The Special Secretariat for Rio de Janeiro Youth (JUVRio) is present at the first edition of Expo Favela Innovation in Rio de Janeiro, which runs until July 31st at Cidade das Artes. With an exclusive stand, the Rio de Janeiro City Hall department has been presenting the Youth Spaces, a public facility focused on offering free technology courses, to thousands of visitors. More than 100 young students and former students from Cidade de Deus, Vigário Geral and Estácio who took the Drone Operator, Robotics and DJ Practices courses were at the fair to learn about new opportunities in Industry 4.0 and present their work to the public.
The Secretary of Youth in Rio de Janeiro, Salvino Oliveira, gave a talk alongside representatives of other initiatives and public institutions about Entrepreneurship in the Favelas. A resident of Cidade de Deus, the JUVRio representative discussed the importance of training young people for opportunities in one of the fastest growing markets today.
– For those of us who grew up in the favelas, entrepreneurship has always been about surviving within our realities and, little by little, we are continuing as life allows. The world is much bigger than our favelas. Technology has increasingly shaped society and we need to respond by proposing to have this sincere debate regarding these realities. That is why we are creating technology training spaces within the favelas with free, high-quality courses. It is one of our ways of establishing a pact in defense of the youth, who are the ones who will promote the changes we want today – said Secretary Salvino Oliveira.
Visitors to Expo Favela Innovation will have the opportunity to learn about Youth Spaces at the JUVRio stand, set up at the entrance to the event. In less than a year, more than 2 Rio residents from Estácio, Cidade de Deus, Vigário Geral and Vargem Pequena have graduated, free of charge, from courses in Drone, Robotics, 3D Printing, Mobile Programming (IOT), Game Design, Sound Industry (DJ) and Advanced Industry. Suzete Ramos, 32, lives in Irajá, in the northern part of Rio, and learned about Youth Spaces at the fair.
– I found it very interesting and my son is studying technical high school in Game Programming and I saw that this initiative could be interesting for him to improve in the area he likes. Something like this, free of charge, was missing in the city to keep our children busy and qualify them. We tend to think that everything that comes down to technology is the internet, but there are other very important areas”, said Suzete.
Expo Favela
Expo Favela Innovation was a huge success in 2022. And this year, the organization took a bold step, expanding the event by creating regional editions in several capitals of the country, ending with a major national edition in December. The first regional edition was held in São Paulo, on March 17, 18 and 19, and had a rotating attendance of more than 40 thousand people over the three days of the event. In December, there will be a major national edition.
