powerful reactivation plan that will need to be implemented to get the countries back on track, is an opportunity not only to recover what was lost in employment, product and income, but it is the right time to think of plans that make them stronger, more productive and better prepared for the future shocks that will inevitably reproduce.

This debate is not surprising, it is what has normally happened after great economic or social cataclysms. In the United States, the great depression of 1929 gave rise to the New Deal proposed by President Roosevelt, which – with a medium and long-term perspective – included a powerful economic chapter, with measures as relevant as the enormous electrification program, which helped and helps until today to substantially improve the productivity of that country; and an equivalent social chapter, the Works Progress Administration, which employed and trained millions of unemployed workers.

For its part, Europe, devastated by the Second World War, emerged from the crisis with two major constructions: the Welfare State, which ensured its citizens unprecedented social coverage in pre-war European society; and the common market for coal and steel, which subsequently evolved in the European Community until reaching what we know today as the European Union. Surely neither of these two great initiatives would have borne fruit if the tragedy of World War II had not occurred, which forced the European countries involved to rethink the world in which they wanted to live and the way in which they wanted to rebuild their destiny.

Looking at our country, what could be these great programs for Chile, made with the intention of strengthening growth and well-being of the population in the medium and long term? We can think of at least three macro initiatives.

The first that comes naturally to the spirit is the strengthening of the health system, correctly defining the roles between the public and private sectors, privileging the public system that is where the majority of the population is served. This system requires integrating innovations, training and investments that guarantee its hardiness to face future crises, which indicates that they will be repeated with some frequency in the future. And along with this, ensure adequate responses to the growing demand for better health by the population. The contributions of science, technology, entrepreneurs, industry and workers in the sector must be promoted by specific programs of the different public agencies, which must be directed to gather resources and “intelligence” to give life to the best system of health to which the country can aspire.

Secondly, the importance of the internet has also become very clear in this crisis, which has allowed part of the companies and people to remain operational, remotely accessing their sources of work, studies, information and even entertainment. But this opportunity has not been the same for everyone. The optical fiber that allows a better and faster data transmission is not available for the least favored sectors of the population, nor for a significant segment of small and micro-enterprises.

Today, when talking extensively about digitization and digitizing SMEs, in order to face the “new normal” generated by the pandemic, it is necessary that its natural highway, which is fiber optics, multiply and strengthens so that it arrives with speed and at accessible prices, or even free, to all corners of the country. But only the “road” is not enough. SMEs, neighborhood councils, sports clubs, cooperatives and all kinds of associative figures must be equipped with the basic instruments to perform in this world of information and, above all, must be accompanied by the necessary training so that they can take advantage of the equipment, software and broadband to which they have access.

A high speed internet, present throughout the length and breadth of the territory, will help not only remote work. Above all, it will allow entrepreneurs, small entrepreneurs and the general population to associate to collaborate, train, learn the benefits of digital exchange, innovate, and generate new solutions to solve urgent problems of all kinds, be these from the productive sectors or from the population in general.

Third, a strong agenda of initiatives must be established to tackle and significantly reduce the air pollution present in the main cities of the country. The current crisis has highlighted the dangerous mix that results from a virus like the one that currently attacks the world, with the existing pollution in cities. Evidence is accumulating in the scientific world that pollutant particles floating in the air can become dangerous “virus transport vehicles.” Evidence is also accumulating that people with respiratory conditions exacerbated by pollution have a worse prognosis when facing a COVID-19 infection. Finally, the contamination enhances other respiratory diseases that, added to those of the virus, necessarily lead to the collapse of any health system.

Then, preparing the country to fight any other Covid-19 type virus in the future must consider the frontal fight against air pollution. This fight has several fronts, in all of which the State has an important role to play. Accelerating the decarbonization of the energy matrix is ​​an important first step, which must be accompanied by the electrification of the transportation system, the conversion of household heating to less polluting fuels, and the transformation of industries towards production systems, more efficient in the use of energy and raw materials.

In this fight against pollution, the adoption by companies, cities, consumers and other relevant actors of a circular economy model that allows a better use of productive resources, thus reducing waste and contributing to less emission.

