Vicerrectoría de Investigación, Innovación y Creación USACH

Name

Vicerrectoría de Investigación, Innovación y Creación USACH

Legal name

Vicerrectoría de Investigación, Innovación y Creación USACH

Website

https://vriic.usach.cl

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Santiago

HQ country

Chile

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. ANID Project Funding: Primary government funding from the National Research and Development Agency (ANID), including Fondecyt, Fondef, InES, and other competitive research grant programs that finance R&D projects, infrastructure, and open science initiatives.
2. Institutional Research Budget: Core institutional funding from Universidad de Santiago de Chile allocated to the Vicerrectoría to support research management, laboratories, strategic projects, and administrative operations.
3. CORFO Funding: Government funding through CORFO for technology development projects, innovation consortia (e.g., Aqua Biotechnology consortium), and entrepreneurial support programs.

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The VRIIC is the central research, innovation, and creation vice-rectory of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, managing scientific research funding, technology transfer, and open science infrastructure. It operates the SIC open access repository and the Research Data Repository (datos.usach.cl), runs the InES Ciencia Abierta strategic project, and delivers research support, IP management, and innovation/entrepreneurship programs through its three directorates (DICYT, DGT, DINEM).

Product overview

VRIIC is the central research management body of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, overseeing scientific research, technological innovation, and creative production. The institutional product portfolio centers on digital knowledge management infrastructure — the Sistema de Información Científica (SIC) repository holding 10,000+ publications since 2011, and the Research Data Repository (datos.usach.cl) built on Dataverse Harvard for FAIR-compliant research data management — complemented by strategic InES projects (Ciencia Abierta, Género, I+D) funded by ANID. Science communication is served through the 'Ciencia Snack' podcast. The three principal directions (DICYT for scientific research, DGT for technological management, DINEM for innovation and entrepreneurship) coordinate across research laboratories, incubated companies, spin-offs, and national/international collaborations. VRIIC also participates in the national Espacio Ciencia platform via ANID for aggregated open-access scientific output.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DICYT - Dirección de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica: Oficina负责科学研究和技术创新的方向
• DGT - Dirección de Gestión Tecnológica
• DINEM - Dirección de Innovación y Emprendimiento

Products and services

• Sistema de Información Científica (SIC) Open access scientific publications and information repository serving USACH researchers and the broader academic community, providing deposit, discovery, and dissemination of scholarly outputs.
• Research Data Repository (datos.usach.cl) Institutional research data repository built on Dataverse, with ORCID and DataCite integration and FAIR data principles, enabling USACH researchers to deposit, describe, and publish datasets with DOIs.
• InES Ciencia Abierta Project Strategic institutional project led by USACH through VRIIC to develop open science capabilities, including repositories, persistent identifiers, FAIR data practices, and researcher training.
• Ciencia Snack Podcast Science communication podcast produced by USACH researchers to disseminate research findings to the general public in accessible formats.
• Despega Usach Innovation and entrepreneurship program run by DINEM at USACH that supports founders, entrepreneurs, and innovators in developing ventures based on university research and talent.
• Patent Prosecution and Technology Licensing Support Service provided by DICYT and DGT to USACH researchers for filing and prosecuting patents under the Andean Patent Decision and Chilean industrial property law, and for licensing resulting technologies to industry.
• AI-based CT Image Reconstruction (Spin-off) Applied AI technology developed at USACH for CT image reconstruction, supported through VRIIC's technology transfer and entrepreneurship pathways as a university spinoff.
• PEGI Gamified Educational Platform (Spin-off) Gamified educational technology platform developed as a USACH spinoff, supported through VRIIC's innovation and entrepreneurship programs.
• Espacio Ciencia (National Platform Integration) USACH's contribution to the national Espacio Ciencia open science platform, exposing university research outputs and supporting public engagement with science.
• Research Funding Management Service (ANID/CORFO Calls) Administrative service that supports USACH researchers in applying for and managing competitive research and innovation grants from ANID and CORFO, including Fondecyt and Fondef lines.

Quantifiable outcome

• Scientific publication growth from 411 (2011) to 1,357 (2025) unique WOS + Scopus publications
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability6 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

