The event dedicated to the exchange of knowledge was officially opened on the 20th

Imagine the importance of innovation ecosystems and universities for the birth of innovative ideas. They prepare and develop students, companies, and startups, enabling research, technologies, and new ideas to become business. Now think about what innovation could arise if students from six different countries worked on collaborative projects in the search for solutions for the future?

In this sense, the third edition of the Moving the Cities Challenge was officially opened on Friday the 20th. The online event aims to develop solutions through international and intercultural cooperation between science, entrepreneurship, innovation, technology, and society. It is dedicated to academics from universities in Germany, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, England, and the United States.

The opening event was moderated by the FH-Münster Vice-Rector for Knowledge Transfer, Cooperation and Innovation, Carsten Schröder, who welcomed the participants and commented on the importance of developing international and interdisciplinary skills. “One of the goals of Moving the Cities is to train these students in entrepreneurial thinking and performance, as well as in technical expertise”.

The Dean of Unisinos Polytechnic School, Sandro José Rigo, pointed out that the university recently turned 50 years old and, in this period, has contributed to regional development through teaching, research, and education, in addition to fostering international collaboration. “One of the articulations that Unisinos performs is the approach to international institutions aiming at being a global research university. The results can be seen through international cooperation and a commitment to academic excellence ”

Collaborate to develop

One of the organizers of the event, the coordinator of the Materials Engineering and Biomedical Engineering course at Unisinos, Tatiana Rocha, told a little about the history of the challenge, whose approach began in 2015, through a meeting with a representative of UAS7, the German cluster of 7 Universities of Applied Sciences. “Since then, we started to understand that we could cooperate, and in 2018 we signed the first agreement. This year, due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus (Covid-19), we opted to hold the event digitally, which made it possible to increase the number of partner universities for the challenge”. She also explained to the 135 students, who are divided into 28 teams, how the dynamics of the activities will be. The teams receive mentoring, in online sessions, about business modeling, innovation, market, and technology from professionals from the six countries.

The director of innovation for Unisinos and CEO of Tecnosinos, Susana Kakuta highlighted the importance of the Unisinos Innovation Ecosystem in the training of young people. Each year, about 2 thousand students go to university to learn about future careers in technological areas. “Tecnosinos strongly believes that people can make a difference. When we started this project, we saw an opportunity to show the park as an international platform also for the development of people ”.

For the operations and entrepreneurship manager of the PUCRS Science and Technology Park (Tecnopuc), Flávia Fiorin, Moving the Cities is a valuable opportunity for participants to explore connections with the world. “It is fantastic to be able to be connected locally as a global innovation ecosystem. We create a strong network due to the competence and capacity to add from each of the Universities”.

The director of the School of Engineering at UFRGS, Luiz Carlos Pinto da Silva Filho, presented the challenge: how to promote telemedicine and digital health.

SAP Labs Latin America Chief Operating Officer, Marcos Rahmeier, stressed the importance of the challenge being multicultural. “This is an opportunity for young people to develop skills such as teamwork, in addition to setting up a network of contacts. Diversity adds in terms of quality and ideas that can become good solutions”.

National and international partnerships

The Moving the Cities 2020 Challenge, which runs until Sunday, 29, is an initiative designed by Unisinos in partnership with UAS7 and FH-Münster to promote the development of solutions through international and intercultural cooperation between science, entrepreneurship, innovation, technology, and society. The action is in line with the context of the Alliance for Innovation, an articulation between UFRGS, PUCRS, and Unisinos University to enhance high-impact initiatives for the advancement of the innovation and development ecosystem. In its third edition, the event also counts with the participation of Tecnosinos, Tecnopuc, SAP, Federal University of São Carlos, University of Pittsburgh, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Inacap, Coventry University, DWIH São Paulo, Fraport, Münster/Osnabrück International Airport (FMO) and Fiege.