Services, knowledge, and innovative technological solutions will be presented by government departments of the state of Rio during the second edition of Rio Innovation Week (RIW), considered the largest technology meeting in Latin America. The event starts today at Píer Mauá, in the port region of Rio, and runs until the next 11th. Institutional supporter, the Secretary of Tourism (Setur) will promote the Turistech Zone – The Tourism of the Future, an arena dedicated to the sector’s actions, which will bring together some of the main names in the innovation market.
The governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro, highlighted that Rio has a vocation to launch new ideas. “It is a state that is always at the forefront of change. Hosting an event of this size, which brings together the biggest names in the innovation and technology market, transforms the state into the capital of this segment. I hope that the event and the state will inspire great business and the exchange of knowledge”, said Castro.
The Turistech Zone will feature various activities, including lectures, training, business rounds and activations, with emphasis on the exclusive broadcast of the lecture The Secrets of Disney, by Walt Disney World Vice President Dan Cockerell. The event will be held this Tuesday at 4:30 pm. The space has 4 thousand square meters, double the previous edition, and will also receive startups (emerging companies), exhibitors, successful case presentations and more than 50 lectures.
The Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Supply will also present, at the AgroRiw Tech space, the agriculture of the future. An extensive agenda will be set up to connect agricultural producers of different segments and sizes with technology developers capable of responsibly revolutionizing the use of the field, boosting the Brazilian market.
Culture
In the Rio Pop Tech space, the public can check out special sessions by CineClube Zezé Motta. The agenda starts today (8), with the screening of the films The Ballad of the Noble Lady, The Economic Creativity of São João do Rio de Janeiro and Ìyálewà. Throughout the RIW, the program will also include debates and lectures promoted by the Secretariat of Culture and Creative Economy (Sececrj). There will be 15 sessions in all, followed by debates with the producers of the works, at various times (11 am, 2 pm, 5 pm and 7 pm). All producers are covered by Sececrj’s public notices.
Secretary Danielle Barros stated that as the most comprehensive meeting on technology and innovation in Latin America, “Rio Innovation Week opens doors for many cultural producers to show their work. Our programming is aimed precisely at creating opportunities for these people and promoting debates that add them to the artistic production chain”, she said.
Closing the cultural program, on the 11th, the dean of the Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro (IFRJ), Rafael Almada, will give a lecture on the analysis of works of art, with the help of the Laboratory of Applied Scientific Instrumentation and Computational Simulation. The presentation uses a set of simulation methods and computational modeling to carry out research in the areas of conservation, restoration, museology and heritage.
Tech marathons
The State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj) will have a stand, located in front of Armazém 1, for the exhibition of research works by professors, students and fellows. The Uerj community will be entitled to free tickets, provided by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation. Administrative technicians, as well as teachers and students may also participate. The free passport can be issued until the opening of the event.
Professor Eloiza Oliveira, director of the Multidisciplinary Institute for Human Training with Technologies (IFHT) and coordinator of Uerj’s participation in the RIW, considers that the points covered at the event are fundamental, especially for those who are entering the job market. “As the largest innovation event in Latin America, it is a great opportunity for our students to have contact with relevant and current topics in the science and biotechnology scenario in the state, in the country and in the world”, she said.
During the fair, several technological marathons will be held (hackathons), two of which are organized by Uerj, in partnership with the startups Get out of Paper. These marathons aim to promote the creation of innovative solutions to issues related to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Among the 17 goals established, Uerj invited interested parties to the Health Challenge, which has its first segment based on SDG 3 (health and well-being), with a focus on childhood obesity.
The professor at the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM) at Uerj and coordinator of the Health Challenge, Alexandra Monteiro, recalled that this is a worldwide problem, aggravated by the covid-19 pandemic. “So, we need to look very carefully at these children, implement solutions and strategies for them to have a healthy development”.
Another segment of the healthcare challenge is focused on diagnostic accuracy, using standard Dicom images (Digital Imaging Communication in Medicine) and artificial intelligence. The objective is to develop solutions that improve the specificity and sensitivity of tests for screening for breast and prostate cancer.
