Kodex participates in a report on innovation in Revista da CNT

A breath of innovation

By bringing startups and companies together, Connect Now Brasil promoted new solutions for the passenger transport segment

The ability to innovate has become essential for business sustainability. Companies need to attract brains and give the necessary freedom for new ideas to flourish. Aware of this imperative, the ITL (Instituto de Transporte and Logistics) created Connect Now Brasil, Passenger Transport. Aimed at the passenger road segment, the initiative had the partnership of AGS (Gaucha Association of Startups), Setcergs (Union of Transport Companies of Cargo and Logistics in the State of Rio Grande do Sul) and ComJovem Porto Alegre (Commission of Young Entrepreneurs and Executives of Road Cargo Transport).

“It is necessary to explore new market niches and implement creative business models. Innovative companies are more interesting in the eyes of the market and consumers and tend to achieve financial and managerial benefits”, says the executive director of ITL, João Victor Mendes. “Innovative thinking necessarily involves the search for upgrades, advances and modernizations. This translates into longevity for companies; and, in the transport sector, it is no different. People and organizations must always be in the process of recycling; and the partnership with startups fulfills this function well, bringing freshness and new solutions”, adds the director.

Connect Now Brasil had the participation of 35 companies and ten startups and started on August 3, with Pitch Day, when the selected startups were directed to presentation rooms. The dynamic continued three days later, with the Connection Stage, when ten companies had meetings with connected startups on Pitch Day and had the opportunity to establish a direct conversation. Finally, in October, it was the turn of the Show Case, in which the main connections were selected for companies and startups to present the results of the negotiations. In all, there were 20 connection meetings with the companies.

First results

“Connect Now Brasil played a role in raising awareness and approaching the characteristics of the target audience. The idea is to bring as many companies as possible to talk to startups so that we can provide innovation and be business partners”, summarizes the director of connections at AGS, Fernando Eisele. He recalls that many companies participated for the first time in an event with startups and that connections still need to be increased. “The work must be consistent and with new editions so that the sector begins to understand our importance. Gradually, this will be deconstructed. The objective was to show that startups have good solutions for the sector and that companies need to open up to advance. and evolve”, he reinforces.

Viação Ouro e Prata is enthusiastic about open innovation and found, in the Connect Now project, the opportunity to meet startups with solutions to meet the needs of the road passenger segment. “We understand that the The project's proposal was to disseminate and create opportunities for a culture of innovation among all companies in the sector. We were already running a pilot project with the startup Última Hora, and now we have a signed contract and are in production”, quotes the company's innovation manager, Cesar Perrenoud.

Perrenoud reveals that, at the moment, the company is in talks with another startup. “With BI Machine, we are in the commercial negotiation phase and deepening the knowledge of the BI (Business Intelligence) platform functionalities. We understand that the future of the sector involves the adoption of new technologies, whether to deliver a better shopping experience for the customer, or to analyze data for strategic decision-making”, he highlights.

Regarding the use of applications aimed at passenger transport, the CNT positions itself in favor of regulating the sector, which will materialize with the approval of PL n.°3.819/2020, authored by Senator Marcos Rogério (DEM/RO). Approved by the Federal Senate, the matter is being processed as a matter of urgency in the Chamber of Deputies, where it awaits deliberation in plenary.

Vice-coordinator of the ComJovem Institute for Market Development, Thais Bandeira Cardoso, who is also a partner-owner of Kodex, emphasizes that the project's premise is to bring together startups and transport modes in Brazil, but states that the passenger segment was the first to be covered. “The sector still has difficulty understanding the importance of startups. They, in turn, are also thinking about transport, but so that it bears fruit, it is necessary to connect”, he believes.

Finally, the vice-coordinator warns that, in today's world, it is impossible for a company to survive without thinking about innovations. “Today, the company that does not innovate is left behind and cannot grow. It is an action that must be recurrent. We need other events to put this in the DNA of the transport sector. Some companies already understand this, but there is still a lot of room to move forward. Innovation must be a culture”, he stresses.