UC Davis Chile Life Sciences Innovation Center and Chilean Partners Awarded ANID Center of National Interest
$6.9 Million, Five-Year Award will Advance Sustainable Agri-Food Systems
The University of California, Davis, Chile Life Sciences Innovation Center, together with leading Chilean universities, has been awarded funding from Chile’s National Agency for Research and Development (ANID) to establish the Center for Advancing Agri-Food System Transformation (CA₂FST). The center has been designated a Center of National Interest and will receive approximately $6.9 million for an initial five-year period, with the possibility of a subsequent five-year extension.
CA₂FST is led by Universidad Andrés Bello as the primary institution, with Universidad de Talca and the UC Davis Chile Life Sciences Innovation Center participating as co-applicants. Additional partners include Universidad de Chile and Universidad de La Frontera. Ariel Orellana, a professor at Universidad Andrés Bello, will direct the center. Roughly one quarter of the annual funding will support UC Davis Chile Life Sciences Innovation Center activities, enabling research collaboration, faculty and student exchanges, technology transfer, and engagement with public and private stakeholders in Chile.
CA₂FST aims to advance resilient, sustainable and inclusive agri-food systems in Chile by integrating research, innovation and policy engagement. The center will address major challenges facing agriculture and food systems, including climate change, food security, resource sustainability, and rural development.
Building on Long-Standing UC Davis-Chile Partnerships
This new center further expands the UC Davis Chile Life Sciences Innovation Center's broad research portfolio, which includes work on air quality, the impacts of wildfire smoke on grapes and wine, pest management, and the development of biological control products. Since its establishment in 2015, the UC Davis Chile Life Sciences Innovation Center has served as a platform to promote collaborative research between UC Davis and public and private partners in Chile, supporting science-based solutions with direct relevance to national and regional priorities. It also builds on a longstanding relationship between UC Davis and Chilean agriculture, rooted in decades of collaboration.
“UC Davis has a long history of working alongside Chilean partners to advance agriculture through science,” said Dario Cantù, professor at UC Davis and executive director of the UC Davis Chile Life Sciences Innovation Center. “This award allows us to deepen those relationships and to focus them on the systemic challenges facing agri-food systems today, from climate resilience to sustainability and equitable innovation.”
Looking ahead, CA₂FST will strengthen long-term institutional partnerships between UC Davis and Chile, create new opportunities for joint research and training and enhance the translation of scientific knowledge into practice and policy. Through this initiative, UC Davis continues to deepen its global engagement and leadership in agriculture, sustainability and food systems innovation.
Media Resources
- Dario Cantù, UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology, 530-752-2929, [email protected]
- Ali Loge, UC Davis Global Affairs, 530-204-8865, [email protected]