Varinka Farren

Economist and MBA from Clarion University of Pennsylvania with over 20 years of experience in innovation, technology transfer, university-industry linkage, and science-based entrepreneurship — a trajectory that has established her as a pioneer in the commercialization of research in Chile and one of the country's most recognized leaders in the development of science and technology-based companies and in bridging the gap between academia and the productive sector. Her professional career began in May 2005 at Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) in the United States, where she served as Commercial Manager for Latin America across operations in Houston, Charleston, and New York, managing strategic relationships and driving regional commercial development for one of the world's largest container shipping lines, a role that built the cross-sectoral and negotiation capabilities she would later deploy across the innovation ecosystem. Returning to Chile in 2009, she joined Corfo's Comité Innova Chile as a Technical Project Executive, where she evaluated innovation projects technically and financially and supported beneficiaries in the implementation of public subsidy instruments, before moving in 2010 to Empresas Andrómaco, where over three years she co-created FarmaInnova — Chile's first private pharmaceutical business accelerator — and led public and private fundraising while assessing technological feasibility and risk across a portfolio of R&D and innovation projects. She then joined Universidad de Chile, where she created and consolidated the university's Technology Transfer Unit: over four years as Head of the Unit, she executed 45 technology transfers to companies, developed business models associated with R&D projects, advised science-based companies formed from the university's intellectual property, and built strategic linkages with national and international industry partners. She subsequently led the installation and operations of Chile's center for the Sustainable Minerals Institute of the University of Queensland, defining its strategic lines and governance model, negotiating intellectual property contracts, achieving the center's first technology license in Chile, and managing alliances with universities, R&D centers, industry, and the public sector. In 2018 she was appointed Executive Director of Hub APTA, a technology hub whose mandate is to convert R&D outputs from universities and research centers into commercially viable ventures: in that role she has designed and implemented the hub's operational model and strategic programs — including APTA Builder — driven the transfer and commercialization of technologies nationally and internationally, structured commercial agreements with international companies, built and led a multidisciplinary team oriented toward technology transfer and science-based entrepreneurship, and positioned APTA as a national and international reference in deep tech and knowledge commercialization. In parallel, she served as independent director of LANEK SpA, a medical device company, supporting its growth strategy and positioning in the health sector. Her board and institutional roles span Chile's full innovation ecosystem: she is International Board Advisor at IngenIA, Advisory Board Member at Village Capital (a U.S. impact investment fund), President of INAPI's Civil Society Council, founding President of Women Board Up (an association of directors of science-based companies), Advisor to Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, professor at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Member of the Innovation Committee at Diario Financiero, member of the EIVA (Valparaíso Ecosystem) advisory committee, and participant in Chile's Senate AI Public Policy Working Group; she serves as expert evaluator for AVONNI, Chile's National Innovation Prize, and has been mentor and juror for Forbes, the IDB, and the Pacific Alliance. She holds the RTTP — Registered Technology Transfer Professional — designation from the Association of University Technology Managers. Her professional recognition spans multiple cycles: named Technological Manager of Chile by Corfo in 2016, included among the 200 leaderships in innovation in Chile by El Mercurio in 2023, recognized as one of the 50 Mujeres Genias 2024 in the Vanguardia y Creatividad category, honored with the Espíritu Café de Innovación — Memoria Mauricio Russo award in 2024, included in the Santander W50 2026 ranking, and recognized by Her Global Impact 2026 as Catalizadora de Impacto Ciencia y Tecnología —together reflecting more than twenty years of sustained work at the intersection of science, industry, and public policy in Chile.