3IE : Triplica tu potencial

English in 3IE

3IE English Twitter: 3ieandbeyond http://twitter.com/3ieandbeyond

3IE English Blog: 3ieandbeyond http://3ieandbeyond.blogspot.com/

USA Learns: Free on-line program to learn English. Begins very basic and there are many many activities and units. http://usalearns.org/

Live Mocha: Another program to learn English. Has free basic courses and also a chat feature to practice with native speakers. http://www.livemocha.com/

Word Reference: http://wordreference.com/

On-line Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Entrepreneurs & Innovation

Cool Business Ideas: http://www.coolbusinessideas.com/

Young Entrepreneur: http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/blog/

Inc. Small Business and Small Business Information for the Entrepreneur: http://www.inc.com/

LatAm Tech.Biz (Spanish): http://www.latamtech.biz/

First Tuesday Chile: http://www.firsttuesday.cl/index.php

Chilean company measures the reputation of brands on the Internet

Knowing what is being said about a particular brand or company and the impact that a campaign has are some of the data that BrandMetriQ provides. The company is incubated in the 3IE Institute at the Universidad Santa María.

BrandMetriQ professionals use software to monitor more than 70,000 sources of information including means of communication like blogs, social networks, on-line communities, Twitter profiles, and public Facebook groups. They search for mentions of brands, products or services to see the perception of the value of the brand that users of these networks generate spontaneously. Then they provide a quantitative and qualitative feedback report using a graphic interface.

BrandMetriQ´s system not only tracks information sources, but also classifies and orders them depending on the type of medium in which they were performed. This generates a hypersegmentation of the different channels.

One of the main advantages of the system is that it first analyzes the feeling of approval or rejection for each of the comments, using the same system to later assign a value to each of these comments about the brand. This is done by a group of experts in digital communication and strategies to ensure the quality of the interpretation, aligning themselves completely to the corporative strategies of each client.

In doing so, it is possible to anticipate a threat, improve contact with unsatisfied clients, measure the effectiveness of a communication strategy or detect suitable channels to make advertizing decisions, among others.

The quality and innovation of the system and the method of analysis were key for BrandMetriQ to be incubated by the 3IE Institute at the Universidad Santa María. With their impressive development of a powerful business plan, the company was chosen as a finalist in the Desafío Intel Chile 2009. There they had an outstanding presentation in the international competition.

About BrandMetriQ

BrandMetriQ was created in 2008 from the idea of a group of engineers and journalists who identified the need to measure the impact that Internet social communities have on companies and people.

BrandMetriQ has a multidisciplinary team of professionals composed of Pedro Maceratta, Jorge Gálvez, and Guillermo Bustamente. They are divided into three strategic areas. First, the management area is in charge of directing and managing the business. The second area, technology, constantly develops and improves BrandMetriQ´s system. The third area is communication and analysis, which analyzes and interprets the data provided by the system.

For more information, visit www.brandmetriq.com

Pisani, innovative support for architectural rehabilitation

The service provided by Pisani aims to restore and add value to buildings and houses with patrimonial value and similar structures. They do this through the design and use of new molding technologies and polymer materials to reconstruct ornamentals as an alternative for “architectural rehabilitation”.

Thanks to flexible polymer molds, architectural elements such as balusters, volutes, columns, pilasters, chapiters, cornices, rosettes, gargoyles, etc can all be reproduced with the same reliability. Also, it has many advantages over other materials because it is lightweight, durable, low cost, and can be shaped into any form and finish.

Currently in the market, this task is generally done by stonemasons or plasterers who plaster the cracks without solving the problem at the root. In most cases the solutions are not very effective and do not hold up over time.

Unlike the competition, Pisani is able to recreate any type of form (including original patrimonial works) and obtain a perfect structure because there isn´t a clash between the flexible and rigid structures.

With the objective of reestablishing the artistic, architectural and historical unity of the structure, constructive criteria is proposed based on molds taken from the deteriorating ornamentals themselves or ones identical to them. Then these molds are used to construct new pieces with ultra-light materials. Once the replicas are constructed, additives are applied for protection and then the appropriate finish is put on according to the coating obtained in the laboratory tests. This coating is identical to the original in the case of mimetic/esthetic restoration or slightly different, keeping consistent with the characteristics and differentiations that international restoration criteria impose in the case of archeological restoration.

Gustavo Orellana, Project Manager of Pisani Restorations (official name Restauraciones Pisani in Spanish) and his team observed the daily risk that the population suffers from the deterioration of buildings so they decided to work on this problem and do something about it. “We aspire to take a new step in maintenance construction for architectural rehabilitation, adjusting the constructive mode to the reality of the region we are in. This area is constantly being damaged by tremors and earthquakes that make the installation of elements in tall structures a delicate process”, explained the entrepreneur.

