Five technological ventures are awarded the “CATA Emprende” fund

Applied research progresses with funding.

The Center for Astrophysics and Related Technologies (CATA) held the Pitch Day of the CATA Emprende Fund, an initiative of the Technology Transfer Unit (UTT) that seeks to promote the development and application of new technologies in various industries. During the activity, the teams presented their projects to a jury composed of representatives of public and private institutions, who evaluated the impact and viability of their proposals.

For Elise Servajean, General Manager of CATA, this first version marks an important milestone in the support that the Center provides to entrepreneurs. “We are very pleased to inaugurate the first version of CATA Emprende, a program that marks the beginning of a more direct path towards innovation and entrepreneurship in areas such as astronomy and geophysics. We hope that this will be the first of many editions and that we will continue to strengthen the connection between our engineers and industry,” he said.

Following the jury’s deliberation, five teams were awarded seed funding for their ventures.

The selected projects were:

1. PiezoPulse: Technology based on piezoelectric transducers that captures and transforms the wasted energy of industrial vibrations into electricity, storing it in batteries for low consumption applications. Created by Isabel Fuentes (Astronomer) and Vicente Montecinos (Electronic Civil Engineering), both from the Universidad de Concepción (UdeC).

2. TELG: 5G standalone mobile system based on O-RAN architecture, which reduces technology deployment costs and already has an MVP that reaches speeds of up to 120 Mbps and coverage of 80 meters. Developed by Gonzalo Maureira, Civil Electrical Engineer and Master in Engineering Sciences from the University of Chile.

3. SONICALI: Ultrasonic system designed to eliminate the Caligus rogercresseyi parasite in salmon farming without affecting other species. The team is led by Jean Philippe Fuentes (Software and Computer Engineering), together with chemical civil engineers Pablo Landerretche and Sergio Urzúa, from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

4. VNAstro: Service for characterization and verification of radio components for telecommunications companies and radio telescopes, in order to monitor their correct operation, especially in equipment with years of use. Developed by Juan Francisco Torrejón, Diego Gallardo and Franco Curotto, masters in Electrical Engineering and members of the Millimeter Wave Laboratory of the University of Chile.

5. PUDU Communication: Laser optical satellite communication technology for high speed and secure data transmission. Project led by Matías Marambio (Astronomer) and Antonia Dunford (Physics and Mechanical Civil Engineering), both from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

After the presentations, Santiago Prat, from the Technology Transfer Unit, pointed out that these initiatives allow the application of astrophysical science and technology in technological innovation-intensive ventures. “We are happy to celebrate the Pitch Day of the first generation and we want to thank all the teams that have participated in CATA Emprende 2025, a program that supports and encourages talent to develop innovative solutions based strongly on research and development (R&D). We want to build a synergistic community between entrepreneurs, engineers, astronomers and young visionaries, fostering collaboration in areas such as astrophysics, astroengineering, telecommunications, satellite industry for the generation of products and services intensive in frontier technology”.

Evaluation Commission

During the activity, the initiatives were evaluated by a jury composed of representatives from recognized institutions of the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, including Javiera Gómez, Technical Executive at CORFO’s Innovation Management; Angélica Valenzuela, R&D advisor and Executive Director of RedGT; Alejandro Pantoja, Executive Director of Open Beauchef; Francisca Lema, Head of Plans at the Navy’s Center for Technological Innovation (CITA) and Jennifer Araya, Applied Research Coordinator at Agrosuper.

After evaluating the presentations, the jury decided to award funding to the five ventures, allowing each team to continue advancing in the development and application of their technologies.

Santiago Prat thanked the evaluation committee for “believing in this initiative and for contributing their vision and experience. In addition, this fund not only pays for each proposal, but also provides training in business topics, formalization, intellectual property, capital raising and commercialization, and they are also rewarded with their entry into OpenBeauchef’s incubation programs, opening up opportunities to receive financing, mentoring and innovation and entrepreneurship subsidies”, he said.