Founded in 1995, Colciencias is a public entity that promotes science, technology and innovation activities in Colombia. With a US$200 million budget, it funds initiatives such as research groups, scholarships for doctoral students, corporate research activities, the establishment of technical development centers, and the promotion of regional technological projects. The entity is focused on creating an attractive research environment for scientists in Colombia and has been very active in fostering collaborations with research institutions in Europe and the United States. Since 2006, 22 technological development centers have been established, 1,161 research groups have received funding from the program, 1,045 doctoral students have received scholarships, and 203 companies have received funding for scientific innovation activities, most of them co-funded by the firms. The challenge for Colciencias is to coordinate the National System of Science, Technology and Innovation (SNCTI), with the goal of fostering a scientific, technological and innovative culture in Colombia.

La Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia (National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia) or Fedecafé is one of the largest non-profit agricultural associations in the world. In Colombia, 94% of coffee producers have less than 12 acres of coffee. The federation is focused on improving the living conditions of more than 560,000 rural families dedicated to coffee growing. Founded in 1927, the Federation sponsors projects that have had a positive impact in the lives of millions of Colombians, including schools, electric power supplies, roads, housing, and health care centers. Every day the Federation invests US$1 million in the well-being of Colombian coffee growers. They also brand Colombian coffee with the Juan Valdez marketing campaign. In 2007, Colombian coffee was recognized by the European Union with the Protected Geographical Indication. It was the first non-European food product to achieve this distinction in this demanding market. The national coffee fund ("Fondo Nacional del Café", FNC) has long served as the primary instrument for Colombian coffee policy formulation and implementation, and its latest goal is to open a chain of Juan Valdez coffee houses throughout the world.

The Compañía Nacional de Chocolates Cruz Roja was founded in 1920. In 2006, the food company was renamed Grupo Nacional de Chocolates S.A. In 2010, revenues were US$4.566 billion. The company specializes in six product lines: cold meat, cookies, chocolates, coffee, ice cream and pasta production and is the largest firm in the Colombian food sector. It has 37 subsidiaries and its products are sold in more than 70 countries, with direct operations in 11 Latin America countries and production plants in six. The company employs 28,500 people. The firm focuses its investments and research on nutrition, health, and the global environment. In 2008, Grupo Nacional de Chocolates created Vidarium, a nutritional research center, with the objective of generating knowledge about healthy nutrition in order to improve the quality of the firm’s products. In 2009, IMAGIX, a new system of innovation, was created by company’s employees to promote innovative ideas and make innovation part of the company culture.

Established in 2008 by an engineering student at the Universidad de los Andes, Datatraffic S.A. is a company focused on providing innovative geo-referencing solutions to its clients, including vehicle tracking and location of points of interest on digital maps that are published on the internet. Datatraffic combines hardware technologies which allow a considerable reduction in operating costs for transport companies worldwide. By gathering real-time information about Bogota’s traffic flow, integrating it with historical data collected by the transit official authority, and the emergencies reported to the city’s 911 number, Datatraffic has developed mobility algorithms that help to find solutions to the city’s traffic problems. In 2009, the company’s revenues were US$95 million. The firm combines software development with hardware devices, creating new solutions for the Colombian market aimed at tackling the problem of petrol consumption among transport and oil and utility companies, for which petrol represents 40% of their direct costs. Datatraffic tracks the exact consumption of each vehicle and manages the data in order to avoid internal theft. In 2009, Datatraffic won the silver medal in the 2009 ‘Imagine Cup’ hosted by Microsoft.

Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) is an integrated state-owned utilities company which operates in Colombia. It provides electricity, natural gas, water, sanitation, and telecommunications services. Its growth strategy is based on a MEGA (Meta Grande y Ambiciosa) plan for 2015. The goal is to reach US$5 billion in revenues, 60% of which will come from Colombia and the remaining 40% from abroad. In 2009, the company had revenues of US$2.3billion and profits of US$1.3 billion. Corporate Social Responsibility is key and is based on two programs. The first initiative aims at expanding services to underserved populations. Thanks to programs like “All With Gas”, “Everybody Connected” and “Social Hiring” 42,000 rural homes in the Antioquia province have electricity and almost all of Medellin’s homes have access to water (from 70% in 2007). The second is based on environmental management by making many of its processes more sistematic. This includes researching clean and renewable energies, supporting development in regions where it operates, and expanding Corporate Social Responsibility best practices to the chain of suppliers. In 2009, EPM was recognized as the public service company with the best reputation in Colombia and the eighth most respected in the country by Monitor Empresarial de Reputación Corporativa-Merco (Merco), a study by the Spanish firm Justo Villafañe Consultants, which analyzes variables such as economic and financial revenues, ethical, social and environmental responsibility, and internal reputation.

In the late 1970s, Héctor Martínez Gómez and Edgar Rey Sanabria, both doctors with the Colombian Maternal-Infant Institute, developed the "kangaroo mother care" method in response to high rates of mortality among low-birth weight infants resulting from overcrowding and insufficient resources like shortage of incubators in neonatal intensive care units. The kangaroo mother care method is a caring alternative for premature and low-weight babies at birth. The main objective is to encourage mothers to keep their premature babies warm by continuously holding them skin-to-skin, nourishing them exclusively with breast milk, and returning home early with their child in the kangaroo position. The method has been so successful that UNICEF now promotes it worldwide. In 2003, the World Health Organization published a guide with the following statement: ``Kangaroo care, to me, is the first gift you can give to your baby in the Neonatal Intensive-care units'' from Liza Cooper, the national director of a March of Dimes program that supports families in neonatal intensive care units and promotes the practice among healthcare workers.

In 1999, Orlando Rincón founded ParqueSoft to help micro enterprises and entrepreneurs from underprivileged communities in the Valle del Cauca. Within an open space, enterprises are organized in blocks with different teams. Each one is a software company that designs, develops and sells different types of software, including optics, artificial intelligence, bioinformatics and tools for nanotechnology. Every two months, ParqueSoft organizes 8-week internships for 150 young people. The company is focused on creating social value. It provides support and infrastructure for business development and trains people to become more innovative, reliable, and competitive in the market. ParqueSoft is a non-profit and understands that all entrepreneurs in the network can help each other to grow their creativity and talent. A policy of ‘zero bureaucracy’ helps them reduce the rental and logistics cost to US$300 per year per person. Through its network of 15 science and technology parks, it provides administrative and business development services to 1,000 software entrepreneurs, 300 companies and 500 clients in 42 countries all over the world. Since its foundation, this organization has created 967 jobs and 339 ventures. Unlike other incubators, ParqueSoft clients do not exit upon maturation; rather they give back by aiding the development of the network. In 2005, Rincón was nominated by Dinero Magazine in Colombia and the Schwab Foundation from the World Economic Forum as the “Colombian Social Entrepreneur of the Year.”