Favorite Circular Economy Competition run in the driest desert in the world – Chile

Tarapacá Circular® is an idea competition run by the Center for Innovation and Circular Economy (CIEC) and Tarapacá Labs. The organisations are launching the first call for open circular innovation focused on individuals with an idea or project that falls into the circular economy framework and attempts to solve existing challenges within the region. 

The Center for Innovation and Circular Economy – CIEC was founded in December 2016 in Iquique, Chile being the first center of its kind in Latin America. Tarapacá Labs is a company which specialises in the prototyping of ideas and concepts to bring them to reality. They provide with mentorship through workshops and incubation of ideas and startups.

The competition seeks ideas to transform the Tarapacá region – right in the driest desert in the world, the Atacama desert (Chile) – into a benchmark for circular economy.

The Atacama desert is a place where resources are extremely scarce and valuable. Undoubtedly, the region is a perfect demonstration of the potential of the circular economy framework. CIEC will coordinate the development of the contest, jointly with Tarapacá Labs, who aim to redirect the industrial sector in the region towards a circular model. The idea competition deadline and timings are:

• 14 Sep 2017: Applications close

• 27 Sep 2017: Demo day

• 4 Oct 2017: Awards Ceremony

• 9 Oct 2017: 3 teams that win will enter the Incubation Stage

While incubated, the startups will develop their prototypes under the mentorship of both CIEC and Tarapacá Labs during 3 months, from early October to the end of December 2017. The Circular Economy Club (CEC) is highly supportive of the initiative and will communicate the winners efforts on driving the transformation of Tarapacá in a more circular region.

More information via CIEC and in the Competition Guidelines (Spanish version).