AI & Innovation on NovaTax Blog

Intellectual property from R&D: what Chile's R&D Law covers

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A successful R&D project produces something valuable: new knowledge. Protecting it takes money and time. The good news is that the R&D Law lets you include those costs in the benefit, under certain conditions.

What it covers

According to the Certification Regulation and Corfo’s FAQ, the activities needed to establish rights over the following are eligible:

Industrial property: invention patents, utility models and designs.
Copyright over computer programs (software).
Rights over new plant varieties.

This includes the related costs: professional services, expert reports, defending against oppositions and publications required for registration.

Leveraging AI for innovation (and when your project can qualify as R&D)

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Artificial intelligence has become the default tool for innovation. Many companies in Chile are building models, automating processes and launching AI-based products. A question we hear often is: can that qualify under the R&D Law?

The short answer: sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depends on whether your project uses AI or creates new knowledge with AI.

Using AI is not doing R&D

The R&D Law doesn’t reward adopting technology; it rewards generating knowledge. So it helps to separate two kinds of project:

What Chile can learn from Australia, Canada and Ireland on R&D incentives

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

More than 40 countries offer R&D tax incentives. A University of Chile study (Weber, 2022) compares Chile’s design with those of Australia, Canada and Ireland: the first two because, like Chile, they have large mining sectors, and the third because of a similar growth path. All three invest considerably more in R&D than Chile.

Country	R&D investment as % of GDP (2019)
Australia	1.8%
Canada	1.7%
Ireland	1.2%
Chile	0.3%
OECD average	2.4%

1. Higher rates for SMEs

Chile applies the same rate (35%) to every company. Other countries reward smaller ones more:

How to document the technical uncertainty in your R&D project

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

If one concept decides whether your project qualifies under the R&D Law, it’s scientific or technological uncertainty. The law mentions it explicitly, and most rejections happen because the project fails to demonstrate it. See Why Corfo rejects projects.

The good news is that documenting it well is mostly a matter of method.

What technical uncertainty is

There is technical uncertainty when, at the start of the project, it isn’t known whether the result can be achieved or how, and the answer isn’t available from existing knowledge: publications, products on the market or the experience of a competent professional in the field.

Software development and the R&D Law: when your project qualifies

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Many tech companies in Chile wonder whether their software development can qualify under the R&D Law. The answer is that the law expressly includes it, but with a condition that rules out most “ordinary” software.

What the law says

Within its definition of experimental development, Law 20,241 includes the development of software, as long as it:

produces greater knowledge aimed at systematically resolving a scientific or technological uncertainty, or
delivers a substantial, innovative improvement in a process, product or service.

In other words, writing new code isn’t enough. The code must be the means to solve a technical problem you didn’t know how to solve.

Innovation is not the same as R&D (and for Corfo, the difference matters)

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In Chile we use “innovation” for almost everything: new software, an improved process, a different product. But the R&D Law doesn’t reward innovation in general. It rewards something more specific: research and experimental development. Confusing the two is the most common reason for rejection.

The difference in one sentence

Innovating means introducing something new or improved into your company or the market. Doing R&D means creating knowledge that didn’t exist to solve a problem whose solution is not known in advance.