On the Santiago Campus, the UV delivered a georeferenced promotion platform “ConectArte”

The tool will be at the service of the artisans of San Miguel, a commune in which the capital’s headquarters of the institution is located.
With the participation of the multidisciplinary team that worked on the project, representatives of artisan groups and officials from the Municipality of San Miguel, the University of Valparaíso officially delivered the georeferenced promotion platform “ConectArte San Miguel” (www.conectartesanmiguel.cl ), in an activity that took place on the Santiago Campus. It is worth mentioning that this initiative was part of the Innovarte contest: “Creative Arts-Technology” (UVA Project 20993).

The delegation that traveled from Valparaíso was made up of Fabiola Jeldes, from the School of International Business, who was awarded the initiative, along with academic Álvaro Huirimilla, from Design, and Vicente Reyes, a fifth-year student of Civil Computer Engineering at the UV. Design student Catalina Otazo and Professor of Civil Computer Engineering Alonso Inostrosa also worked on the project.

On behalf of the Municipality of San Miguel, Víctor Ramírez, coordinator of the Productive Development Department; Diego Norero, a professional in the same area, and Eduardo Sandoval, a web designer from the Communications unit. Solange Araya, Artesam delegate; Verónica León, president of the Vicaría Sur Solidarity Economy Network; Geraldine Guerrero, president of Artesanos de San Miguel; Belén Céspedes, treasurer of Artesanas Creciendo Unidas (ACU) and Luz María Meneses, president of Suyay Emprende. The host of the meeting was the director of the Santiago Campus, Valeria Scapini.

“This geolocation technological platform gives artisans visibility so that they can present their products, be in contact with their potential clients and generate networks among themselves”, highlighted Professor Fabiola Jeldes. The professor added that “one of the strengths that allowed us to be awarded the project is that it was a multidisciplinary team, that is, we worked together with the School of International Business with professors and students of Design from the Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering Informatics of the Faculty of Engineering and with the permanent help and participation of the director of the Santiago Campus”. In the process of generating the content for the site, TIPE students of Commercial Engineering from the Santiago Campus also participated.

In the opinion of the director Valeria Scapini, “this technology transfer project allows us to consolidate our collaborative work with the Municipality of San Miguel and, on this occasion, benefiting the group of artisans of the commune.”

The coordinator of the Department of Productive Development of the municipality emphasized that “it is an extremely interesting and useful project. Allows you to show results of joint work. The contribution of the University of Valparaíso is tremendously valuable not only for the artisans, but also for the own work carried out by the commune in the area of ​​promotion and employability. It is a good platform, a solution to the digitization of entrepreneurship”.

Make the ventures visible

Luz María Meneses, president of Suyay Emprende, acknowledged that “we were very anxious to learn about the project. We had already taken our photo, the students had come to visit us, so we wanted to know how it would turn out. Now that they have called us to see the platform, I think that for me and my partners it is something very good, satisfying and beautiful. Because we are going to be able to make ourselves a little more visible with respect to what we do.”

Belén Céspedes, from ACU, maintained that “in general it seems to me an excellent idea. I am extremely grateful personally as a resident of San Miguel and very happy. More than anything, it is the showcase that we need as entrepreneurs to make our work visible”.

Solange Araya, from Artesam, expressed that “it is a very good tool that can be used to great advantage, especially for our members who do not deal much with technology. This is very important for them, since they do not manage social networks and on this platform they can give visibility to their business”.

The georeferenced platform is easy to navigate and you can see not only different products by category, but also learn about the history of effort behind each entrepreneur.