About WTT - WTT Ventures

About

WTT

World-Transforming Technologies (WTT) is a non-profit organization created in 2012 with the mission to promote innovation to overcome social and environmental challenges. Our goal is to foster the development, experimentation and dissemination of technological, social and business model innovations that offer effective responses to the social and environmental problems of our time.

WTT was structured in 2012 when the Avina Foundation realized, through an analysis of the impact entrepreneurship ecosystem in Latin America, that there was both a lack of scalable projects suitable for investment and a lack of support for scientists behind innovations with a high potential for positively impacting society. Based on these two perceptions, Avina, the Good Energies Foundation and the Arapyaú Institute created WTT with the mission of bringing the world of impact businesses closer to research and development spaces.

Throughout its history and through a diverse range of innovation services, the organization has developed and executed challenges, mappings, diagnostics, project management, strategy designs, among other contributions in partnership with civil society organizations, multilateral agencies and intergovernmental organizations.

In 2020, WTT started the Innovation Orchestration Center, which puts into practice the idea of mission-driven science through special scientific teams with members from different expertise and institutions, guided by the search for solutions to major problems faced by society.

As a Venture Builder, WTT contributes to strengthening disruptive tech ventures by investing in the early stages of transformative ideas and ensuring that these technologies have access to the market to generate the great impact they envision in their conception.

Who we are

Pablo Vagliente • Executive Director

Pablo has worked as a professor and researcher at different public and private universities in Córdoba, Argentina, publishing three books and different articles on the history of civil society. He has worked at the Avina Foundation since 2005, holding different positions, leading the teams in the Access to Water, Political Innovation and Ethical Finance programs. Since 2018, Pablo has been Avina's Director of Sustainable Business and Finance. He holds a PhD in History and has been a consultant for CAF and the IDB.

Andre Wongtschowski • Director of Innovation

Andre brings to WTT more than 20 years of experience in the corporate world and in civil society organizations, including 7 years at Unilever in various positions in Brazil, Colombia and England, as well as experiences in the financial market and the pharmaceutical industry. Andre has a degree in Economics from USP and a Masters in Development Management and Planning from University College London. Andre is a Fellow of MIT's D-Lab and of the Eisenhower Fellowships.

Cristiane Oda • Administration and Finance

Cristiane has a degree in Accounting (Universidade Estadual de Londrina) and Law (Unibrasil), and a post-graduate degree in Accounting, Auditing and Finance Management (Inbrape). She has 12 years' experience at PUC/PR in national and international project management, working in accounting, finance, administration, tax and accountability. In addition to her contribution to WTT, she also works as an Administrative and Financial Consultant for the Avina Foundation.

Gaston Kremer • Program Manager

Gaston has experience in strategic relations, communities, impact businesses and in mediating different contexts. Before joining WTT, he ran a social business for energy access and rural development in countries such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Uruguay. He has studied ethics and the governance of technology, climate finance, sustainable energy and international cooperation. He believes in technology as a social process where people should be at the center.

Maria Angelica Jung Marques • Science, Technology and Innovation Manager

An agronomist with a master's degree in Zootechnics from UFRGS, Maria Angelica has a PhD in Engineering and Knowledge Management from UFSC and a post-doctorate in Human Factors and Resilience from PUCRS. She was Director of Sustainable Economic Development at the Florianópolis Municipal Secretariat for Science, Technology and Sustainable Economic Development, Executive Director of the Reference Center for Innovation Environments at the CERTI Foundation and Science, Technology and Innovation Manager at the Itaipu Technology Park. Maria Angelica has experience in the areas of Development of Innovation Mechanisms and Environments, with an emphasis on innovation ecosystems, strategic planning, innovation and co-production.

Lara Ramos • Project Manager

Lara has a PhD and a master's degree in Science and Technology Policy from UNICAMP and a degree in Environmental Engineering from USP. She has experience in research, consultancy and the public sector, mainly in public policy evaluation and project management. Lara is dedicated to sustainability, science and technology, with projects in partnership with ICMBIO, the Maranhão State Government and social movements working in traditional territories in Brazil.

Isabel Waquil • Communications Analyst

Journalist graduated from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul with experience in project organization and content production. She specialized in Cultural Management and Policies at the University of Girona (Spain) and studied Communication Science at the New University of Lisbon (Portugal). Cultural producer at the Goethe-Institut Porto Alegre between 2015 and 2023, she is currently a Communications Analyst at World-Transforming Technologies.