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A modern office building on the outskirts of Viña del Mar may seem an unlikely place to find a world-leading research center, but it is here, on the sixth floor, that a dozen US and Chilean scientists, engineers and industrial designers are developing products that could improve the quality of life for millions around the globe.

The Chilean Advanced Innovation Center (CAIC), or Centro de Innovación Avanzada, was founded in mid-2010 by a Chilean entrepreneur, Alfredo Zolezzi, and his American partner, Traver Gruen-Kennedy, with the aim of harnessing US scientific knowledge to produce innovative solutions to global problems.

It all started in early 2010 when President Obama cancelled the NASA space exploration program, which left a large pool of underemployed scientists in Florida. Gruen-Kennedy, who is CEO of the US firm Molecular Power Systems, went to the White House and pitched the idea for a joint US-Chilean innovation center. He was well received and President Obama offered subsidies to build it in Florida, but Zolezzi insisted Chile would be the best location.

“Chile is a modern, stable country where the institutions and laws work,” says Zolezzi. “It also has good telecommunications and professionals, so it’s the perfect platform.”

Zolezzi’s idea was to bring leading US scientists to Chile and put them to work with Chilean engineers, applying their wealth of knowledge to problems in other areas.

“I wanted to take science developed by NASA for the future and apply it to products today to solve problems from the past,” he explains.

So far CAIC has developed four technologies with commercial and humanitarian applications. The most advanced of these is the Plasma Water Sanitation System, a water purification system currently being tested in a shantytown near Santiago.

Developed in partnership with the NGO Un Techo Para Chile, the device consists of a 23-cm long tube with a 5-cm diameter, which creates an electrical field that kills bacteria in water passing through the tube. It can process up to seven liters a minute at a cost of less than US$0.05 a liter and could be the solution for small towns and villages all over Latin America that lack clean drinking water.

“Drinking water is a huge problem worldwide, but my idea is to show that technology can help in the fight against poverty,” he says.

The technology also has medical and military applications in the United States, for example it could be used to protect water supplies in hospitals and other buildings from bacterial contamination or bioterrorism. However, by first testing it in Chile, CAIC has shown potential investors that the water purifier is functional, efficient and flexible.

“In general, centers of innovation consume a lot of capital and take a long time to show results, but we want to change this model,” says Zolezzi.

Other CAIC products include a small wind turbine capable of generating electricity for households and an energy-efficient motor.

According to Zolezzi, one major advantage of working in Chile is that the time to market for new products can be drastically reduced. “We don’t just test these products in laboratory, but on an industrial scale,” he explains.

Research and development that may take years and billions of dollars for a corporation in the United States, can take just a few months. This is partly due to less red tape in Chile but also to the small size of the market and the quality of local professionals, says Zolezzi.

Once a product like the Plasma water purifier is successfully tested, CAIC plans to market it in the United States through an agreement with its US partner, Florida-based Advanced Magnetic Lab.

“We can produce and distribute it on a global scale from the US with multiple applications including humanitarian ones,” says Zolezzi.

This should create employment in the United States while leaving CAIC with the distribution rights in Latin America. “We are using the ingenuity of Chileans and access to the US market, if it works it will generate benefits in both countries,” he says.

Zolezzi, who spends his time commuting to and from Santiago, explains that the advantage of being in Viña del Mar, apart from the sea breeze, is the high density of universities in the coastal city which provide a steady supply of talented graduates.

CAIC has not received any financial support from the US or Chilean governments, although Zolezzi hopes this changes in the future, and has so far been financed out of his own pocket. This means he is careful not to waste money developing products that do not have an existing market.

Unlike university research centers in Chile, CAIC only develops products once the demand has been established. “We decide where to focus our efforts and don’t develop anything that does not have a market,” points out Zolezzi.

For example, CAIC is working with an Asian firm to develop a new type of high performance biofuel. “Once it is tested and showcased in Chile there is nothing else to do, a whole industry is waiting.”

It also helps that the international community has a good impression of Chile. “There is the idea things can be done here and I want to prove that is so,” says Zolezzi.

CAIC plans to keep rolling out more products like the water purifier with high impact potential, but according to Zolezzi the Center’s greatest impact could be on the way universities and other institutions in Chile conduct research and development.

“My idea is that people will talk about applied innovation in Chile before and after CAIC,” he says.

Julian Dowling is Editor of bUSiness CHILE