New General Manager takes over institutional leadership of CATA

The Center begins a new phase of management, with Santiago Prat taking over as General Manager and Claudia San Martín as Innovation Leader of the Technology Transfer Unit.

Santiago Prat takes over as the new General Manager of the Center for Astrophysics and Associated Technologies – CATA (ANID Basal Center), after being officially confirmed in the position following his tenure as interim general manager. He thus takes over leadership of the Center from Elise Servajean, who held this position from 2022 until October 2025.

Santiago Prat is a lawyer and holds a Master’s degree in Law from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV). He specializes in intellectual property, innovation, technology transfer, and business management. His career has mainly been in higher education institutions, where he has promoted applied research initiatives, managed portfolios of intangible assets, and led the creation of project and innovation units, as well as the design of institutional models and regulations for research management.

He has also taught and given lectures on intellectual property, innovation, and technology transfer in Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia, as well as participating as a guest speaker in international training programs and specialized seminars on research and innovation management.

Prior to assuming the position of General Manager, he led CATA’s Technology Transfer Unit from July 2023 as Innovation Manager. During this period, he highlighted the implementation of the area’s strategic plan, links with industry, and the allocation of public and private funds for applied research and innovation, which enabled the promotion of a portfolio of 30 technologies with increasing technological maturity.

Alongside this appointment, Claudia San Martín, an astronomer and electrical engineer from the Universidad de Chile, takes on the role of Innovation Leader in charge of the Center’s Technology Transfer Unit. She has experience in technology transfer and astronomical instrumentation, and her work as an engineer at the Center’s Millimeter and Submillimeter Wave Laboratory (MWL) has given her in-depth knowledge of the Center’s capabilities, equipment, people, and institutional initiatives, as well as its technology portfolio, which she monitors closely.

In this role, he has actively contributed to CATA’s links with various companies and organizations, strengthening alliances focused on applied research and technological development. He has also coordinated processes and activities within the Technology Transfer Unit, promoting initiatives, articulating opportunities, and advancing the technological maturity of the institutional portfolio.

He has also taught at Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB) and has academic experience at the Universidad de Chile, contributing to the training of students in areas related to engineering and astronomy. In his new position, his work will seek to strengthen the development of initiatives aimed at transferring technologies from astronomical research to the productive environment and society.