The city showcases its creative potential at Rio Innovation Week.

Discussions with experts and initiatives in technology, education, tourism, and audiovisual media are part of the city's participation in the largest innovation event in Latin America - Press Release / Rio Innovation Week

Between August 4th and 7th, Pier Mauá will host Rio Innovation Week 2026, one of the largest innovation and technology events in Latin America. With the potential to generate approximately R$ 156,2 million for the Rio de Janeiro economy and an expected attendance of over 200 participants throughout the four days, RIW will bring together professionals, researchers, entrepreneurs, and specialists from different fields in a program that includes lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and immersive experiences. The Rio de Janeiro City Hall will be present in various panels and activations that integrate technology, interactivity, and the experience of living in the city.

For this edition of Rio Innovation Week, the City Hall presents a reinterpretation of the campaign "In the Rio Mood | It Feels Like Rio," created by Riotur to promote the city as a destination that goes beyond postcards and translates the essence of the Carioca experience. During the event, the brand gains a special version: "In the Mood for Innovation | It Feels Like Innovation," reinforcing that innovation is part of Rio's identity and its positioning as a hub of creativity, technology, and development.

The Rio Innovation Week 2026 is expected to attract a diverse audience: 15% domestic tourists, 25% visitors from the interior of the state of Rio de Janeiro, and foreign tourists from delegations of 30 countries, according to the event organizers. The remaining participants will be residents of the capital and the Metropolitan Region.

Technology at the service of tourism.

One of the main attractions of the Rio de Janeiro City Hall will be the Rio Sense Lab, developed by Riotur in partnership with the startup NeuroSenses, Rio Innovation Week, the Municipal Secretariat of Economic Development (SMDE), and the UFRJ Technological Park. The experience uses an immersive cube that combines audiovisual content, neurotechnology, and data science to analyze, through a neural device, how visitors react to content related to Rio de Janeiro, such as nature, historical heritage, culture, gastronomy, major events, and tourist attractions.

At the end of the experience, each participant receives a personalized report, while the consolidated and anonymized data will contribute to studies on audience behavior and the development of new tourism promotion strategies.

The program also includes LED Pulse, an interactive installation that responds in real time to the flow of visitors. The lighting adapts to the movement and occupancy of the space, creating a visual representation of the interaction between people, technology, and the city, and highlighting the relationship between human behavior, innovation, and urban space.

Arena.Rio: content, entrepreneurship and economic development

In addition to immersive experiences, the City Hall's participation will include a program dedicated to strengthening the ecosystem of technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship as drivers of the city's economic development.

Arena.Rio, located in Warehouse 5, will bring together startups, companies, investors, universities, and experts for presentations, debates, and pitch sessions, promoting strategic connections and discussions about innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development.

In this context, Sandbox Rio stands out, an initiative that creates an experimental regulatory environment so that companies can test innovative solutions with greater flexibility and legal certainty.

The Rio de Janeiro City Hall is also sponsoring the "In the Climate of Innovation" plenary session at Armazém Kobra, a space dedicated to discussions about technology, cities, creativity, and development. Featuring figures such as Malala Yousafzai, Djamila Ribeiro, and Marcelo Gleiser, the event will bring together representatives from science, the arts, and social activism to discuss trends, challenges, and solutions for the future.

Discussions highlight innovation, technology, and artificial intelligence as tools for social transformation.

The Rio de Janeiro City Hall will also participate in several debates throughout the program. On the first day of the event, the Municipal Secretary of Science, Technology and Innovation (SMCTI), Gabriel Medina, will participate in the lecture “Rio as the capital of applied AI: infrastructure, government and market working together”. The following day (August 5th), Medina will present all the programs and tools that promote access to technology for the population in the lecture “From Digital Inclusion to Social Transformation: how education creates new opportunities”. On the 6th, the secretariat will join the Society 5.0 – Cities of Tomorrow Panel, where five cases of smart cities around the world will be presented, opening the panel for discussions among experts.