In short, the idea of the Pisani entrepreneurs is “to be an alternative for architectural rehabilitation, specifically prepared to face the seismic reality of Chile without putting the patrimonial value of each city off to the side” Orellana said.

www.restauracionespisani.cl

Software that allows people to quickly organize lists of music wins Desafío Intel in Chile

A group of university students decided to create a music player to organize music quickly and effortlessly. Today, we listen to music while we travel, while we work, when practicing sports or spending time with friends. This makes it necessary to organize our music, but it is not an easy process with the applications currently in the market.

Voxound was created with this in mind. Voxound (http://www.voxound.com) is a free music player compatible with Windows that allows users to tag songs using multiple criteria. It is an effective storage tool that assimilates the music that the user wants to listen to at a certain time or situation.

They are the winners of the Desafío Intel 2009, a competition organized in Chile by Intel®, a global leader in technology and the 3IE Institute of the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María.

The Desafío Intel is a competition that promotes entrepreneurship in university students. It is one of the initiatives that Chile is taking to stimulate the business spirit in new generations. Voxound went on to represent Chile in the final round in Latin America on October 30^th, competing with the winners from Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico.

Of the five representatives, the three best will travel to California in the middle of November to compete in the Intel + UC Berkeley Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge organized by Intel and the University of California, Berkeley.

“This challenge is a great opportunity for all of the participants because they will have the chance to share their business ideas with investors from the Silicon Valley and fellow entrepreneurs. This is a world-class opportunity…they will be on the best stage in the world!” Laurentzi Sasia, General Manager of Intel Chile commented.

High level of participation

This year, 47 projects were presented in Chile. Of those, eight were chosen for the final round. The judges emphasized the quality of the innovation as well as the energy and enthusiasm that Voxound showed as entrepreneurs to determine them as the winner.

“We are very happy with the response and quality of the projects. Chileans have a lot of talent and wonderful ideas and the Desafío Intel demonstrated that”, said 3IE´s director Victor Aguilera.

Besides the valuable support from 3IE, time and dedication was given by the judges Alan Farcas, Director of Endeavor Chile; Adrian Magendzo, Manager of Entrepreneurship of Innova Chile-CORFO; José Miguel Musalem, Founding Member of Aurus Investment Management; Roberto Musso, Founder and CEO of 3GMotion; Mariano Pola, Founder and CEO of Micrológica; Rodrigo Ravilet, Founder of Chile Exploration and Ex-President of the Chilean Alumni Association of Harvard Business School and Iván Vera, Founding Member of IGT. With their experience, they objectively evaluated all of the projects.

New Venture Championship®: International MBA business plan competition

If you are interested in participating in the 2010 NVC please visit NVC´s website for more instructions.

Here are the key participation dates:

November 18th, 2009: Begin accepting Intent to Compete Submissions

February 15th, 2010: Intent to Compete/Executive Summary Due

February 15-25, 2010: NVC Qualifying Round - Judging

March 11, 2010: Announcement of Semifinalist teams

March 25, 2010: Semifinalist Business Plans due

April 8-10, 2010: NVC Competition in Portland, Oregon, USA

http://www.oregonnvc.com/Default.aspx

Young Entrepreneurs Talent & Innovation Competition of the Americas

The Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) will host the fourth edition of the Talent and Innovation Competition of the Americas, (TIC Americas / Peru 2010), an opportunity for young people worldwide to develop and present their business ideas to a diverse international audience. This initiative will develop the extraordinary business potential of innovative young entrepreneurs and scientists, in collaboration with sponsors globally and from the Member States of the Organization of American States (OAS).

YABT, a private sector initiative working in cooperation with the General Secretariat of the OAS, offers opportunities to reinforce young entrepreneur programs through corporate marketing campaigns visibly and tangibly to:

Connect with the future of business in the Americas and globally, and the extraordinary potential that enterprising young entrepreneurs embody
Be recognized globally and in the context of the OAS as leading young entrepreneurs and corporate citizens of the Americas.

TIC Americas goes beyond business plans to include extended training, mentoring, and prototype phases to test the project’s feasibility in the real market. The Awards include E-Business, Creative Design, Tradition and Culture, Spirit of Entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneurship, New Markets and International Alliance and financial prizes, incubation, internships, as well as promotional and networking opportunities. In 2010 PepsiCo Americas will sponsor two awards focusing on water resources and conservation.

Teams may register from October 1, 2009 until March 1, 2010. Registered teams have until April 1, 2010 to complete their submission. The TIC Americas Finals, an on-site competition for the thirty Finalists, will be held in Lima, Peru in June 2010 immediately prior to the XL Annual General Assembly of the OAS.

YABT is now identifying young entrepreneurs, collaborating universities, and potential sponsors for TIC Americas / Peru 2010. Contestants and sponsors are encouraged to get involved early to received maximum opportunities and benefits from TIC Americas.