In the midst of a pandemic that is still present in the world, Chile and Chileans have managed to be recognized internationally for innovating and being at the forefront in sustainability, science, culture, always looking for solutions to improve the quality of life of people in different parts of the world. Here is a review of the main milestones that showed how Chile contributed to continue creating the future in the year 2021. Let's go for more!
Accelerated pace of vaccination: one year after the beginning of the vaccination process, and thanks to the collaboration of all Chileans, 16.5 million people have a complete primary vaccination schedule. Chile has been highlighted as the country that has performed best in controlling the virus, in addition to having achieved in some periods the record of the country that has vaccinated the fastest, the one with the most booster doses applied, and being considered by Bloomberg as the best country to face variants such as Omicron. On the other hand, this year Sinovac announced the installation of a plant in Chile to produce vaccines for all Latin America.
Electoral processes: in addition to the presidential elections, the year 2021 was marked by several other electoral processes, including parliamentary, municipal and constituent convention elections, and the first election of regional governors in history. The constitutional convention, which will propose a new Constitution for Chile, was installed in July, and its president, Elisa Loncon, was chosen among the 100 most influential people of the year by Time magazine, and as one of the 25 most influential women of the year, according to the Financial Times.
The year of renewable energies: Chile ranked for the fourth year in a row among the world's top places in terms of attractiveness for investment in clean energies, according to Bloomberg's Climatescope 2021 report. In addition, our country hosted the CEM12/MI6 global summit, the most important clean energy and innovation meeting of 2021. Several announcements or projects were inaugurated during the year. In June, Cerro Dominador, the first solar thermal plant in Latin America, was inaugurated, and in September the construction of Horizonte, which will be the largest wind farm in Latin America, was announced. Construction of the largest green hydrogen plant in Latin America, Haru Oni, also began in 2021, and in December the six winning companies or consortiums of the financing round of the National Green Hydrogen Strategy were announced, with projects that will attract investments of US$1 billion.
Pioneer in the fight against climate change: Chile handed over the presidency of the COP to the United Kingdom at a meeting held in Glasgow. Within the framework of COP26, the country's Long Term Climate Strategy (LTCS) was delivered to the UN, which establishes the specific sectoral goals that will allow Chile to be carbon neutral and climate resilient before 2050, as requested by Science to face the impacts of climate change.
Chinchorro, new World Heritage Site: 2021 was also a key year for Chilean culture and heritage, after UNESCO declared the Chinchorro settlements and artificial mummification (in the region of Arica and Parinacota) a World Heritage Site, becoming the seventh Chilean site on the World Heritage List. The site presents the oldest known archaeological evidence of artificial mummification of bodies.
Two Chilean startups reach the category of unicorn: Cornershop first, and NotCo later, became the first Chilean unicorns, i.e. startups that achieve a valuation of US$1 billion. This takes place in an environment that has been applauded worldwide: Chile is the second country in the world in startup entrepreneurial activity, according to the IMD 2021 ranking, in addition to being chosen the safest country to invest in Latin America, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit, the first in Latin America in potential to attract foreign investment, according to the Milken Institute, and the leader in innovation in the region.
Best adventure tourism destination in the world: for thesixth consecutive year, Chile was chosen as the best adventure tourism destination in the world, an award given each year by the World Travel Awards. Chile was also chosen for the seventh year in a row as the Best Adventure Travel Destination in South America, and for the fourth time the Atacama Desert was chosen as the best romantic destination.
50 years since Neruda's Nobel Prize: 2021 was also the year of great anniversaries that show how Chile has inspired the world. Not only was it 50 years since the Nobel Prize was awarded to Pablo Neruda, but it was also the centenary of the internationalization of Gabriela Mistral's career, and the 10th anniversary of the Cervantes Prize for Nicanor Parra. From the point of view of inspiration, Chile also stood out for being at the Oscars with the film "El Agente Topo", by Maite Alberdi, and for the premiere of the film "Spencer", by Pablo Larraín, which was chosen as the best film of the year by Variety magazine.
A new Chilean dinosaur: probably one of the most important scientific announcements of the year came from the Magallanes region, after the discovery of an enigmatic fossil that revealed the existence of a hitherto unknown lineage of dinosaurs. The discovery of Stegouros elengassen, a 74-million-year-old species, made the cover of Nature magazine, and has been described as the "Rosetta Stone" of the ankylosaurs of the Southern Hemisphere.
Chilean Antarctic Eclipse: On December 4 a unique astronomical phenomenon occurred, which will not be repeated until 2039: a total solar eclipse in Antarctica. The unusual phenomenon, which had not occurred since 2003, allowed us to position this territory as a natural laboratory, and to strengthen our position as an astronomical pole.