The application of artificial intelligence in public education will be presented by the Municipal Secretary of Education, Hugo Nepomuceno, through the experience of AI training developed with teachers from the Technological Educational Gymnasiums (GETs), an innovative model of the municipal education network. The panel will address the strategic role of GET teachers as multipliers of innovation in school communities, presenting real-world cases of the application of artificial intelligence in pedagogical practice and discussing the ethical, technological, and educational challenges of implementing these tools in public education. Ways to encourage managers, educators, and organizations to develop digital transformation initiatives focused on educational impact will also be debated.

The Municipal Secretariat of the Civil House brings together specialists from the Sub-Secretariat of Digital Transformation and Smart City (SUBTD) and IplanRio to present initiatives that drive innovation in the municipality. On Thursday, August 5th, starting at 3 pm, topics such as digital transformation, artificial intelligence, digital government, early childhood, and modernization of public services will be presented. In the afternoon, IplanRio and the Sub-Secretariat of Digital Transformation and Smart City will participate in panels that will show how the city uses artificial intelligence to offer smarter public services and make municipal administration more efficient, agile, and innovative. The program will begin at 3:30 pm with the lecture "The Future of Public Management is Digital," presented by the Sub-Secretary of Digital Transformation and Smart City, Raquel Flexa. At 5 pm, the president of IplanRio, Thiago Trabach, and the vice-president, Ingrid Gomes, will show how the city uses artificial intelligence to offer smarter and more efficient public services in the panel "How Rio uses AI to offer smart services to the population."

On the agenda are projects that use innovation as a central element to strengthen public policies and improve the quality of services offered to the population. Among the highlights is "Oportunidades Cariocas" (Opportunities in Rio), an integrated platform for training, employability, and service provision, which combines technology and the strategic use of data to train and generate professional opportunities for residents of Rio de Janeiro.

Invest.Rio will be present on the first day in the panel “How innovation drives cities: the future of Rio and Mata Maravilha”. The meeting will bring together Sidney Levy, president of Invest.Rio, and David Laloum, Managing Partner of Mata Holding, to discuss how structuring projects can boost urban development through the integration of historical heritage, sustainability, the creative economy, and new uses for the city.

The application of new technologies to city conservation will be the topic of the lecture “A City That Works: Innovation in Invisible Infrastructure,” presented by the Municipal Secretary of Conservation, Diego Vaz. The discussion will address the use of data, smart solutions, and technological tools to increase the efficiency, prevention, and response capacity of urban services.

RioFilme, with its CEO Leonardo Edde, will be present with a program focused on strengthening the audiovisual industry. Throughout the event, company representatives will participate in debates on the role of Rio de Janeiro as a film production hub, the relationships between heritage, the city and urban narratives, as well as the challenges and opportunities brought by innovation, investments and new technologies to the audiovisual sector, highlighting the city's leading role as a creative and strategic engine of the Brazilian audiovisual industry.

The Municipal Secretariat of Integrity and Transparency (SMIT) is also participating in the event with a program focused on the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence in public management. Highlights include the participation of Secretary Rodrigo Corrêa in debates on artificial intelligence, education, and social mobility on August 4th, and on the ethical use of AI on August 6th.

The department is also promoting two panels curated by itself: “AI Supports. Humans Decide,” on August 5th, dedicated to governance, integrity, and transparency in public administration, and a second panel, on the 7th, focused on the challenges of digital security and data protection.

The CEO of MOBI-Rio, Claudia Secin, will participate in two panels at Rio Innovation Week. On Tuesday, August 4th, she will speak about Female Leadership, and on Thursday, August 6th, she will discuss Smart Mobility in Practice.

CIVITAS will participate in a discussion based on a real-life case study about how data integration between different agencies translates into intelligence to support investigations and public safety actions. Davi Carreiro, CEO of CIVITAS, will present how technology, data analysis, and institutional cooperation work together to transform information into qualified evidence, support strategic decision-making, and contribute to concrete results.

Held in an area of ​​approximately 90 square meters, Rio Innovation Week 2026 will bring together more than 3 speakers, 35 stages, 2 startups and 400 exhibitors, establishing itself as one of the main innovation, technology and entrepreneurship events in Latin America.

Check out the full schedule online.