A day of much reflection, exchange of experiences and also the first opportunity for the general public to learn about the solutions of the Academic Working Capital 2019 program. This is what happened at the event “The University as a Platform for Your Business”, held at the headquarters of the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp), in São Paulo, on 8/18. While college students presented their proposals at the Solutions Fair, entrepreneurs, market executives, managers, and academics discussed topics such as the challenge of bringing university innovation closer to business, angel investment, and the relationship between large companies and startups.
Throughout the schedule, visitors were invited to visit the Solutions Fair to talk with AWC participants and provide feedback.
The first discussions focused on the challenge of bringing university and business closer together. Silvia Takey, partner and CEO of DEV Tecnologia, a company born in USP, shared her trajectory, and researcher Daniel Pimentel, director of the Emerge program, spoke about the experience of working to make the laboratory science reach the market. Then Rubens Approbato (Poli Angels), Ana Paula Blanco (MIT Angels and Poli Angels) and Ricardo Oliveira (Poli Angels and Anjos do Brasil) talked about angel investment.
The last lecture included Paulo Braga, Corporate Venture manager at Eurofarma, and TIM executives Janilson Bezerra, Business Innovation and Development Director, and Alexandre Dal Forno, Director of Corporate Products and IoT (Internet of Things).
Janilson recalled that the digital revolution started to enable new forms of business. According to him, successful entrepreneurs build businesses – not technologies or products – and the real value of creation lies in delivering new experiences. “There is no way to transform without actually changing,” said the executive, who leads a front focused on open innovation at TIM. Alexandre Dal Forno talked about how IoT can be a spring to accelerate the relationship between companies and startups, especially regarding agribusiness.
Workshop II
The weekend was a lot of work for the AWC groups. In addition to the Solutions Fair, on the 17th and the morning of the 18th they participated in the program’s second workshop, during which they went deeper into the requirements of their solutions. For this, the groups reflected on the need of the user, the business and its technological capacity; explored the best ways out of the challenges raised; and decided the ways to go. The discussions were expanded with the presence of technical experts, who helped to think through the requirements and point out options. In addition to the AWC Team’s guidance and moments of hard work, the entrepreneurs attended a lecture by Mauricio Villar, founding partner and COO at Tembici, a company that operates bike share in Brazil with the sponsorship of Itaú; and Ana Levy, VP of Strategy at Kickante, who talked about crowdfunding.
The workshop activities were essential for the students to be prepared for the Solutions Fair. “We set a challenge: ‘tomorrow [8/18] you will be on Paulista Avenue showing your solutions to the world. So it has to make sense,’” summarized Environmental, Social & Governance Director of TIM, Marcio Lino. “We see agribusiness solutions increasingly using mobile technology as a vector. TIM is on the right track as an organization and Instituto TIM is on the right track by supporting entrepreneurship within universities.”
