The Challenges of UC Davis Chile 

The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the way in which work is configured in its different areas. Priorities have changed, relationship with others have changed, international physical mobility has become severely affected. However, this has also encouraged us to improve international cooperation and communication effectiveness.

UC Davis Chile Life Sciences Innovation Center, has not been unaware of this "evolution". The pandemic has allowed us to focus our efforts on the creation of greater and better links between the productive and the social needs of Chile and the capabilities and the experience available in California.

UC Davis Chile has strengthened the work in extension, seeing it as a fundamental tool for the delivery of capabilities to the country and at the same time generating a long term link between the requirements of the industry and the potential solutions from academia.

In the same way, from the experience of UC Davis and its relationship with the environment, we have made available capacities in matters of circular economy and management of water resources, particularly with a view to future environmental, economic and social sustainability.

The drought that has affected our country is similar, if not identical, to that which California in the United States faced. According to UC Davis experts, the sectors that suffer the least from droughts are almost always those that have prepared themselves to face them. California's agriculture, like Chile's, faces great risks due to its dependence on water use. However, strategies based on quality scientific information and effective public-private organization have managed to considerably reduce damages.

Ecosystems are vulnerable to water restrictions, but also to the effects of waste and losses from our productive activity. In this area, we have taken as an opportunity to work with technologies and management to promote a Circular Economy. On the one hand, reducing loss, the efficient use of resources, including water, on the other hand, the valorization of different "wastes" or, better called by-products, at different levels ranging from the most basic, use of biomass as energy, to the generation of high value products.

As always, these challenges needs a collaborative work between the academia, the public sector and industry. For this purpose UC Davis Chile continues working on sharing the experience, successes and mistakes that California can provide.