During a visit to the CERN laboratory, Chilean leader Boric announced that Chile is currently in the process of becoming an Associate Member State of the European Organization for Nuclear Research. He stressed that this decision represents an opportunity for cooperation, experience, investment, and, most importantly, growth in the scientific and technological fields for the country.
Cooperation between Chile, represented by its National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (Conicyt), and CERN has been extended since 1991, and this link was strengthened by the signing of a protocol in 2007. Throughout the past two decades, several teams of Chilean scientists from various universities have had the opportunity to participate in experiments carried out by CERN.
The objective of raising the level of cooperation with CERN is to open up new opportunities for the Chilean industry by allowing participation in tenders related to the construction of highly sophisticated infrastructure for the center, which until now were only available to companies from member states and associate members, Boric explained.
The Chilean Minister of Science, Aisén Etcheverry, confirmed that a formal letter has been submitted for Chile to be considered as an Associate Member State of CERN. The application is expected to be evaluated and approved by Chile during the first semester of 2024.
CERN is one of the largest scientific research centers in the world, made up of 23 member states, all European, with the exception of Israel. In addition, it has 10 associated member states, of which eight are European and two are Asian. CERN is known for its Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest and most powerful particle accelerator in the world, which began operations in 2008 with the purpose of addressing the big questions about the origin of the Universe.