Two years passed since we started our collaboration with four universities in Chile: Universidad Cat\u00f3lica del Maule (UCM), Universidad de Talca (UTalca) Universidad de Concepci\u00f3n (UDEC), and Universidad Austral de Chile (UAch). These Universities have a long history and wide expertise in forestry, agriculture, agroforestry systems, and biotechnology. They are ranked among the 20 best universities in the whole country, from a total of 132 universities [1].<\/p>\n
Since 2020, we have worked closely with the Chilean universities. We have developed an online course on bioeconomy and webinars that have covered for example the concept of bio & circular economy and social aspects of PEFC forest certification system. Our last collaboration brought us to Chile in November 2022 for ten days. The experience was excellent, and we learned a lot about Chile’s educational structures, nature, economy and, above all, the bioeconomy.<\/p>\n
We started our visit in Valdivia, capital of \u201cLos R\u00edos\u201d region, where Valdivian temperate rainforests are located. In this area, we realized already the importance of the green bioeconomy (related to forests) for the country when we got to visit the beautiful native forests of the area. The yellow bioeconomy (related to agriculture) was also strong in the area. For example, the cultivation of apple trees was reported to be very popular in the vicinity of Valdivia. After few days we moved towards \u201cB\u00edo B\u00edo\u201d Region where Concepci\u00f3n, the second most populated city of Chile, is situated. In this area plantations of Radiata pine and Eucalyptus have a prominent share in the forest bioeconomy. Our last stop was Talca, the capital city of \u201cEl Maule\u201d region, where UCM and UTalca showed us other dimensions and challenges of bioeconomy. Among other things, we saw vineyards and got acquainted with the Food for future (F4F) in Talca. F4F utilizes black soldier fly to transform organic waste into products for feeding e.g. birds and fish.<\/p>\n