I'm back at the OMG offices in Needham, MA after an amazing week in Santiago, Chile. I'm exhausted from the travel, but it was well worth the trip. The primary focus of my visit was to brief government, academic and industry leaders on the OMG-managed Industrial Internet Consortium, and with a group of equally enthusiastic old and new friends, propose a new research/think tank initiative in Chile to carry out test-bed proof-of-concepts for large (even global) systems for the Industrial Internet.
My trip was sprinkled with a few pleasant surprises. During the middle of the week, Senator Antonio Horvath from the southern Chilean province of Aysen heard about the push for a Chilean research initiative and adopted it as his own program. We ended up having a private dinner with him at which the conversation on the program continued.
Meeting the President Michelle Bachelet of Chile (from left): Juan Carlos Letelier, Bernardo Caro, Luis Donoso, Eduardo Vera, Wolfgang Schuch, Alejandro Jofre, Isabel Szabo, Radu Popescu-Zeletin, President Michelle Bachelet, myself, Senator Antonio Horvath and Maurizio Arienzo
The dinner with Senator Horvath led to another government introduction: the next day, we were invited to meet with the Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet! President Bachelet thought the think-tank project was "fantastic" and stated her interest in seeing Chile take a leadership position in Industrial Internet activities -- especially in the areas in which Chile already has world-class technology, including mining, agriculture, aquaculture, and emergency response.
The response from all organizations and institutes I met with was overwhelmingly positive, from a beautiful country with extraordinary human and other capital, unequaled hospitality, and blessed with magnificent natural beauty. I look forward to working with academic, government and industrial participants in Chile and throughout Latin America!
