In the context of his visit to the city of Temuco the Minister of Economy, Pablo Longueira, pointed out that "we are not only making an effort to improve the productivity of the country, but also we are investing in science and technology.  We have legislation before Congress to extend tax income for research and development. We wish to invest in this area because we believe that the only way that a small country like ours can compete in the world is with more science and technology and research and development. In this sense, there are many instruments for developing research centers in Chile and tax breaks to encourage more investment in this area".

Minister Longueira indicated that an example of the investment being made "is the program encouraging the establishment of centers for applied research in the country with the participation of firms like the German company Fraunhofer. This is a program for 10 centers that we wish to install in country and there is great interest overseas in participating. This first center will be established in the coming weeks. The government of Chile has put 20 million dollars and the investors in international centers will put another 30 million, and there are already three agreements with regional universities in the country".

The Minister added, "There are 15 applicants for the 10 positions that we are establishing. Consequently, investment in science and technology in the country is really extraordinary and there is much interest that these centers of applied science and technology use Chile as a platform for Latin America".