Alternativas criativas podem acabar com a famigerada falta de recursos naturais para a geração de energia. Melhores alternativas e recursos renováveis existem, e as iniciativas abaixo parecem estar procurando no lugar certo. Se depender de projetos como esses, a crise energética está com os dias contados.

Saul Griffith: Energia gerada por pipas

Steven Cowley: Energia através de fusão para 2030

Aidan Dwyer: Captação de energia solar inspirada em árvores e Fibonacci

William Yuan: Célula de energia solar tridimensional que absorve luz ultravioleta

Kirk Sorensen: O potencial do tório

Mark Reynier: Destilaria de uísque autossuficiente energeticamente através de resíduos de produção

Archimede: Energia solar que utiliza sais fundidos como fluido transmissor

The Geysers: Energia extraída do vapor dos gêisers

Donald Sadoway: Bateria de metais líquidos

Innovation in southern Brazil: the case of Paradoxa

Entrevista com José Cesar Martins, sócio da Paradoxa, ao site Timizzer

Foi-se o tempo em que educação de qualidade significava gastar enormes quantias em dinheiro. A internet se tornou a ferramenta perfeita, quando aliada ao engajamento e ao pensamento inovador, para democratizar o ensino. Listamos aqui brilhantes iniciativas que tem esse nobre objetivo em comum.

MIT e Harvard: Duas gigantes da educação vão abrir o conteúdo online e gratuitamente no EdX

Salman Khan: “Vamos usar o vídeo para reinventar a educação”

Sebastian Thrun: Udacity e cursos de ciências da computação online

Udemy: Cursos  de alto nível acessíveis

Peter Diamandis: O programa executivo da Singularity

Richard Baraniuk: A união de educação e creative commons

Educomp Smartclass: Tecnologia 3D nas salas de aula da Índia

Os projetos abaixo são prova de que a tecnologia ainda tem um grande papel a cumprir no processo de diagnóstico, cura e popularização do acesso à saúde. Iniciativas inovadoras como essas deixam cada vez mais próximo um futuro de saúde de qualidade para todos.

Eric Topol: O futuro sem fio da medicina

Lucian Engelen: como crowdsourcing pode inovar a área da saúde

Leslie Saxon: smartphones conectados a implantes cardíacos

Bud Frazier e Billy Cohn: O coração artificial americano

Franziska Michor: Matemática na cura do câncer

Marc Triola e John Qualter: o corpo humano digital

Qualcomm Tricoder X-Prize: U$D 10 milhões para quem inventar um dispositivo móvel de diagnóstico

Com mais de 1,4 milhão de habitantes, Porto Alegre tem uma localização geográfica estratégica. A pouco mais de 1.200 quilômetros de Buenos Aires e 1.100 quilômetros de São Paulo, a capital do Rio Grande do Sul fica em uma importante rota econômica e turística do Mercosul. É considerada uma das cidades mais arborizadas do Brasil, com estimativas que apontam uma árvore para cada habitante. Sua população é constituída por imigrantes açorianos, alemães, italianos, espanhóis, africanos, poloneses e libaneses. Foi eleita por três vezes a metrópole nº1 em qualidade de vida no Brasil pela ONU. É também considerada  “Cidade Livre do Analfabetismo”, com taxa de alfabetização superior a 96%.

Visualizar Porto Alegre em um mapa maior

- Área (2010): 496,8 km²

- Densidade demográfica (2010): 2.836,7 hab/km²

- 6ª melhor cidade da Améria Latina para fazer negócios

- Renda per capita: R$ 26.312,00

- PIB p.m (2009): R$ 37.787.913 mil

- PIB per capita (2009): R$ 26.312

- IDH: 0,865 (o 9º do Brasil)

- Exportações totais (2010): U$ FOB 1.434.159.666

- Taxa de desemprego: 7,3% da população economicamente ativa (a menor taxa entre as capitais brasileiras)

- Taxa de alfabetização: 97,8%

- Taxa de analfabetismo de pessoas com 15 anos ou mais (2010): 2,28 %

- Expectativa de vida ao nascer (2000): 71,59 anos

- Coeficiente de mortalidade infantil (2010): 10,53 por mil nascidos vivos

- 630 estabelecimentos de saúde

- 8.283 leitos hospitalares

- 31 instituições de ensino superior

- Uma das sedes da Copa do Mundo 2014

- Densidade de telefones celulares: 146/100 habitantes

- 71% dos habitantes conectados à internet rápida (banda larga)

- 9 campos de golfe

- 5 escolas bilíngues

- Clique e veja um painel geral sobre Porto Alegre

Fontes: IBGE, DATASUS, Prefeitura de Porto Alegre, FEE, Cepet e IDN

Atuamos como investidores iniciais em negócios com grande potencial de crescimento oferecendo o capital necessário para impulsionar o empreendimento, mas não paramos por aí. Seguimos a crença de que, neste estágio, as empresas necessitam de mão na massa e, por isso, nos envolvemos com o negócio apoiando seu desenvolvimento, mas sempre respeitando a função de liderança dos empreendedores. Nosso papel é apoiá-los, transferindo conhecimentos, contatos ou apenas funcionando como um parceiro na tomada das decisões mais difíceis.

