The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro is advancing its strategy to develop and strengthen a local technology ecosystem. The local administration reported the latest milestones of that strategy, including $200 million worth of deals being signed during innovation event Web Summit, which took place in Rio this week.
Some 35,000 people from more than 100 countries attended the second edition of the three-day conference, an increase of over 60% on 2023. In addition, the technology event is expected to generate 1.5 billion reais ($286 million) in economic activity for Rio until 2028, according to a study carried out by the City Hall.
“We are hoping that next year’s edition will be even bigger”, said Chicão Bulhões, municipal secretary of urban and economic development, speaking to the press at the event on Thursday (18). According to Bulhões, the city hopes the conference will reach a similar size to its flagship event in Lisbon, which attracts over 70,000 attendees.
At least 10 cooperation agreements were signed during the conference, the result of over 60 meetings held by the city’s investment agency InvestRio. According to the president of Invest.Rio, Alexandre Vermeulen, the number of investments doubled in relation to last year’s event.
“We turned Web Summit into a major business generation platform for the city. For the first time, we’ve seen investors, venture capital funds, entrepreneurs, and the academia all interacting in the same space, with a view of closing these commercial deals,” Vermeulen added.
The authorities also noted other initiatives focused on boosting the local tech ecosystem are underway, in areas such as skills development for the digital economy. These include the launch of Porto Maravalley, an entrepreneurship and education hub in the historic port area of Rio. The new site is also home to IMPA Tech, the city’s first undergraduate course focused on areas such as data sciences and applied mathematics.
Other initiatives focused on supporting the development of Rio’s tech scene also include the launch of Instituto 12, a private initiative backed by the likes of TIM, PRIO and Hashdex, with infrastructure support from InvestRio.
Based in Leblon – a neighborhood near the iconic Copacabana beach – the new institute is expected to act as a catalyst for attracting professionals back to Rio. According to Bulhões, this is “particularly relevant”, especially in light of the anticipated new stock exchange to be based in the city, announced by Mubadala Capital, the Emirati state-owned holding company.
The impact for local founders
Local entrepreneurs are starting to notice the impact of the current momentum behind creating a thriving technology environment, and the impact of events like Web Summit in the process.
“Having attended various types of events before, I do control my expectations. That makes it easier to be pleasantly surprised at a conference like Web Summit Rio, which is a truly grand experience”, said Gilmar Bueno, chief executive of Unicainstancia, a fintech aiming to enhance the liquidity of the legal market by identifying potential consumer issues that could be turned into judicial assets.
However, developing a strategy to connect with key strategic partners and suppliers is crucial for entrepreneurs, Bueno noted. “The grandeur of an event alone does not guarantee success for a founder”, the founder pointed out.
“My experience was very positive, largely because of the sheer size and quality of the event, but primarily due to the preparation I had put in”, the founder noted. Bueno added that being ready to take advantage of what the event had to offer was a result of a program led by Djassi África, a venture and ecosystem builder and angel investment platform focused on African and Afro-diasporan entrepreneurs.
While large conferences have the potential of transforming how Rio is perceived when it comes to its tech scene, there are other challenges faced by local players.
Despite the fact its chief executive is based in Rio, Mobile Time, a news and events business focused on innovation and mobile technologies, had to move its fiscal address to São Paulo, where the company holds most of its events, for operational and tax reasons.
“I do all my events in São Paulo because there are no large companies wanting to sponsor smaller and niche events like mine, or enough people wanting to pay to attend”, said Fernando Paiva, a journalist and chief executive at Mobile Time. The company’s corporate events typically attract an average of 250 delegates to discuss topics such as bots and trends in the mobile space.
Paiva believes the scenario might change as large events like Web Summit, as well as other innovation and tech conferences taking place in Rio such as Rio Innovation Week and Rio2C start to attract the attention of more companies to the city. “But we need the big tech firms to invest, because startups often don’t have the kind of investment it takes to put an event together”, Paiva said.
While large conferences can afford the investment risk, the reality is different for smaller companies that are also looking at building communities around different technology areas. “But I would love to host an event in my home city”, Paiva noted.
Driving internationalization
Attracting companies from other countries, as well as digital nomads, is a key aspect of Rio’s strategy to grow its local tech ecosystem.
Some of the deals signed with the city’s investment agency this week will support that goal, such as the agreement with Unicorn Factory, a venture builder from Lisbon, which will focus on attracting tech businesses from the European capital to the Brazilian city.
In addition, the city sought to integrate Startup20, a startup engagement group with the world’s largest economies, to Web Summit. The meeting happened within Riocentro, the convention center where the main conference took place, convening 420 participants, with delegations from 22 countries and the European Union.
The summit’s integration into the larger G20 framework is a strategic move to foster internationalization and collaboration ahead of the G20 Summit, where leaders from the world’s largest economies will meet in the city in November.
“The presence of international delegations and investment agencies at the summit is a way to enhance competition and promote Rio as an attractive destination for investment and innovation,” said Lucas Padilha, president of the Rio G20 Organization Committee.
The Brazilian Startups Association (ABStartups) organized the Startup20 meeting in Rio, following a first convention in Macapá – the capital of the state of Amapá, in the extreme north of Brazil – in February.
While the first meeting brought attention to innovation and investment opportunities in the Amazon, highlighting its potential and addressing climate issues, the debates in Rio focused on public policies for innovation, ESG, as well as regulation in the financial sector and artificial intelligence.
“With the second meeting of Startup20 in Rio, we continue the efforts we have begun in Amapá, designed to capture the attention of international players to a very rich and innovative Brazilian ecosystem, which tends to vary from one region to another,” said Ingrid Barth, president at ABStartups.
Barth has been championing the internationalization of Brazilian tech businesses, and believes Web Summit is an important platform to showcase what the country has to offer. “It is vital that our entrepreneurial spirit transcends national boundaries, allowing an increasing number of people to recognize our immense potential, and establishing Brazil as a leader in global innovation and technology”, the ABStartups president noted.
When it comes to the likelihood of Rio’s vision to become a relevant technology ecosystem in the medium-term, Paiva, from Mobile Time, is optimistic. “I think Rio has the potential to play an interesting role in the national ecosystem”, he said.
The local environment may have a calling for a specific segment within innovation, Paiva noted. That is due to the city’s tradition in areas such as satellite infrastructure with telecommunication companies such as TIM being based there, as well as oil and gas, with companies such as state-owned Petrobras also headquartered in Rio: “That [specific focus] is still unclear, but things could soon take shape and accelerate.”
“A real leap [in the local ecosystem’s development] could happen due to the efforts of the city government in that regard: when the public sector wants to help and works hard towards it, the chances of success increase”, Paiva pointed out. “In that sense, Rio is doing a good job – and I believe it will reap the rewards.”
