New UFRJ incubator will focus on social and environmental areas

The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) has a new business incubator, which focuses on social and environmental impact and launches a public notice later this month. Baptized Inyaga, which, in Ka’apor, an indigenous language belonging to the Tupi-Guarani family, means Our Land, the incubator is the result of a partnership between the Faculty of Administration and Accounting Sciences (FACC) and the UFRJ Technological Park. According to the unit’s coordinator, Eliane Ribeiro, professor at the FACC, the launch date and the values ​​of the public call are being defined together with the Technological Park. “The idea is to start offering a type of incubation for ventures that we call associates. It will be a continuous flow public notice, that is, it will always happen”. Initially, there should be five simultaneous vacancies, which may be expanded, depending on the partnerships that may be closed with the private and public initiative. “This is our goal”. Eliane Ribeiro holds a PhD in production engineering from the Fluminense Federal University (UFF) and a master’s degree in production engineering from the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for Graduate Studies and Engineering Research (Coppe/UFRJ). Innovation Innovation is the incubator’s key action point, whose goal is to establish a channel between what is generated in terms of innovation at the university and the demands of public and private initiative. “There are some things happening at the university, because the incubator is being born in an environment of innovation. We already have players [atores] related in these processes, and the incubator comes to meet a demand that was not met.” Eliane said she was confident that Inyaga would be able to integrate the knowledge generated at UFRJ with society and the environment. “It is our duty to give back to society what it invests in the university. We have a duty, a mission to contribute to the development of the country and society. This is the main focus of the incubator.” The most diverse projects and companies can be developed in the social and environmental business incubator. Eliane cited creative and solidary economy projects, process control, technologies in general, natural resources, agroecology and pedagogical technologies, for example. “Anything that has a positive impact on society, on the environment, we will embrace.” In the proposals that are presented for selection, the criteria will be the potential of the project, benefits generated and innovative content. Entries for the announcement should open at the end of this month or at the beginning of July, with a duration of 30 days, so that the entire internal and external community can participate. The incubator will start operating later this year, “at full steam”, said Eliane. Synergy The Inyaga Incubator will work in synergy with the university’s innovation ecosystem, which includes Inova UFRJ, the Technological Park, the Inova System, more than 1,400 laboratories and other incubators. The university has innovation as one of its agendas, takes into account the strategic importance of the theme and is aware of the installed capacity and intellectual capital prepared to outline significant changes, even in scenarios of limited budget.

Agência Brasil