Tupi or not Tupi, That is the Question: Social Innovation in Brazil

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The Manifesto Antropófago (Cannibal Manifesto in English) was published in 1928 by the Brazilian poet and polemicist Oswald de Andrade. Its argument is that Brazil's history of &quot;cannibalizing&quot; other cultures is its greatest strength, while playing on the modernists' primitivist interest in cannibalism as an alleged tribal rite. Cannibalism becomes a way for Brazil to assert itself against European post-colonial cultural domination. The Manifesto's iconic line is &quot;Tupi or not Tupi: that is the question.&quot; The line is simultaneously a celebration of the Tupi, who practiced certain forms of ritual cannibalism (as detailed in the 16th century writings of Andre Thevet, Hans Staden, and Jean de Lery), and a metaphorical instance of cannibalism: it eats Shakespeare (Wikipedia). My role is to link the first presentation, oriented to facts and numbers about R&D policy and governance in Brazil, with the second presentation about the Nokia Technology of Technology (INdT) Living Labs. Brazil is known for being a leader in middle size planes market, biofuels, flex motors, deep see drilling, large oil reserves, biotechnology, etc. But not many people reckon Brazilian Social Innovation. I will show a rapid kaleidoscope of images to give you a glimpse of what is happening in Brazil in terms of Social Innovation from global impacting initiatives to very local, almost individualized projects that show why Brazil is the place for user-driven innovation.

The first full participatory budgeting process was developed in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil, starting in 1989 and then spread to rest of the world (Wikipedia). Images sources: www.participatorybudgeting.org; www.elbag.org, www.inthesetimes.com

The Rio Convention, also known as the “Earth Summit” produced the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 (a plan of action for the UN organizations, Governments, and Major Groups in areas where human activities have a negative impact on the environment) and also led to agreement on two other conventions which became open for signature – the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) and Biological Diversity, both legally binding (Wikipedia). Image Source: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~danov20d/images/rio%20conference.jpg

The Social Forum is an open meeting place for civil society organizations and individuals opposed to neoliberalism and the domination of the world by capital and imperialism. The first Social Forum was the World Social Forum (WSF) held in January 2001 in Porto Alegre. It was designed as a counter forum to the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos at the same time. While the WEF is a meeting of the political and economic elite of the world, the WSF gathers social forces and promotes democratization and social justice (Wikipedia). Image Source: http://www.edsgonesouth.com/blog/archives/000061.html

FUNAI reported that it had confirmed the presence of 67 different uncontacted tribes in Brazil, up from 40 in 2005. With this addition Brazil has now overtaken the island of New Guinea as the country having the largest number of uncontacted peoples. A somewhat dated linguistic survey found 188 living indigenous languages with 155,000 total speakers. Adding to millions of Brazilians of Indigenous origin (like myself), there are more than half a million Brazilians classified themselves as indigenous (Wikipedia). Image Source: Gleison Miranda/FUNAI

The G20 (Group of 20, also variously G21, G22 and G20+) is a bloc of developing nations established on 20 August 2003. The group emerged at the WTO conference, held in Cancún, in 2003. The G-20 accounts for 60% of the world's population, 70% of its farmers and 26% of world’s agricultural exports. Its origins date back to June 2003, when foreign ministers from Brazil, India and South Africa signed a declaration known as the Brasilia Declaration, in which they stated that Brazil, India and South Africa decided to articulate their initiatives of trade liberalization (Wikipedia). Image Source: Wikipedia

The G-20 (more formally, the Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors) is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 economies: 19 of the world's largest national economies, plus the European Union (EU). It also met twice at heads-of-government level, in November 2008 and again in April 2009. Collectively, the G-20 economies comprise 85% of global gross national product, 80% of world trade (including EU intra-trade) and two-thirds of the world population. The G-20 is a forum for cooperation and consultation on matters pertaining to the international financial system. It studies, reviews, and promotes discussion among key industrial and emerging market countries of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability, and seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organization (Wikipedia). Image Source: colunistas.ig.com.br

Directly contacting potential clients, that usually do not trust in people from favela. The solution take place in Rocinha, the biggest favela in Rio de Janeiro. It works just as a recruitment agency filling over temporary, contract and permanent positions. The key innovation is that this solution is self-organized by the favela inhabitants, and its main objective is to directly contact potential clients, that usually do not trust in people from favela (usually considered as criminals by medium-class people). The solution is targeted to create trust and it works bringing closer social classes, generating incoming and work without intermediation support and relieving social tension ( Source: http://www.sustainable-everyday.net/active-welfare/brasil/ ).

Imagens do Povo (People’s Images) is a center for documentation, search and popular photographers formation, created by the journalist João Roberto Ripper and supported by the Observatório de Favelas in Rio de Janeiro. The project biggest objective is to place the photograph working for the human rights through the register of the reality lived in brazilian suburbs and favelas; and creates an images collection about the different groups and popular movements in the country. This project has the idea that to democratize the photograph is to set a human look on the society. ( Source: http://www.sustainable-everyday.net/active-welfare/brasil/ ).

In 1995, Leila Novak created the Curumim Project, supported by a space created for the social integration and citizenship conscience involving the population who live in damaged areas in Atibaia, São Paulo state. Leila attracted low income children and teenagers for environmental educational activities in exchange for the Selo Curumim (Curumim Stamp), a sort of parallel coin that the children change for food, clothes, shoes and toys in the Shopping Center Cidadania Curumim, a space created for this kind of marketing once a month. The shopping center promotes also a “fair of changes”, where anybody can change what is not in use any more. With this action, Shopping Cidadania´s stock can be easily supplied. The project also allows the changes of services for stamps. ( Source: http://www.sustainable-everyday.net/active-welfare/brasil/ ).

Núcleo de Cidadania Digital. Telecenter managed by students at Vitoria Federal University, Espírito Santo State, Brazil. (http://www.ncd.ufes.br/ncd/)

Desembargador Paulo Feitoza Foundation. Ocular Mouse. (http://www.fpf.br/portal/)

Desembargador Paulo Feitoza Foundation. Digital Gestual Language. (http://www.fpf.br/portal/)

Tupi or not Tupi, That is the Question: Social Innovation in Brazil

Jose Luiz Moutinho

Tupi or not Tupi, That is the Question: Social Innovation in Brazil