23/02/2022

IMPA will lead an education project in Porto Maravalley.

Diretor-geral do IMPA, Marcelo Viana, na apresentação do Porto Maravalley

A technological innovation hub will be launched in Rio's revitalized port area, with direct involvement from IMPA (Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics) in training skilled professionals in the field of exact sciences. Called "Porto Maravalley," the Rio City Hall project will be financed in partnership with private companies to transform the region into a local Silicon Valley and turn the city into a capital of innovation and technology.

Secretário municipal de Desenvolvimento Econômico, Chicão Bulhões

At a breakfast meeting this Wednesday morning (23), investors learned the details of the district, which will bring together education and innovation in the same space of ten thousand square meters. IMPA's Director-General, Marcelo Viana, stated that the institute will act as a "problem solver for the market", attracting talent and training professionals capable of working practically in the development of solutions for companies.

“I would like to express IMPA’s pride and satisfaction in being part of this great project focused on the development and creation of companies. IMPA is a leading institute worldwide, and we want it to go much further. In this sense, Porto Maravalley is an opportunity we couldn’t let pass. We want to bring in the best of the best to train highly qualified human resources as a differentiating factor for the city,” said Marcelo Viana during the event, which also included the presence of IMPA’s deputy director, Claudio Landim, and researcher Paulo Orenstein.

Currently, IMPA already engages in technical partnerships with the productive sector through the PI Center (IMPA Research and Innovation Center) . This center develops solutions for concrete business problems in projects with a strong application of mathematical sciences. Now, its involvement in Porto Maravalley, developed by the Municipal Secretariat for Economic Development, Innovation and Simplification and by Invest.Rio, aims to bring the institute closer to applied sciences, combining the education and productive sectors to develop solutions through technology and innovation.

According to the Rio de Janeiro City Hall, Porto Maravalley will seek to solve challenges faced by the city. Currently, Rio is the second state with the most international academic publications in Brazil, but only 11th in the number of ventures, especially startups. Furthermore, the capital lacks an innovation hub, unlike other capitals such as São Paulo and Belo Horizonte.

“Rio has a narrative problem, a perception problem that needs to be addressed. Of course, we have real problems, but we also have many narrative problems. We want to be inspired by other cities and change this narrative. Of all the efforts we are making to reinvent Rio, this is the most important and should become a catalyst for other innovations to happen,” argued Rio's mayor, Eduardo Paes.

The experience of creating a hub that combines education and innovation is already a success in other cities considered benchmarks in entrepreneurship and technology. During the presentation, Professor Shawn Amsler, a real estate market specialist at Columbia University in New York, highlighted the potential of Rio's Port Zone based on successful cases from the American city, which established innovation and technology hubs combined with market-oriented education.

Prefeito do Rio, Eduardo Paes