The EU and Chile have concluded an Association Agreement including a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement covering all areas of EU-Chile trade relations.
Chile has a growing cluster community. The Chilean government aims to use the current policy focused on smart specialisation to support several sectors that may also facilitate the creation and development of new clusters. The association Eurochile favours links with Chilean organisations making internationalisation an important priority for Chilean industries.
Economic and political context and framework
Chile has a high-income economy and is considered as one of the fastest growing Latin American economies over the past decade (GDP annual growth rate of 6.5% in 2015). Chile has an open and market-oriented economy with a high level of foreign trade, and growing FDI since 2010, placing it as the second most attractive country in South America.
A Free Trade Agreement covers all the areas of EU-Chile trade relations. The cooperation is also emphasised through dialogues on specific areas with the intention to develop cooperation in 6 new fields (tourism; SME policy; industrial cooperation; cooperation on standardization; raw materials; and ground navigation by satellite and Earth observation) and an EU-Chile Science and Technology Agreement. Cooperation is also continuing in the context of the EU-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) dialogue.Read less.
Cluster community in the country
Chile embraces a growing cluster community mainly in the agri-food, aquaculture and fishing, mining and tourism sectors. Furthermore, the Chilean government aims to use the current policy focused on smart specialisation (see section Cluster Policies) to boost the following additional sectors: advanced manufacturing, creative economy, construction, and health technologies. With the new policy for smart specialisation, some clusters are going to be created in different sectors, such as the mining152 (“Cluster Minero Región Antofagasta”) and solar energy sectors.
Cluster policies encouraging the development and internationalisation of clusters
The current Chilean policy (2014-2018) focusing on the concept of “strategical programmes for smart specialisation” is a cluster policy that supports target sectors and additional “enabling platforms”. The 6 target sectors are agri-food, aquaculture and fishing, mining, building, creative industries and tourism, and there are three additional supported “enabling platforms” that are logistics, smart industries, the solar energy, and health and life sciences. The Chilean cluster policy is supported by the government organisation Corporación de Fomento de la Producción (CORFO). Prochile is the Chilean agency that promotes business internationalisation. The Fundacion Chile implements programmes regarding innovation and entrepreneurship.
Cluster to cluster cooperation opportunities and potential interest from European clusters and SMEs
Internationalisation is an important priority for Chilean industries. The agency Eurochile promotes the internationalisation of Chilean clusters, mainly with the EU.
An EU-CELAC cluster matchmaking event was organised in 2015 by the European Commission. The 9th TCI Latin American Cluster Conference was held in Temuco (Chile) in June 2016, and included a matchmaking event.
There are some cases of C2C collaboration such as a MoU signed between the initiative Feeding the Planet and Eurochile in 2013. In addition, Chile is a target country for the REINA Plus ESCP-4i project in the field of renewable energies.
Several EU business networks and cooperation facilitators have a presence in Chile. Eurochile is, together with CORFO, one of the institutions that promotes cluster policy in Chile and was the Chilean counterpart in the signature of the MoU with the ECCP in 2014. Eurochile is also the local EEN contact point.Read less.
- Capital: Santiago
- Population: 17.6 million (2016)
- Total area: 756 102 km2 (2016)
- Gross domestic product: 400 534 USD (2015) OECD
- GDP per capita: 22 197 USD (2015) OECD
- Currency: Chilean Peso (CLP)
Documentation
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| ECCP_Preparatory briefing_Chile_20190819.pdf | 1.64 MB |
| D3.5 Discussion Paper_Chile_20190822_PUBLIC.pdf | 702.43 KB |
