Opening remarks

Chile’s Leap: Transforming Natural Wealth into Global Innovation and Sustainable Solutions

At Web Summit Lisbon 2025, discussions covered technology and public policy, including cybersecurity, AI, smart cities, and human rights. Mr. Gabriel Guggisberg, Director of ProChile in Spain & Portugal, shared Chile’s innovation journey, built on openness, trade, and collaboration.

Chile, an export-driven economy, transforms natural wealth into human progress. Exporting involves sharing knowledge, talent, and fostering innovation ecosystems. This positions Chile as a dynamic global player, continuously seeking new development avenues.

Chile faces challenges in differentiated growth, scaling solutions, and creating collaborative platforms for new industrial clusters, especially those addressing climate change. The nation developed a new vision, linking innovation with sustainability to become a crucial global partner.

Mr. Guggisberg outlined Chile’s mission: evolve its economy from raw material exporter to a global solutions contributor. For 50 years, ProChile led this transformation, shifting focus from natural resources to high-value technology and services, collaborating with academia, private sector, and entrepreneurs.

Chile’s mining industry, a major hub for copper and lithium, exemplifies this shift. Instead of exporting commodities, Chile leverages mining as a platform for exportable services. This includes expertise in remote operation, predictive maintenance, and decarbonization, now exported to Canada, Australia, Peru, and Argentina.

Public transit offers another success story. Santiago deployed its first electric bus in 2014. By 2025, collaboratively, the city achieved over 4,000 electric buses, the largest fleet outside China. This led to the development and export of services in route optimization, battery management, and user experience for electric fleets.

As a major agro-producer, Chile innovated significantly. The country developed solutions for water optimization and reducing carbon footprints in agriculture. This ensures Chile not only feeds the world but does so sustainably, utilizing advanced science and technology to enhance its global food supply position.

Furthermore, Chile is expanding beyond traditional sectors like wine and salmon into cultural innovation. The nation now exports animation, music, and gaming. This demonstrates a mindset focused on exporting creativity rather than commodities, leveraging its human capital and artistic talent internationally.

By 2024, Chile’s exports surpassed $100 billion, making it the first Latin American country in export per capita, despite its 18 million population. This success underscores the nation’s shift to exporting high-value services, technology, creativity, and sustainability, reflecting that for Chile, exporting means human progress.