In these three initiatives, the Eurochile Business Foundation has a role to play and a contribution to deliver. Innovations in health, digitization, the fight against pollution and climate change are areas where cooperation with European public and private actors offers a promising future. The collaboration that could be generated from the Chilean reactivation programs and those promoted by the European Union, or some of its member states, could help to enhance the deployment in Chile of the three initiatives previously proposed.

This Chilean-European cooperation space is the field in which the Eurochile Foundation has always operated, and the one we know best. Thus, in 27 years of existence we have promoted countless business contacts between Chilean and European companies, and we have facilitated access to the “know-how” accumulated in both worlds and the transfer of technology between the parties. Towards the future we will develop our best efforts to put all this experience, networks, contacts and access to local and European Union programs at the service of recovery and strengthening of Chilean and European companies and institutions. Thus, we will be contributing our grain of sand to ensure that overcoming this crisis does not only translate into recovering what has been lost, but also transforms Chile into a more integrated, more equal country with better services and quality of life for all.

Vegepolys Valley is a public-private network of companies, research centers and training centers that is deployed in the French regions of Brittany, Pays de la Loire, the Center-Val de Loire, and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, covering all the innovation agriculture value chain in plants, for plants and with plants.

With nearly 500 partners and a global mission to transform itself into an international cluster of plants for agriculture, combining competitiveness with respect for the environment and health, today it is also facing the new challenges that the coronavirus imposes on its daily work, to their communities, and also to the markets.

Yves Gidoin, International Vice President of Vegepolys, says that since March 15, all Vegepolys Valley staff is working remotely, some of them part-time due to school closure. And like what happened in Chile in recent weeks, all physical meetings are postponed or turned into digital events, as happened with the working group for Latin America planned for April 7 and conducted 100% online.

What has happened with the projects carried out by Vegepolys in front of the scenario imposed by Covid-19, how does it work in its continuity?

Vegepolys Valley leads different types of projects from a very local scale to regional scales and finally to a European scale, where we support and follow our members to establish new innovation projects. Of course, in this scenario each situation is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. For the European project, for example, we decided to go ahead even with internationalization tasks, because the Covid-19 is paralyzing many events and nobody can guarantee a return to “normality” before the end of the project. As for our members, we see an increase of ideas and projects, and our team has been working hard since March to prepare and identify the best approach for these potential projects.

What kinds of situations have been the most complex to resolve so far?

First of all, we try to support our members in the best possible way. At the company level, we seek to be an interface to access economic mitigation measures region by region, at the state level and in Europe. Regarding education, we opened a platform for students with a canceled or pending training period, and we proposed to link them with companies with reference or market research, if possible from home. And generally speaking, we hold webinars and prepare new types of remote events to keep in touch. But, without a doubt, for the cluster it is impossible – in this context – to really wait or press for the invoices and membership fees to materialize. This 2020 could be a difficult year for our own budget balance since 50% comes from the members themselves, but our priority is to support them in this difficult period.

How has this crisis affected the world of agriculture in France, especially horticulture?

The situation is very complicated for horticultural producers, especially for flower and plant productions. As we are in spring season, our greenhouses are full of products and the selling points have been closed for four weeks. We had to do a lot of destruction and the losses are enormous, from 50% to 80% depending on the productions. For the other agricultural activities, the situations are variable. But business is generally slow, particularly for exports.

In this crisis scenario, have opportunities arisen in the world of horticulture?

Until now it is difficult to imagine opportunities because there are no shipping possibilities. We will see the consequence of Covid when the crisis ends and the economy recovers.

Are there measures implemented in France that could be applied in the agricultural world in Chile?

It is still difficult to imagine what kind of support we will have. Everyone is asking for financial assistance, and I’m not sure everyone will get enough money to survive.

How do you see the scenario once the health crisis ends and the economy begins to recover?

To limit the impacts of COVID, we have to find a new system of life and relationships for our population, with a chain of solidarity to avoid the social crisis.

What actions is Vegepolys defining for this second phase after COVID-19? And which are the sectors that will need more support and of what type?

It is still too early to risk a conclusion or talk about the post-crisis. Our role will remain to boost innovation, and support the growth and internationalization of our members. Adaptation will be the keyword, and the Covid-19 will likely change our mindset for events or travel.