The Innovation Agency of the State University of Campinas (Inova Unicamp) received yesterday (15), in the Annex of the Scientific and Technological Park, the pre-launch event of the “Coalizão para o Impacto” initiative, which will be developed in Campinas with the participation of Inova Unicamp. The objective of the initiative is to enhance the investment ecosystem in projects that have a social or environmental impact, with Campinas being the only representative of the Southeast.
“We are very proud to be part of this ecosystem and to place Campinas with five other cities in Brazil in a large network to work together and connect”, explained the president of FEAC, Renato Batista Nahas, about choosing the city. FEAC is an organization that works on several projects for the social development of vulnerable populations and is one of the Coalition's strategic partners.
The initiative plans to invest, by 2026, R$29 million of philanthropic capital in 600 businesses that can promote socio-environmental impact in order to complement public policies and third sector actions, especially on the fronts of Health, Green Technologies, Education, Smart Cities, Services financial and Citizenship. In addition to Campinas, the cities selected to join the project are Brasília (DF), Porto Alegre (RS), Fortaleza (CE), Belém (PA) and Paranaguá (PR).
The contribution will be made to actions that strengthen dynamic organizations, those with already structured capacity to support these businesses, such as incubators, accelerators, Science and Technology Institutions, among others.
“Receiving the invitation to join the Coalition is yet another recognition of Unicamp’s return to society by training talents that generate technological solutions, income and jobs in the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. It is a recognition of Inova's work, especially regarding the training of Technology-Based Companies and the promotion of the entrepreneurial ecosystem around the University. It is also worth highlighting that sustainability is an issue in which Unicamp has already been investing efforts in recent years, such as the structuring of the International Hub for Sustainable Development (HIDS) and the incorporation of the theme in our programs, such as the Unicamp Challenge, Inova Jovem and the Unicamp Entrepreneur Award”, commented professor Ana Frattini, executive director of Inova Unicamp.
Since 2019, the Inova Jovem program (which is open for registration), aimed at high school and technical students, offers training on business modeling that meets the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This year, the Unicamp Challenge awarded a new category to the best business model with Socio-environmental Impact, sponsored by Fundação Educar, which was at the Coalition's pre-launch event represented by its executive director, Isabela Pascoal, and project coordinator, Cristiane Annunciato Stefanelli.
Inova has also organized, since 2017, the Unicamp Entrepreneur Award, which recognizes success stories among more than a thousand Unicamp daughter companies in categories such as business with Socio-Environmental Impact (find out more about the Entrepreneur Award).
Local actions
The Coalition initiative intends to act on two scales. At a local level, the program will strengthen the strategic actors of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the six cities collectively and to solve specific demands of each municipality.
“There is no ready-made plan that will work for each city, it is a collective work that will involve different institutions for different realities. We all need to join forces. The Coalition brings another lens to look at projects and businesses with socio-environmental impact. Why not start a business with core of socio-environmental development? We have to look at it through this additional lens. And Unicamp is a place that we want to join the Coalition”, explained Célia Cruz, executive director of the Institute of Corporate Citizenship (ICE), one of the Coalition’s co-organizing organizations.
According to the Coalition, by expanding and strengthening organizations that boost these ecosystems, there will be more and better businesses with socio-environmental impact and more financial resources directed to solving problems directly linked to social or environmental demands. Based on these experiences, which will reach all Brazilian regions, methodologies and content of good practices will be developed to be offered in other cities with similar realities, at a national level.
For now, the initiative is in its first steps, bringing together the driving organizations to establish working groups that begin the first activities, which could be socio-environmental business acceleration cycles, courses, consultancies, challenges and other actions that strengthen the entrepreneurial environment of Campinas.
“I see this movement as having the potential to form a strong union for the Campinas ecosystem. Actions like this are an opportunity to take a leap forward in the development of the region. The city hall is here supporting whatever is necessary”, commented Luciano de Assis, advisor to the Municipal Council of Science, Technology and Innovation of Campinas, who was at the pre-launch event representing the secretary of Economic Development, Technology and Innovation at the Municipal Council of Campinas, Adriana Flosi.
The “Coalition for Impact” is a national initiative co-led by the Institute of Corporate Citizenship (ICE), Instituto Helda Gerdau, Instituto Humanize and Somos Um, with the strategic partnership of Instituto Sabin, Cosan, Fundação FEAC, Fundação Grupo Boticário and Raia Drogasil, in addition to several supporting organizations in each of the six supported cities.
