Partnership Between U.S. and Chilean Leaders to Enhance Private Sector Collaboration

ATLANTA—The presidents of two private-sector competitiveness groups – the U.S. Council on Competitiveness and Fundación Chile – signed a Memorandum of Understanding today that sets a cooperative agenda to drive productivity and prosperity for the United States and Chile. The agreement will focus on bringing together CEOs to tackle the transformational changes facing the world.

The signing of the agreement coincided with the Americas Competitiveness Forum in Atlanta, a meeting of government ministers and private sector leaders from the Western Hemisphere sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“Creating a vibrant innovation ecosystem between the U.S. and Chile is essential to each country’s productivity and prosperity,” said Deborah L. Wince-Smith, president of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness. “This agreement will strengthen ties between U.S. and Chile by building the public-private sector partnerships essential to flourishing economies.”

Fundación Chile and the Council of Competitiveness each have track records of forging productive public-private partnerships that support innovation. The Council on Competitiveness pushed innovation to the public policy forefront through its National Innovation Initiative. The Council’s work also served as the basis for President George W. Bush’s American Competitiveness Initiative and several pieces of legislation that have generated bi-partisan support in Congress.

Fundación Chile has helped transform Chile’s economy by incubating new businesses and introducing new technologies. Fundación Chile’s work has addressed issues including telecommunication, IT, sustainable forestry, child nutrition and aquaculture.

“Accessing talent, knowledge and networks from one of the leading and most innovative countries in the world, such as the United States, is critical for Chile’s global competitiveness,” said Marcos Kulka, president of Fundación Chile. “Innovation and new technologies are driving today’s global growth, which is why this agreement is important.”

The organizations will plan a U.S.-Chile Innovation Conference for Santiago in 2008 to advance the partnerships envisioned in the agreement. The conference will engage a mix of prominent U.S. and Chilean CEOs, university presidents, senior government officials, scientists and researchers. It will be modeled on a U.S.-Brazil Innovation Summit that will be convened by the Council on Competitiveness next month in Brasilia. During the last several years, the Council on Competitiveness convened similar bilateral gatherings, including the U.S.-EU Innovation Summit at The Hague and the U.S.-Japan Innovation Dialogue at the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan.