Location: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Time: 7:40 AM
'Twenty First Century Challenges to Provide opportunities to think together. The Forum aims to foster Brazil-MIT collaborations that will bring about scientific and technological advances of global significance.'-
Topic: Welcome Message...
(Presented by Susan Hockfield, MIT President and Jorge Morgan, Sovereign Bank)Summary of Statements:
Hockfield; This is our first major conference on Brazil. I would like to give a brief thank you to those who have made this conference possible. MIT is celebrating its 150th Anniversary, this is the time that we look back upon our Founder (William Barton Rogers) and his idea of problem based approach. MIT-Brazil has appeared to in the blink of an eye ranging from providing Portuguese Speaking Courses, Internships to Students interested in changing the world, MIT Seed Funds for Global Projects, etc.
Morgan: United States & Brazil share many similarities, especially the fact that both help foster the entrepreneurship, higher education, and innovative thinking. MISTI-Brazil program has allowed the fostering of partnerships between students from both the US and Brazil.
9:00 AM- Energy
Speakers:
Clean Energy & Economic Growth
-Ernest Moniz, Cecil & Ida Green Distinguished Professor of Physics, Director of MIT Energy Initiative
-Persio Arida, former Central Bank Governor, Brazil; Chairman of Asset Management; Board Member of BTG Pactual
Summary of Statements:
Perfect Storm of Energy Challenges
Moniz:
- Energy Service for 10 billion people at Mid-Century
- Environment/ Climate Change: 'De-Carbonize' by Mid-Century
- Energy Security given geological & geopolitical realities: diversify transportation fuels?
- Fundamental Question: Can we significantly decrease energy and carbon intensity while accommodating needed economic growth.
- Projected doubling of energy use; still over 10 billion without power in 2030
- Tripled Electricity Use for Brazil by 2050; A population of 203 million with about $2 Trillion.
- GDP per person: $9,900 while Energy/ GDP is 5.0 mmBtu/ $K
- The principle challenge is reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions, with largest criminals being transportation and lighting for residential & commercial locations.
Brazil: How big in oil?
Arida: About half of the energy from Brazil if from Renewable Sources and this trend should continue in the next decade. Unlike other countries, the debate in Brazil is not with developing new renewable energy initiatives. The Electricity picture is composed of 81.5% of Hydro-power. Oil is made from naturally renewable resources and vehicles in Brazil can switch from traditional gasoline and ethanol.
- The investment to GDP ration in Brazil was 19.2% (2010) with a potential output close to 4.5% (this assuming that Total Factor Productivity, TFP, to be about 1.5%).
- In order to increase the potential output to 5%, it is necessary to increase the investment to GDP ratio to 24%.
- Production has risen 3.1X in 15 years to 2.1mbd
- Reserves have risen 2.7x as well to 17 years and possibly 28 years
- It is a small exporter of oil as well which is opposite to its position just decades earlier when it was a large importer of oil.
- Without the pre-salt resources, Brazil holds the 17th place among the World's Largest Reserves behind Angola.
Does Brazil want to do more? It would appear it does...
Brazil has undeveloped reserves which have yet to reach its full potential.
Petrobras: Operates at 66% of the 'growth' and is aggressively guided by government.
The bidding rules:
- Up front cash payment- How much is would pay for the concession
- Minimum Work Program- How much it would invest at a minimum
- Local Content Pledge- How much he would buy from local suppliers in the development of whatever he found
Brazil does not have many yards. It currently has 5 offshore yards today, but most are small. Only one can build more than one offshore production unit per year.
Many are taken with other demands...one is taken with tanker construction and the other maintenance
Industry Policy and Welfare
Imports would be a solution but would appear to be a paradox
No Dutch Disease from Oil
- Trade Openness View
- imports +exports as a % of GDP is close to 23.3% for Brazil (2010)
- In the US this ratio is 28.6%
- Flow View
- 2020, US$81 Billion flow from the Pre-salt will account for 1.6% of GDP in 2020.
- Brazil is a domestic oriented country, not an exporting oriented country.
- Current deficit will decrease (2.3% of GDP but will get higher), but not that much because of the import content of investment.
1.) Since Nuclear Power is such a huge portion of Brazil's plan to de-carbonize its energy production, how does the disaster of the Fukushima Accident affect these current plans?
Moniz: Well, the cost of Nuclear Power will increase dramatically. That is without a doubt. Also the current conversation of the need to extend the licensing agreements for Nuclear Power Plants from 40 years to 60 years will be drastically overhauled. My expectation is for a push for the increase production of small power plants instead of large compounds like we saw in Fukushima.
2.) Is education and communication another challenge to energy and should financial incentives be offered in order to increase the adoption of clean energy initiatives?
Moniz: I don't believe that policy won't advance very far until it doesn't cost so much. Unfortunately, these initiatives must be based reducing financial costs in order to garner the attention of the public. The public is just not ready to tackle clean energy without seeking a financial gain currently.
3.) What is going to happen to Brazil after 10 years?
Arida: That is a difficult question because the mass of uncertainty is so great. But I believe that Brazil will increase its reliance on ethanol and will be adopted as a long term commitment. Hydro may become less green after 10 years but will still be used.
4.) My question is about Electric Cars, you mentioned that to reduce carbon dioxide emissions we need to reduce consumption in the transportation. In Brazil, what are the barriers preventing the adoption? Is it scale? The operation costs are only 20% of those which use internal combustion engines.
Arida: The public may not be ready to accept such technology.
Moniz: The battery costs could be several thousand dollars, that is just too expensive. The only bright light in bringing availability of a practical electric car to mass markets is plug in and hybrids since they are cheaper.
9:55 AM- Biofuels
Jose Goldemberg, former Minister of Education, Brazil
Biofuels in Brazil: Past, Present, & Future Perspectives
George Stephanopoulos, Willard Henry Dow Professor of Biotechnology & Chemical Engineering, MIT
Biofuels in Brazil: Past, Present, & Future Perspectives
Goldemberg: We will focus on transportation as Brazil uses at least 30% of its energy in transportation. This is already a large strain on fuel resources. Almost 800 vehicles/ 1000 people in the United States while in Brazil it is 75 vehicles/ 1000 people. If Brazil is to follow the development trajectory of the United States, it could consume over 300% of its fuel resources in order to keep those vehicles on the road.
Therefore, Brazil must move from Petroleum, like it moved from hay to coal, and adopt the following methods of transportation:
- Biofuels
- Hybrids
- Electricity
Sugar Cane Ethanol Production in Brazil:
The majority of the production is in the state of Sao Paulo, so do not pay attention to those claims that the Amazon Forest is being destroyed for Sugar Cane production since it is banned.
Energy Balance: (Ratio is Power Output to Fossil Fuel Input)
- Sugar Cane: 9.3
- Wheat: 2.0
- Sugar Beets: 2.0
- Corn: 1.4
In the state of Sao Paulo there has been been adopted very vigorous Agro-Environmental zoning in Sao Paulo in order to control environment damage due to sugar cane. --
Perspectives on Advanced Biofuels
Stephanopoulos:
Perspectives on Advanced Biofuels
Stephanopoulos:
- Ethanol from Corn; Biodiesel from plant seeds and vegetable oils
- Ethanol from Sugarcane
What is the likelihood that one of the advanced biofuels will compete successfully with ethanol? We must consider several things before we make a decision on the practicality of advanced biofuels.
- Yields (gallons ethanol/ kg sugar) is most important metric for economical process.
- Ethanol is produced at almost maximum theoretical yield
- Ethanol has low energy density (very low cost per volume)
Algae
(Gallons of Oil Generated by Acre of Land)
- Soybeans - 48
- Sesame- 74
- Jatrophe- 202
- Cellusonic Ethanol- 533
- Sugarcane Ethanol- 566
- Algae~ 6,000
- 1 gallon of biodiesel= 3.8 Liters= 3.4 kgs
- 1 kg of Glucose (Sugar)----> Product- Ethanol (~0.51 kg)
- 1 kg of Glucose (Sugar)---> Product- Fats & Oils (~0.31 kg)
- Oil Producing Microbe: 312 g/L consumed ---> 80 g/L produced
Q & A:
1.) During the past 10 years, Sugar producers have been selling the biomass that accumulate from the sugar process to electricity focused companies. However some seem to be a little hesitant to participate because of the high upfront costs?
Stephanopoulos: Producers will only realize about 50% in producing ethanol then in producing other products such as oils and fats.
2.) How can one use a higher ethanol fuel mixture in vehicles being sold today and why haven't we seen an increase in strictly ethanol vehicles.
Goldemberg: If you mix gasoline with ethanol with up to 80/20 mixture, then little change in the engine is necessary just a change in the electric indicators in the engine. However, if you want more then you will have to change the engine. This explains the adoption of FlexFuel vehicles throughout Brazil with approximately 9/10 vehicles sold in Brazil today being Flex Fuel vehicles. The kits in order to transform a normal engine into a FlexFuel engine only goes for $100 in Brazil.
3.) During my visit to Brazil, I was amazed to discover that sugar cane is still being burned despite the health implications to the workers and environmental implications as well. The worker-boss dynamics on some of these plantations also seemed to strike me as well. What is Brazil doing about this waste of biomass and the relationships between worker, boss, and field?
Goldemberg: It is a practice that is being phased out and is considered an enormous waste of energy in order to harvest sugar cane. It is a practice that has created multiple health problems for Sugar Cane workers, however there are some who are very resistant to changing their methods of harvesting Sugar Cane which have been profitable for centuries. Perhaps it will take a hefty financial incentive in order to inspire true change and reform in sugar-cane harvesting.
4.) How much of sugar production is coming from production shifting from the Northeastern Region of Brazil to the Sao Paulo state? Would this cause many socio-economic problems for the Northern Region of Brazil?
Goldemberg: Sugar cane production took place in green fields in Sao Paulo in order to keep up with demand. Sugar Cane production in the Northern part of Brazil is expansive but only produces very low yields in comparison the the North.
5.) What impact would managerial changes, processing changes, experimentation of various varieties of Sugar Cane, etc.
Goldemberg: There can be large gains in the logistics regarding Sugar Cane Production, especially in the area of refineries. Since the producers and suppliers are usually located far away from each other many problems existing. One example is bickering between the two over who should pay for the transportation of the sugar cane or finished product. However the feedstock price is so low that is justifies that no change in needed in the process.
10:50 AM- Frontiers of Hydrocarbon Production
Solange Guedes, Executive Manager, Exploration and Production, PetrobrasSummary:
- Brazil is a continental country with....
- An area mass the size of the United States
- Petrobras:
- Market Value has increased to over 9x 2000 levels.
- Unique Approach to Development
- Petrobras in the world leader in Deep-Sea exploration...
Challenges of Deepwater Exploration: Opening New Frontiers in Hydrocarbon Production
Michael Triantafyllou, William I. Koch Professor of Marine Technology; Professor of Mechanical & Ocean Engineering, MIT
- Present Technology: Huge dependence on surface vessels and multiple cables attached to Ocean Floor.
- Commercial Acoustic Modems (low bit rate, no flexibility, limited networking)
- Near Term Technology: Decreases the dependence on multiple cables attached to surface vessel in order to extract oil from Deep Sea Resources.
- Capabilities to operate AUVs from surface without the presence or attachment to a surface vessel.
- MIT has developed the Odyssey IV for exploration of potential Deep Sea sites.
- Research Plan: Extend Odyssey IV for inspection in a subsea environment.
- Can detect pipe lines in very deep water depths. Similar to the one used during the BP Gulf Oil Spill.
- Research in Marine Robotics
- Robotic Tuna, which allows for the studying of Fish movements and patterns and more can help build more efficient Deep Water Exploration vehicles with fish-like agility.
- Long Term Technology
- Controllable Adhesive Apparatus
- Shape Deposition Manufacturing
- Ocean Senors:
- Lensless Imaging: May provide clearer vision of the water despite dust clouds, etc.
- 'Vision' through Flow Pressure to Iris which is inspired by so called 'Blind Fish' who do not have eyes because the darkness of their environment makes them useless.
- Acoustic Communication with flexibility
Susan Avery, President and Director, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Summary:
- Introduction to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- Awarding Joint Graduate Degrees with MIT over the last 40 years
- National Deep Submergence Facility
- Four Ships, Multiple Underwater Vehicles, and Sensors
- What Academic Institutions Bring?
- Capability: Knowledge & Technology from Innovative Research
- Application of that Knowledge and Technology
- Willingness
- Independence
- Diligence
- Prudence
- Capacity Building
- The Relevance of Ocean Science to Deep Water Oil Exploration
- Information on Production Capacity and Activity
- Ecological Systems in place at exploration sites
- New Technologies
- Marrying Autonomy w/ Miniaturization
- An in-situ mass spectrometer for detection of low molecular weight gases and volatile organics. This can help detect underwater plumes full of hydrocarbons that occurred during the Gulf Oil Spill.
- Detection of Physical Changes in the Ocean
- Current dependence of Satellites needs to be changed in order to detect underwater currents which can only detected in the water (not above unfortunately) as proven during the Gulf Oil Spill.
- Ocean-bottom Search & Survey
- Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI)
- UTROV (Sensor Development which is untethered like current remote operated vehicles)
- Petrobras is currently using optical networks while conducting its Deep Water Exploration Activities.
12:00 PM- Brazil & Latam: A New Momentum
Pedro Moreira Salles, Chairman, Board of Itau' Unibanco Holding
(Electronics Not Allowed)
2:00 PM- Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Economic Growth
Richard Locke, Head of Political Science Department, Co-Director MIT- Brazil Program
Charles Cooney, Robert T. Haslam Professor of Chemical Engineering; Faculty Director, Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, MIT
Edward Roberts, David Sarnoff Professor of Management Technology; Professor of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management; Chair, MIT Entrepreneurship Center
Lita Nelsen, Director MIT Technology Licensing Office
Panel:
Reid: We (MIT) see entrepreneurship as a way of promoting innovation. It is also important of economic development. In the United States we are emerging from the 'Great Recession', the task of creating those new, good and sustainable jobs are the challenges facing not only the United States but also Brazil. Even though Brazil seemed to escape to recession unscathed, it still suffers from drastic underemployment. What we do here at MIT, what we do for the economy, and what we can do for the economy of Brazil.
University Entrepreneurial Impact: A Partial Case Study of MIT
Edward B. Roberts (MIT Sloan School of Management)
In 2001, a survey was conducted as usual to keep track of MIT Alumni. However, a question was added asking if the alum has participated in creating or forming a company or organization. An astounding number of MIT almuni responded that they participated in forming companies. MIT companies employ over 3 million employees with annual total sales $1,851,278,000,000 (that is a trillion)! This is being produced by 25,800 active companies. This does not include companies by non-MIT alum faculty members, mergers, companies owned by a MIT-alum who has since passed, etc. This economy is equal to the 17th largest economy. The majority of these firms are located in Massachusetts employer well over a million employees with California coming in second with approximately half a million. 'First Time' firms founded each decade by MIT alumni is approximately 10,000. 20% of Domestic MIT Alumni have become entrepreneurs with 30% of Non-Domestic MIT Alumni becoming entrepreneurs (with approximately 50% developing those companies in the United States).
'Serial' Entrepreneurs have also been growing as well therefore dramatically increasing the economic impact per alumni entrepreneur (data currently available still needs more time in order to allow alumni to develop second or third firms). Each successive firm is more successful than the previous firm.
We had companies being founded before we had licensing office or entrepreneurship centers. However these centers has allowed to accelerate this process by allowing for potential entrepreneurs to network, coaching, courses which help cover basics, etc.
The MIT Entrepreneurship Center focuses on real world team problem solving for future entrepreneurs as well.
Technology Transfer @ MIT
Lita Nelson
There exist many forms of Technology Transfer...however here we are talking about the purposeful transfer out of the university and into industry through licensing or patents.
Research--> Invention--> Development--> Innovation
Bringing new technology into industry for economic competitiveness. What may be very important to cover in order to understand patenting is the history of University patenting. Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 changed US university tech transfer landscape. This gave universities the ability to patent their research and profit from them (including the researcher) financially despite using government money to sponsor the research.
University technology is embryonic which means its feasibility nor market is known (like the gender of an embryo). The development will require high development risk. Therefore, Universities are willing to grant limited patents to companies so they can take on the risk of developing the technology or product. If we take a look at the pharmaceutical industry we see that they have very long time frames and very low success rate with drug trials. However, many innovative technologies will require substantial investment and time and therefore may not be very appeasing to a company. In order to entice a company to take on the risk of developing the technology a patent may be necessary. If we look at 2007, we see that even though patents filed that year made $2 billion. However the cost of that research is over $41 billion. It is skewed by a few very large royalties from fewer than 1% of patents. So think of research as a society contribution and not a money maker.
Our motto is impact not income. We are measuring ourselves by our impact on the community. The production of new licenses (bringing innovation to the market), increasing employment, etc. Therefore, we use the 'volume strategy' which doesn't focus on picking the winners but those you can break even but has the greatest impact (almost like the lottery, if you have a high volume then one of them you can strike lucky).
How are we able to do so? I believe it is due to the faculty and student awareness of innovation and research benefits. A pervasive entrepreneurial eco-system both within and around MIT. We are all well-networked in a highly entrepreneurial geographical area with investors, managers, lawyers, etc. Experienced in the formation and nurturing of early stage, technology based companies. This 'Entrepreneurial Eco-System' helps support the entrepreneurial aspirations of both students and faculty. All of the services provided through the University requires volunteers who work with the University in order to foster these ideas. Students graduate with a sense that 'I can do it too'. Changes life-time expectations. Entrepreneurship is infectious!
The Deshpande Center: Accelerating Technology Commercialization from University Laboratories
Charles Cooney
Mission: Create impact through technological innovation.
We were given this mission with a generous grant from Desh & Jaishree Deshpande and very limited guidelines on how to increase the impact MIT companies can have by implementing technological innovation.
The heart of the University is the creation of knowledge. It is from that research that ideas develop and begin evolving.
University Research --> Ideas Emerge from Basic Research--> Selection thru Peer Review (Academic & Business)--> Direction towards Market--> Connection to Markets & Financing--> New Company Created---> Company Growth
The concept of a customer is foreign to some who conduct research at the university. However in order to impact the market you will need to be able to create a product which someone is willing to pay for or nevertheless pay for. This is the idea behind our motto " Select, Direct, Connect". How do we support the idea-innovation value chain, in the following way...
Idea--> Invent--> Innovate--> Impact
(Selct--> Direct--> Connect)
Sometimes you expect to fail. Risk has two pieces: Risk= Probability x Impact. You can not change the risk without affecting the impact of the risk and the probability of the risk. Therefore, you must find a way to manage the risk while closing the gap between Academic Research and the Marketplace. This can be done by catalyst programs, innovation-teams, and a grant program. Also offering courses like 'Innovation Team' in order to help academics learn how to take their idea to market.
We have committed over ~$10 million in grants in order to fund 85 projects. 33% are making progress towards being start-up organizations. This experience has allowed us to learn about how to translate academic research into commercial impact.
Ideas emerge from a platform of basic science (Academic POV)
Ideas need to be recognized as solutions to problems (Marketing POV)
In closing, 'Progress is about focusing on your goal.'
Panel:
Q & A
REAP- MIT Entrepreneurship Program
University with Strengths in Science & Technology
Members must commit themselves to a min. 3 years, and once a year at member's location, and once at MIT. This is to sponsor the sharing of successes and failures among regions in order to create an appropriate model.
'It is more important to not make a mistake than to do something significant.' Lita Nelsen
This is a major issue facing Brazilians in their environment (Personal Note: I have seen this first hand in the Physics Department of UFMG, it is not good to fail. But in my opinion, MIT's approach to using failure as a learning experience seems more beneficial to the accumulation of knowledge).
'Lots of countries are beginning to reform their institutions to be similar to U.S. institutions in order to encourage entrepreneurship and innovative thinking. Role models help change the behavior, normally attributed to culture, to be more receptive to failure and the idea that I can do it too!' Richard Locke
'In the UK, universities are given funds in order to help support the birth of new companies. Some were very disillusioned believing that technology transfer could support their university.' Lita Nelsen
4:00 PM- Being an Entrepreneur in Brazil: Opportunities and Challenges
Richard Locke, Head of Political Science Department, Co-Director MIT- Brazil Program
Leila Velez, Founder and CEO, Instituto Beleza Natural
Gustavo Caetano, Founder and CEO, SambaTech
Mario Chady, Founder and CEO, Spoleto
Locke: Many people distinguish between 'need-based' entrepreneurship and 'opportunity-based' entrepreneurship. However, in Brazil, this is not the case.
Spoleto:
I always dreamed of having my own business and my own company.
Guilhermina Cafe (1992)
- First restaurant opened in Fashion Neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro-Leblon.
- High Volume Operation
- Full Service Restaurant
- 3 Restaurants in Rio de Janeiro
- Trendy spot w/ 6 different food concepts (all owned by us)
- Located @ Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro
- Best sales per m^2
Spoleto: http://www.spoleto.com.br/- Italian Cuisine
- First store was a franchise unit opened in Feb. 7, 1999--> Huge Success
- Now a very successful franchise with stores in N. America, Europe, etc.
- 292 Stores
- 264 Brazil
- 26 Mexico
- 2 Spain
- Domino's Pizza: 39 Stores in Brazil (purchased when facing bankruptcy in 2005)
- Koni (Japanese Finger Food Restaurant)- 33 stores (32 in Brazil, 1 in Portugal)
- Own everything from Distribution to Production, however everything is shared including profits.
- Revenue R$300 million
Beleza Natural: http://www.belezanatural.com.br/index2.html
Leila Velez
Beauty Institutes and a Cosmetics Factory specializing in curly hair treatments. Created the hair treatment which is a sort of a super relaxer, after 10 years of trial and error (and using my income from flipping burgers as McDonalds) we were able to streamline and manufacture the product.
70% of our employees are ex-customers and therefore they understand the curly hair structure and the difficulties. We treat 70,000 women a month with Afro-Hair. Brazil is a curly hair world with the majority of women having a loose to tight curly hair structure creating a market with millions of potential customers.
Factory produces products which help clients maintain their up-dos after their 'Cinderella' moments in the salon. To tell you about how difficult it is to do business in Brazil. We were called to a meeting with Salon owners. We were under the impression that we would be complemented on our services. Instead we were told that our business model and practices followed labor laws and were inciting rebellion from their employees who wanted to paid properly as well.
1 Institute
130 Schools
...
SambaTech: http://www.sambatech.com/
Gustavo Caetano
Samba's History:
- Mobiles without games in Brazil--> Idea--> Distribute Mobile Games--> Opportunity & Angel Investors= New Company
- Samba was born in 2004.
- Came to Belo Horizonte in order to spend less money on this business (Personal Note: Good Idea).
- Initially we were just resellers. After making money, we had to make the decision of whether to buy a BMW or reinvest. We decided to reinvest and launch our own platform for Live Streaming (Liquid). This would require us to hire several programmers, since my background is in Marketing. Now we distribute over 100 million videos and stream all live content from Brazilian News Organizations.
- In 2008, we started looking for a Venture Capitalist in Brazil but found one in DF J FIR Capital for $3 million.
- Then starting in 2009, we started growing 200% thanks to the grant which allowed us to increase our scale as well.
- I was selected as the 2009 Brazilian CEO of the Year and in 2010 we won the US Red Herring Prize becoming the first Brazilian Firm to do so.
- We are also a parter of MIT in the 'G-Lab Innovation and Entrepreneurship' program.
Q &A Panel:
1.) Being a Brazilian company, could you talk about what has been the response about you expanding abroad?
Chady: I solely believe in my concept. How it serves people. I believe it is a global concept. If you believe in your company and believe in your team, then go there. You cannot think that everything that you have done in your place can be done equal and in the same time be a huge success. Our experience in international markets tells us it does not depend on the place or the people, but the people on the other side have to care about the business and are willing to invest in the business in order to achieve the mission.
Velez: I see the light in people's eye who would love to have the solution for their own. I visit fairs and companies all over the world and it is very common to meet investors who want to bring this concept in the United States and around the world. I believe that this is in the future but not now because we have not used the opportunity available in Brazil.
2.) In Brazil, you have the emerging Class C & D which are now able to afford goods and services, how are businesses approaching this market?
Velez: We came from these classes. Therefore, we understand their needs. They want something cheap and the quality was not important. But what we want to do is give them something that we wanted for ourselves. High quality products that satisfy our wants & needs at a price point we can afford. The market is used to providing for Class A & B and now the market must adapt.
3.) How have MIT Graduate Students helped your businesses?
Velez: We were debating between franchising or self own schools and stores. We had two G-Lab students who helped us to decide which format was best.
Caetano: Some of the G-Lab students are on our Board of Advisors and they help us with our strategy for Latin America.
Chady: At first our employees were scared of MIT students, however, they soon realized they were equal partners and ideas were able to start flowing.
5:30 PM- Closing Remarks
L. Rafael Reif, MIT Provost
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