Como empreendedores experientes, nós, os sócios da Paradoxa, aprendemos o quanto é importante ter alguém para compartilhar decisões e discutir as ideias que guiam a empresa. Por esse motivo, estamos prontos para compartilhar nossos conhecimentos com os empreendedores que mostrem verdadeiro entusiasmo pelo seu negócio.

Como procuramos projetos em áreas que representem grandes desafios tecnológicos e de gestão, contamos também com o apoio de co-investidores, que serão responsáveis por agregar conhecimento especializado ao empreendimento.

Queremos capturar o momento econômico único pelo qual passa o Brasil. Mas, para empresas inovadoras atingirem escala exponencial neste novo cenário brasileiro, empreendedores iniciantes precisam de um empurrão para transformar uma boa ideia em um excelente negócio. Vamos atuar nesse espaço, aproximando inovações disruptivas de modelos vencedores de gestão para atingir crescimento exponencial.

Para cumprir as expectativas de crescimento de investidores e empreendedores, também seremos a ponte entre a empresa e contatos pelo mundo que podem ajudar a impulsionar o negócio.

Queremos conectar estes empreendedores e o que há de melhor no Brasil à cultura inovadora do Vale do Silício. Uma plataforma de negócios como a Paradoxa não pode ignorar a Bay Area. Vemos nessa articulação uma oportunidade para iniciarmos o caminho mirando uma provável estratégia com alguém que tenha cultura e interesses convergentes com os nossos.

O resultado dessa convergência será uma aliança entre recursos intelectuais complementares capazes de articular a transformação de uma ideia em um negócio e, mais importante, mapear riscos com antecedência para evitar que erros comuns e evitáveis prejudiquem o desenvolvimento da empresa. Essa é a abordagem da Paradoxa para geração de valor: reunir pessoas experientes, originais e desafiadoras em torno do objetivo comum de impulsionar negócios ao mesmo tempo inovadores e disciplinados.

Para chegar lá, queremos usar a geografia ao nosso favor. Partimos do que temos no Brasil, especialmente do que temos no sul do país (Porto Alegre, RS). Acreditamos muito nos recursos que estão a nossa disposição, e o Brasil já conta com players de reputação altamente positiva. Claro que há muito por ser feito em termos de reformas estruturais e controles do setor público, mas isso só indica o potencial que ainda resta a ser explorado. Excetuando essas melhorias, o país já é competitivo mundialmente e os indicadores falam por si.

Young companies that match the profile we are looking for may find in Paradoxa an investment and management partner to make the business take off at once.

We work as early stage investors in businesses with a large potential for growth, providing the necessary capital to lift up the business. But we don’t stop there: we follow the belief that, at this stage, companies need practical work and, for that reason, we get involved in business, assisting its development while still respecting the leadership roles of each entrepreneur. Our job is to help them, transferring knowledge, contacts, or even acting as a partner when it is time to make difficult decisions.

Being experienced entrepreneurs ourselves, we, partners of Paradoxa, have learned how important it is for someone to share decisions and discuss the guiding ideas of a business. For that reason, we are ready to share our knowledge with those entrepreneurs that show true enthusiasm for their businesses.

Since we are looking for projects in areas that represent great challenges in both technology and management, we also have the support of co-investors who will be responsible for bringing specialized knowledge into the enterprise.

We want to capture the special moment of Brazilian economy. However, for innovative enterprises to reach exponential growth in this new Brazilian scenario, beginner entrepreneurs need support to transform a good idea into an excellent business. We will cover this, bringing together disruptive innovations and successful management models to reach exponential growth.

In order to fulfill growth expectations of both investors and entrepreneurs, we will also act as a link between the enterprise and contacts around the World which can help to boost up the business.

We want to connect these entrepreneurs and what is best in Brazil to the innovative culture of Silicon Valley. Business platforms like Paradoxa cannot ignore Bay Area. We see our connection as an opportunity to open a path towards a likely strategy with those that share converging culture and interests.

This convergence results in an alliance between complementary intellectual resources capable of transforming an idea into a business and, most importantly, early risk assessment in order to avoid common needless mistakes from holding back the enterprise’s development. This is Paradoxa’s approach to create value: bringing together experienced, original and stimulating people towards the common goal of promoting innovative and disciplined businesses.