21 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• ANID (Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary government funding agency providing competitive research grants (Fondecyt, Fondef, InES programs) and open science policy mandate. VRIIC executes multiple ANID-funded projects including InES Ciencia Abierta (INCAR250006), InES I+D, InES Ciencia + Género, and others. ANID's open access policy requires beneficiaries to deposit manuscripts and research data in open repositories.
• DICYT (Dirección de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica) - USACHcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternal direction within VRIIC responsible for scientific and technological research support, managing research projects and funding allocation for USACH researchers.
• DGT (Dirección de Gestión Tecnológica) - USACHcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternal direction of VRIIC focused on technology management, supporting financial and operational execution of technology projects including the Centro Tecnológico de Innovación en Envases y Embalajes.
• DINEM (Dirección de Innovación y Emprendimiento) - USACHcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternal direction of VRIIC responsible for innovation and entrepreneurship support at USACH, linked to platforms like INNOVO and DESPEGA USACH.
• Laben ChilecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLeading entity of the Centro Tecnológico de Innovación en Envases y Embalajes (ANID Centros Tecnológicos para la Innovación 2025). VRIIC, through DGT, supports financial and operational execution. Five-year project with possible extension, focused on sustainable packaging technologies.
• Universidad del Bío-Bío (UBB)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociated university in the Centro Tecnológico de Innovación en Envases y Embalajes consortium, led by Laben Chile with USACH support. Also co-executor of PEGI educational platform project and Aqua Biotechnology consortium.
• Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana (UTEM)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociated university in the Centro Tecnológico de Innovación en Envases y Embalajes consortium alongside UBB, supporting the five-year ANID-funded packaging technology center project.
• IESED-ChilemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with IESED-Chile coordinated by Dr. Sergio Galdames from USACH Department of Education, aimed at strengthening educational research capabilities.
• Espacio Ciencia PlatformmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational open science platform led by ANID in collaboration with CRUCH, CUP, CINCEL, and LA Referencia. USACH has integrated ~960 publications into the platform through VRIIC's data infrastructure work, contributing to a unified national access point for Chilean scientific output.
• DataCite Chile ConsortiummajorTechnology or IntegrationConsortium led by Universidad de Chile enabling USACH to obtain persistent digital identifiers (DOIs) for research data sets hosted in the institutional Research Data Repository, ensuring Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability (FAIR) compliance.
• LA Referencia (Red Latinoamericana y de España de Ciencia Abierta)majorTechnology or IntegrationLatin American and Spanish open science network that supports interoperability of national repositories, enabling USACH research to reach global audiences through the Espacio Ciencia national node.
• Research Data Alliance (RDA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational organization promoting open data exchange among research communities to address global challenges. USACH participates through InES Ciencia Abierta project and shares experiences with RDA communities.
• Universidad de Los AndesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborating university in the AI-based CT image reconstruction project led by Dr. Violeta Chang, contributing Computer Vision laboratory capabilities alongside USACH's AI Applied Lab.
• Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner university in the PEGI (Plataforma Educativa Gamificada e Inteligente) FONDEF project alongside UBB and USACH, contributing to gamified education development for healthy habits in schools.
• Ictio BiotechnologiesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-executing entity in the CORFO-funded Aqua Biotechnology consortium alongside Centro Biotecnológico Acuícola USACH, developing biological products for sustainable salmon aquaculture.
• New GenesisminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-executing entity in the Aqua Biotechnology consortium contributing to biological product development for the Chilean salmon industry.
• RiolabminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-executing entity in the Aqua Biotechnology consortium working on biotechnology solutions for sustainable aquaculture.
• SLEP Gabriela MistralminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducational service administrator in Metropolitan Region partnering in PEGI FONDEF project, implementing the gamified AI educational platform in schools under its jurisdiction.
• SLEP Punilla CordilleraminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducational service administrator in Ñuble Region partnering in the PEGI FONDEF project for AI-based healthy habits education platform implementation.
• Clínica Santa MaríaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHealthcare institution collaborating with USACH on AI-based CT image reconstruction project; its Association of Radiologists participated in controlled experimentation with low-dose tomography.
• CORFOcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment development agency funding the Aqua Biotechnology consortium through its innovation programs, supporting biotechnology R&D for the aquaculture industry.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Zenodo (CERN): Broad incumbent: free, CERN-hosted research data and publication repository used globally. Comparable as an alternative or complement to VRIIC's institutional Data Repository for Chilean researchers seeking open data deposit.
• Figshare (Digital Science): Broad incumbent: a leading commercial research data and output management platform used by many universities worldwide. Directly comparable to VRIIC's SIC and Research Data Repository in functionality, though delivered as a SaaS product rather than an in-house system.
• Symplectic Elements (Digital Science): Broad incumbent: enterprise research information management system used by top research universities to track publications, grants, and impact. Comparable as the 'CRIS/research office' layer that VRIIC delivers internally through DICYT/SIC.
• OpenAIRE: Broad incumbent: European open science infrastructure providing repository aggregation, DOI assignment, and FAIR compliance services — functionally parallel to what VRIIC delivers at a national level, and a partner via LA Referencia.
• Dataverse (Harvard IQSS): Broad incumbent: the open-source repository platform on which VRIIC's Research Data Repository is built. Comparable as the underlying infrastructure provider for institutional open science data management globally.

Direct peers

• Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Desarrollo - Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile: Direct peer: research management office of Chile's leading private university, also executing ANID InES programs, managing open access repositories, and competing with USACH in national patent and publication rankings (INAPI, ANID).
• Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Postgrado - Universidad de Concepción: Direct peer: the research vice-rectory at UdeC, another major Chilean public university executing similar ANID InES programs and managing comparable open science and technology transfer infrastructure.
• Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Desarrollo - Universidad de Chile: Direct peer: the equivalent research vice-rectory at Chile's other flagship public university, managing ANID funding, open access policy, and institutional repositories on a larger scale. VRIIC's DataCite Chile membership is hosted through U. de Chile, making them direct collaborators and competitors in the same funding pool.

Others

• LA Referencia: Adjacent: Latin American open science aggregation network that VRIIC plugs into through the Espacio Ciencia national node. Not a direct competitor but a strategic partner that amplifies USACH's research visibility across the region.

Regional players

• Dirección de Investigación - Universidad de Concepción / Red Universitaria Nacional: Regional peer: national research funding and policy bodies (ANID, CONICYT) that shape the same competitive grant landscape VRIIC depends on, and with which VRIIC directly interfaces for InES and open access policy compliance.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vriic-usach

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Vicerrectoría de Investigación, Innovación y Creación USACH