Productive chain management around disruptive technologies. Engaging sustainability and materials research

Mining is always a controversial issue and mainly when the discussion is addressed to developing countries. In Colombia, the mining panorama was and continues to be ruled by a formal, modern, and large-scale mining mainly focused in coal, the exploitation of nickel, and some companies that exploit gold in different places. Also, a large part of the mining activity is done at minor scales, defined in many cases by informality and the subsistence character. Bearing sustainability in mind, it is worth asking about the balance implies by the exploitation without added value of local and strategic materials that are irreversibly scarcer every time, including metallic and non-metallic minerals. Opportunities around natural and non-renewable resources must focus on enhancing the quality of life, the question addressed here is how to penetrate in the global markets of sophisticated products as well as how to be serious about the so-called "innovation", but with accent on sustainability and disruptive technologies.