Mobility
In addition to Health, Uerj will also promote the Urban Mobility challenge. One of the motivations for this hackathon it is the fact that residents of cities such as Rio de Janeiro and the metropolitan region lose a lot of time in the daily commute between home and work. The coordinator of the challenge, Professor José Mauro Nunes, from IFHT, informed that the objective is to bring together the best brains in the state, among students, entrepreneurs or specialists, so that they study this problem and discover how to make mobility more appropriate and a humanized experience, in order to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants.
The idea is to develop proposals to rationalize urban transport, with the integration of different modes, such as ferries, trains, subways, buses, BRTs, vans, bicycles, among others. This integration must be coherent and balanced for all those involved (private concessionaires, public authorities and users). Nunes also highlighted the importance of the environmental issue in the discussion of means of transport. “We need to think about a more sustainable urban mobility. There are alternatives such as the VLT, using electricity, cycle paths, walking, among others, which also allow greater social inclusion,” he said. He noted that in recent decades there has been great concern about fossil fuels and pollution.
nuclear sector
The nuclear energy sector will also be present at the RIW. On the panel The New Production Chain of the Nuclear Sector and its Sustainable Development the institutions Nuclep, Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil (INB), and the Brazilian Association for the Development of Nuclear Activities (Abdan) will discuss the current scenario of the energy segment. The lecture is scheduled for the 11th, at the Sebrae Stage, at 18:00. For the president of Abdan, Celso Cunha, participation in the Rio Innovation Week will contribute to publicly highlighting the great advances in the segment. “We will have the opportunity to show the participants of the event the capacity of this sector”, he said.
Nuclear energy currently accounts for 3% of the energy matrix in Brazil. “Greenhouse gas emission is practically zero, it releases neither carbon dioxide (CO2), nor sulfur, nor mercury into the environment. The country has the 7th largest uranium reserve in the world, and has signaled the construction of 8 to 10 new plants by 2050”, recalled Cunha.
A double reactor plant, which occupies about 400 thousand square meters, has the capacity to supply 2 million homes. This is the case, for example, of Angra 1 and Angra 2, plants that, together, can supply electricity to more than 3 million homes. According to Abdan, if a person were to use nuclear energy all his life, the resulting waste would fill just one soda can.
Two segments that have potential for the application of nuclear energy are food and medicine, in which Abdan points out the benefits of nuclear energy. In the food segment, he highlighted the conservation technique by exposure to ionizing radiation, which is already a common reality in the United States, Mexico, Australia and in several Asian countries. For Abdan, it is a safe and simple technique, since the product can be treated in its final packaging and no chemical addition is carried out. In addition to prolonging the shelf life of foods, treating them with radiation reduces pathogens and delays natural physiological processes, carries out insect disinfestation and ensures phytosanitary safety for export.
In medicine, the sector is considered fundamental, through the production of isotopes for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, said Abdan.
Sebrae
One of the sponsors of the RIW, the Support Service for Micro and Small Enterprises (Sebrae) is taking, free of charge, 300 startups to exhibit their products and services, in addition to more than 10 thousand people who undertake or want to open a business, from all over the state of Rio. The objective is to stimulate and develop entrepreneurship in the innovation sector, informed the entity, through its press office.
Sebrae Rio analyst André Santana highlighted that the state alone is taking more than 80 startups. “It is a great opportunity for these micro and small technology companies, because there they will have the possibility to make networking (professional network service), talking directly to your target audience and potential investors”.
Sebrae will have a booth at the event, where it will provide personalized assistance to those who undertake or want to open a business. The institution will also be responsible for the Sebrae Stage, where 30 lectures will take place on topics relevant to small businesses, ranging from cryptoeconomics to the internationalization of startupsgoing through market intelligence, innovative entrepreneurship in the bioeconomy, economic subsidy, credit of the future, sustainability, women that impact, financial education, public policies, diversity, technotourism, communities, new production chain of the nuclear sector and its sustainable development.
Petrobras
Petrobras will also participate in the Rio Innovation Week. At the company’s stand, virtual reality glasses and technology similar to street view (virtual representation of the environment) will allow visitors to walk around refineries and oil production platforms, getting to know the real environments of the technicians’ daily work. Petrobras executives will talk to visitors about the technologies being used in the company’s innovation journey.
Opening
Mayor Eduardo Paes will participate in the opening of the second edition of Rio Innovation Week. For him, the event reinforces the city’s leadership as the capital of innovation in Latin America. Several secretariats will present some of the main innovation projects adopted in municipal management.