To get there, we plan to use the geography in our favor. We begin from what we
have in Brazil, and especially what we have in southern Brazil (Porto Alegre, RS). We firmly believe in the resources we have access to. Moreover, Brazil has already players with winner reputation. Certainly, there is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to structural reforms and regulation. Still, that only shows the potential that awaits being explored. Leaving aside such problems, Brazil has become a competitive reality in the World, and the indicators speak for themselves.

One of the consequences of new technologies is the geographic democratization of innovation. Nowadays, the chances of success of a venture born in India, Chile or Brazil are incredibly higher than ten years ago.

Experts from advanced centers of research and business say that the big issues of humanity will be solved in places that until now were out of the innovation scene. The costs of startup a business decrease, the knowledge access arise and courage for begin a venture is higher.

This favorable conditions are necessary, but do not guarantee that relevant innovation will happen in this regions. To make it happen, we need breakthroughs that could turn into business, a proper entrepreneurial behaviour, a well-informed and intelligent strategy and a investments discipline.

Paradoxa wants to be in this scene, searching innovative opportunities led by outstanding people and helping to design a successful strategy under a sustainable policy of investments.

Unlike the passive role of the conventional investor, the co-investor we seek will not only be able to monitor the progress of the business, but also to contribute with his/her expertise, as a counselor.

This model offers an extra security for the investment, allowing entrepreneurs to contribute for the advance of new businesses that will raise Brazil to new levels in science and technology.

From this combination, Paradoxa was born. Our aim is to boost the entrepreneurial experience in Brazil, relying on our know-how on generating winning companies and attracting co-investors to begin an age of innovation in a fast-developing country.

Currently, we have 16 businessmen with large experience on starting companies from scratch. People with marketing skills, solid network and notorious technical and scientific knowledge – key features to turn good ideas into innovative products.

The criteria we use to select co-investors take into account at least one of the following features:

1.  Investors with significant experience in starting companies from scratch. This ability is not always taken into consideration, but a closer look at the high mortality rate of startups will show just how important it is as a defining factor of success.
2. Investors with significant marketing skills, an expressive network and a reputation that can really add value to a business.
3. Investors with notorious scientific and technological knowledge, enough to guarantee that good ideas will turn into innovative offers – or, on the other hand, to dismiss initiatives that, as original as they can be, lack relevance to a business.

Before defining how much they will invest, our co-investors pass through an evaluation in order to discover what are the contributions that they could bring to the ventures in terms of support, networking and coaching. After, we discuss the investments.

The investment has the nature of a club deal, where the opportunities are discussed until a go no go decision. Which club member can choose in enter in one, ten or no deal. The club administration pays to investor in the end. The Paradoxa’s aim is not to achieve an comfort zone with administration fees. Paradoxa is a potential co-investor in the same business that are present to club members.

Paradoxa does not receive any investment or operate as a fund. It accelerates a co-investment process where the decision of entering is always of the money’s owner. In the end, Paradoxa receives a percentage of profits that its help to generate. Unsuccessful businesses do not pays Paradoxa.

Paradoxa will create an net with 20 or 30 individuals investors. We consider that we should have 70-100 opportunities, extract from 300-400 business, to present to the club. In the first analysis, we estimate that only 30-50 startups will gain attention from the club members.

This opportunities will pass through due diligence, viability analysis and so on. During this process, 15-25 will receive proposals. We estimate that only 8-12 will end in business. This is not an aggressive number, but it should not be underestimated.

After investment, Paradoxa has an important role to support the entrepreneur in order to increase security and grow velocity. This is the stage of value creation and, unfortunately, where we see an high rate of startups death. That is the reason for Paradoxa to believe in the importance of the co-investors help and knowledge. Although some startups may not grow, the others could represent an expressive gain for the club members.

Paradoxa works as an entrepreneur-in-residence – a investor who is also involved in business management. At this early stage, we look for joint investments in 8 to 12 concomitant businesses.

Our radar searches for start-ups on highly innovative niches, representing a high potential to change paradigms and potentially resulting in ventures of a high potential value.

We seek:

1. Businesses with disruptive innovation and chances of an exponential growth in fields which, in the next decades, may change people’s lives and the economics as a whole – medicine, biotechnology, nanotechnology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, robotics, renewable energy and clean tech;
2. Early-stage companies;
3. Products with special appeal to the Brazilian market, but also relevant for the world market;
4. Entrepreneurs with technical skills, courage, imagination, resilience, confidence, and ambition.

We offer:

1. The expertise behind three successful companies and co-investors with renowned experience on the focus area of the selected business. We will sit together, invest our personal money, study the business and the industry behind it, endorse positions and help finding clients and partners;
2. All the required measures to sell the company to major players, compromised and with the expertise to make it even bigger.