Transforming young Brazilians into future researchers, scientists, and entrepreneurs in the global technology market\u2014while reducing barriers to social inclusion and diversity\u2014is the mission of the new Institute of Technology and Computing (Itec). The first phase of the project began this week in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, and is scheduled for completion in 2026. <\/p>\n
The nonprofit initiative, conceived by technology entrepreneur and philanthropist Cristiano Franco, has a budget of R$400 million for its first ten years, dedicated to training young Brazilians in computer science. Alongside Mr. Franco, Itec\u2019s founders and financiers include entrepreneurs Marcelo Lacerda and S\u00e9rgio Pretto, co-founders of NutecNet, which gave rise to the Terra portal (part of the Telef\u00f4nica Group). The Behring Foundation\u2014a family-run nonprofit that supports youth and social initiatives\u2014and the Telles Foundation, focused on expanding access to education for low-income youth, are also among its backers. <\/p>\n
The model seeks to \u201cmaximize the potential for mobility among young talent,\u201d integrating students from diverse social and financial backgrounds, Mr. Franco told Valor. \u201cItec\u2019s focus is very much on reconciling this common space that integrates these worlds and empowers young people regardless of their origin,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
Itec proposes to dedicate 70% of its budget to full or partial scholarships. Selection will not rely solely on exams, but also on interviews and an evaluation of applicants\u2019 activities. \u201cWe will partner with high schools to seek out talent,\u201d explains Mr. Franco. <\/p>\n
In September, Itec\u2019s curriculum will be submitted to the Ministry of Education (MEC). The proposal draws inspiration from leading American educational institutions, including Caltech, Carnegie Mellon University, and Harvey Mudd College, which are known for their comprehensive and immersive models, often featuring on-campus housing. <\/p>\n
The first class is expected to begin in March 2027, with 60 students in the initial phase of the campus. By 2036, enrollment is projected to reach 400 students simultaneously. <\/p>\n
The 20,000-hectare site in Gravata\u00ed, Greater Porto Alegre, was donated by the partners of the Prado Bairro Cidade condominium: businessman Carlos Gerdau Johannpeter of the Gerdau family, Fernando Estima of Sameside Gest\u00e3o de Patrim\u00f4nio, and the Pavei family, owners of the luxury construction firm Pavei Empreendimentos. <\/p>\n
The same neighborhood is also home to PradoTech, a technology park spearheaded by Mr. Johannpeter, whose Casa das Startups incubator won recognition in 2023. <\/p>\n
The project to create Itec, developed over a two-year period, has a curriculum that extends beyond traditional technical training. \u201cThe goal is to train professionals who think and act with ethics and responsibility,\u201d emphasizes Mr. Franco. In addition to attracting students, Itec also aims to bring back Brazilian professors who are leaders at prominent universities worldwide, including Stanford in California, another benchmark in training technology entrepreneurs. <\/p>\n
The Itec curriculum was designed by Brazilian academic Giselle Reis, who is the head of the Computer Science program at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. Among the project advisors and members of the academic council are Canadian computer scientist Maria Klawe, former president of Harvey Mudd College and former advisor to Microsoft, and Brazilian computer scientist Luis Lamb, who works at the Catholic Institute of Technology in Boston (U.S.). <\/p>\n
Promoting technology education has been a central focus of Mr. Franco\u2019s career. In 2015, he founded the software developer Poatek, which was later acquired in 2021 by WillowTree, an American consulting firm owned by the U.S. investment fund Insignia Capital. When WillowTree was acquired in 2023 by Canadian technology services company Telus International for $1.2 billion, Mr. Franco left the company and dedicated himself full-time to the Itec project. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the next step in my life story,\u201d says Mr. Franco, who was born in rural Rio Grande do Sul. He was the first in his family to study abroad on a scholarship and went on to build an international career in the technology sector. \u201cEverything I\u2019ve built in my career has basically been through study.\u201d <\/p>\n
The launch of Itec comes at a time when major multinationals are unveiling technology training programs. Last week, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon\u2019s cloud services division, announced plans to train 1 million people in cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) in Brazil over the next decade. <\/p>\n
The founders and financiers of Itec agree that technology training is essential to addressing the shortage of professionals in the Brazilian market, but they emphasize that the institute\u2019s mission is to provide fundamental and theoretical training. \u201cAI will certainly make software engineers much more productive, but we want to find young Brazilians with remarkable talent and, in some way, support them in creating new things, whether using AI or not,\u201d says Mr. Lacerda. <\/p>\n
In Mr. Franco\u2019s view, beyond technology and mathematics, the aim is to prepare young people \u201cwho think and act with ethics, responsibility, and critical thinking\u201d to solve both today\u2019s challenges and \u201cthose that will arise\u201d in the future. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Transforming young Brazilians into future researchers, scientists, and entrepreneurs in the global technology market\u2014while reducing barriers to social…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[64,63,257,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-98177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-computing","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}