On October 30 and 31, WTT kicked off an important moment in its history. After a long process of collective construction, the 1st Brazilian Forum on Mission-Driven Innovation was consolidated. The unprecedented event took place at Inova USP and sought to contribute to the qualification and dissemination of the practice of mission-driven innovation in Brazil.

Missions use innovation to solve a challenge or promote large-scale social or environmental change, are ambitious, measurable, and have a limited timeframe in which to be achieved. They require an active role from the public sector in their definition and leadership, but also require the collaboration of private actors, academia and the third sector in orchestrating resources and multi-sector efforts.

In partnership with various actors from the public and private sectors and civil society organizations, WTT and Auspin sought, at the Forum, to build paths that would bring the country closer to adopting this agenda, which is so important for its future.

On the first day of the event, the debates focused on the experiences of organizations and social movements. Present were representatives from organizations such as the Regional Institute of Smallholder Farming (IRPAA), the Interstate Movement of Babassu Coconut Breakers (MIQCB), the Health and Happiness project, the Black Coalition for Rights and the Sustainable Amazon Foundation (FAS), among many others.

The lectures “Science, Technology, Society and Innovation: recent debate”, by Janaina Oliveira Pamplona da Costa (UNICAMP) and “Live Governance from the perspective of Sustainable and Healthy Territories: the experience of FIOCRUZ and the Traditional Communities Forum”, by Sidélia Silva and Ariane Rosa Martins (Observatory of Sustainable and Healthy Territories of Bocaina/FIOCRUZ) were presented, and then we went on to debate activities and exchange experiences.

On the second day, there were around 90 participants from public bodies, development agencies, academia, institutes, companies and social movements. In addition to the participants from civil society organizations present on the first day of the Forum, there were also representatives from institutions such as the Climate and Society Institute, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, SEBRAE, the Global Compact, the National Confederation of Industry, The Nature Conservancy FINEP, IDB Lab, CNPq, Petrobras, Embrapii, among many others.

On the morning of the 31st, the events focused on presentations about the current context of missions. Caetano Penna, from Delft University, addressed the global context of the topic, while Maycon Stahelin, from Embrapii, presented issues relating to the national scenario. In the afternoon, the guests were divided into the thematic tables Amazon, Industry, Energy Transition, Agriculture and Health for closer debates on experiences and expectations of the missions approach in these themes.

“The Forum was great, it exceeded our expectations. We were especially pleased with the broad participation of civil society and academia in the discussions. We hope that the event will be a watershed in the inclusion of these actors in the construction of the mission-driven innovation agenda in Brazil,” said André Wongtschowski, WTT’s innovation director.

The workshop “Traditional Knowledge at SBPC” was held in parallel with the 76th meeting of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science on July 9, 2024, in Belém. The event brought together various civil society organizations, as well as representatives from universities and government agencies, to discuss traditional knowledge within the National System of Science, Technology, and Innovation (ST&I). The aim was to strengthen social participation in ST&I discussions and to create mechanisms that facilitate the integration of the knowledge from these organizations and actors into the stages of ST&I policies in Brazil. Over 30 guests gathered at the Emilio Goeldi Museum, a co-organizer of the event, to debate and refine the 32 recommendations compiled at the open conference entitled “Amazon Sociobiodiversity and Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy.” The open conference served as the starting point for the work carried out at the workshop in Belém. The outcome of the discussions will be developed by the group and will culminate in a special publication to be released later in 2024.

The Free Conference “Sociobiodiversity of the Amazon and STI Policy: Challenges and Opportunities on the Horizon of 2030” took place on April 10, in an online format, and aimed to strengthen the participation of civil society organizations and representatives of traditional peoples and communities of the Amazon in discussions on Brazilian scientific and technological policy. The conference was co-organized by WTT and had 190 registered participants, along with the involvement of 14 organizations among speakers and co-organizers. The intention with the mobilization of actors was to create a conducive environment for debate from multiple Amazonian realities, given that, in the history of the construction of scientific policy instruments and their implementation, challenges and barriers of dialogue between the public sector, private sector, academia, and civil society are observed.

