Through the use of technology and innovation coupled with biodiversity, Brazil’s CERTI Foundation is working on projects to ramp up business competitiveness based on the preserved Amazon rainforest and generate income for local communities in the next three years.
The Jornada Amazônia (Amazon Journey, in Brazilian Portuguese) project, led by the foundation created in the 1980s, wants to equip over 20,000 people with the tech and business skills required to create new businesses based on bioeconomy models by 2026. Additionally, the project aims to create at least 200 startups working under this model and support 100 existing businesses with new competencies using that approach.
With the aim of fostering Amazon-based businesses through tech and innovation, Jornada Amazônia was created by the foundation affiliated with the Federal University of Santa Catarina in 2018. Sponsored by mining firm Vale, and three of the largest Brazilian banks – Itaú, Santander, and Bradesco – the project adopts a two-fold strategic approach.
The first strategic pillar is a partnership model focusing on around 10 industry sectors, whereby companies will act as customers, co-developers, or co-investors, promoting sustainable forestry chains. Additionally, the project aims to strengthen an equal number of local strategies to boost the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region.
“The bioeconomy is a viable and promising path for the economic development of the Amazon region, combined with the conservation of the standing forest,” says the green economy director at CERTI Foundation, Marcos Da-Ré. The executive adds that Amazonians are well-positioned to invest in the approach that combines tech and the rich biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest, which has been at the center of the global sustainability debate.
In terms of specific actions to foster Amazon-based entrepreneurship, the platform has three main programs, aimed at different audiences. The first, dubbed Genesis, aims to put the possibility of creating bioeconomy businesses on the radar of students, academics, and researchers. The goal is to facilitate 10 editions of the program, which includes an online education component that uses virtual reality and a gamified approach, exposing participants to the trajectory from creating a concept of a product or process to the scaling-up phase.
The subsequent phase is a yearly program called Bioeconomy Synapse, which will admit new businesses based in the Amazon region into a pre-incubation track. Here, budding entrepreneurs receive support to turn their ideas into products and processes, in areas such as formal company set-up, mentoring, and preparing pitches for potential investors.
Lastly, the platform will offer the Synergy program, whereby established startups looking to evolve in the bioeconomy space will be connected with strategic partners, such as large corporations. The 30 most promising startups might also receive smart money – investments from strategic backers who can also provide business advice.
According to CERTI’s Da-Ré, it is hoped that Jornada Amazônia will contribute to tackling the barriers to the development of the bioeconomy, such as the absence or poor quality of connections between local actors and the market, and a weak pipeline of innovative businesses. “We want to connect talents and knowledge with the market and investments, generating shared value and positive impact for the Amazon rainforest,” he concludes.
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