Punta Arenas, Chile, Dec. 12 — Researchers are doing the science needed to help the planet survive “south of south,” officials said Monday at the inauguration of the Scientific Circulation and Innovation Hackathon in the Chilean city of Punta Arenas, a forum that has attracted young entrepreneurs from seven South American countries.

“We want to tell the world that one can do research south of south to analyze climate change, study our oceans, the behavior of cetaceans and what’s happening with the glaciers and the world’s largest (fresh) water reserve,” said the governor of the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica Region, Jorge Flies.

“That’s why this hackathon is important. We want to be a lighthouse illuminating the world, to get young people enthused, tell them that science and technology are not only present in the countries of the Northern Hemisphere,” he emphasized.

The hackathon, which runs until Wednesday, is aimed at stimulating the creation of ideas, projects and innovative undertakings to disseminate knowledge about the natural laboratories that abound in Patagonia and the Antarctic.

The forum also aims to explore opportunities for highlighting the value of territories with important ecological elements.

Spreading the scientific effort is one of the most important aspects of managing the natural laboratories that exist in the southern Magallanes region, which represents 18 percent of Chile’s territory; and if the Chilean Antarctic is counted that figure rises to 62 percent.

The region, the southernmost populated area in the world, has a very low demographic density of just 0.9 inhabitants per square kilometer (0.35 per square mile), far below even Siberia’s 3 inhabitants per square km.

“A region with these characteristics can become a huge laboratory for the study of climate change … biodiversity and what’s happening in the oceans, glaciers, forests and sub-Antarctic territories,” Flies said.

Livestock raising, natural gas and oil production, intensive fishing, services and growing tourism for special interests comprise the region’s economic sectors, although now science, technology and innovation are being added to the mix.

In fact, by 2020 the zone is forecast to have one scientist per 160 inhabitants, thus fulfilling Chilean authorities’ objective of creating a community of 1,000 researchers.

To accomplish that, there are four scientific platforms being created in the area – the International Antarctic Center in Punta Arenas, the Biomedicine Center, the Sub-Antarctic Research Center and the Remote Detection and Oceanography Center – along with a large investment to install 3,600 km (about 2,230 miles) of fiber optic cable.

The hackathon is an initiative of the Inter-American Development Bank, in conjunction with Chile’s National Council on Innovation for Development, and the regional governments of Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica. EFE