The Free Conferences were part of the structure of the different stages of the 5th National Conference on Science and Technology, which aims to propose recommendations for the formulation of the National Strategy for Science, Technology, and Innovation for the next 10 years.

In the context of a “global syndemic,” which amplifies the challenges associated with food sovereignty and security for vulnerable populations, it is necessary that public policies and actions related to national science, technology, and innovation (STI) address this context.

In this regard, the Free Conference “Science, Technology, and Innovation for Ecological Transformation in Agro-Food Systems,” co-organized by WTT and partners, aimed to discuss how STI policies can help different types of agriculture address issues related to threats to food production due to climate change, health impacts, and social inequality. The discussions took place at Embrapa’s headquarters in Brasília, from April 15 to 19, 2024. The conference’s broadcast had over 600 registrations and 4,000 views. Focusing on impactful collaborative innovation, WTT delved into the discussions on April 15, which had the key theme “Social Development: Innovations for Agroecological Transition and Socioproductive Inclusion.”

The Free Conferences were part of the structure of the different stages of the 5th National Conference on Science and Technology, which aims to propose recommendations for the formulation of the National Strategy for Science, Technology, and Innovation for the next 10 years.

WTT and the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), with support from the National Council of State Research Support Foundations (CONFAP), held the Free Conference: “Mission-Oriented Innovation: Contributions to the Construction of the New Brazilian Technology and Innovation Policy” on April 16, 2024, at CNI in Brasília. The event discussed how the Mission-Oriented approach can contribute to the construction of science, technology, and innovation (ST&I) policies and what viable paths might be to build the necessary collaborations to formulate and implement a new scientific policy that leads to a fairer, more sustainable, and developed Brazil. Over 160 participants registered to follow the online debates, and 16 organizations were involved in the lectures and the organization of the activity.

The Free Conferences were part of the structure of the different stages of the 5th National Conference on Science and Technology, which aims to propose recommendations for the formulation of the National Strategy for Science, Technology, and Innovation for the next 10 years.

WTT’s efforts in the area of rural sanitation originate from the development of the Greywater Reuse System through Dual Filtration, a social technology that collects, filters, and redistributes water used in domestic tasks (except for toilet water) for family agroecological production. Easy to execute and manage, the system has great potential to integrate into sanitation policies and gain scale. For this reason, WTT has been participating in initiatives with partners aiming to influence rural sanitation policies. The technology is already part of the Rural Sanitation Program for the Semi-Arid, proposed by the Brazilian Semi-Arid Articulation (ASA), which seeks to impact the institutionalization and implementation of the National Rural Sanitation Program (PNSR)

Alongside other international organizations, WTT is part of the Regenerative Food Business Consortium. This collective impact initiative is made up of entities that have been working with new perspectives on food systems and that understand Regenerative Food Businesses (NAR, in portuguese and spanish) as initiatives that prioritize the centrality of nature in the business approach to food production. In NAR, the conservation, restoration and strengthening of ecosystems are central to the activities, purposes and value proposition of the business.

The Consortium has been working on mapping, impact investment and knowledge management, prioritizing gender and regeneration issues within this approach. The network is coordinated by the Avina Foundation with funding from Canada’s International Development Research Center. In structuring the network, WTT coordinates the group’s knowledge management and community of practice pillar, which aims to strengthen the ecosystem of businesses operating from the regenerative agriculture paradigm in the Pan-Amazon and Central American Dry Corridor.

www.regenerativo.org

Between 2019 and 2020, WTT coordinated the Haiti Initiative through the invitation of the Avina Foundation, which established the work in the country as an ethical imperative. This way, the partnership with WTT came to energize this challenging line of work from Avina Foundation. The idea was to create a strategy that would understand the challenges faced by Haiti and point to new ways of finding solutions from the ground up and in the light of the experiences of other countries in the region, which ranged from on-site mapping to South-South cooperation.

To this end, WTT undertook an end-to-end trip to Haiti and designed a strategy for sanitation, cisterns and food security projects. The initiative marked WTT’s critical position towards international development in the country and solidified the understanding that the development of technologies appropriate to the context and taking into account local autonomy were, more than ever, essential in the Haitian case.