Exosphere bets on Brazil to base its new headquarters

The international organization that envisions a new type of education through emerging technologies and entrepreneurship will base its operations in the real estate development Pedra Branca, in the region of Palhoça.

Laying its foundation for development in the country, Exosphere is conducting the next edition of its interdisciplinary educational program starting January 2017. Run by the organization’s educational institution, the Exosphere Academy, the program is an 8-week residential experience where participants from all around the world with diverse backgrounds come together to collaborate and work on real projects with experts in fields such as Biohacking, Mars Colonization, Entrepreneurship, and Internet of Things, just to name a few.

This will be Exosphere’s 8th program since September 2013, when their prototype program took place in Santiago, Chile. Since then, more than 1200 participants from 45 countries have been part of the organization’s programs and events. Focusing of a 21st century mindset and new skills acquisition, the program helps individuals navigate the creative economy and create business opportunities by leveraging new technologies and disciplines that did not even exist until just a few years ago.

“In the last 3 years we have received more participants from Brazil than all of the other Latin American countries combined. Considering Brazilians’ mindsets and enthusiasm, this is no surprise,” says Skinner Layne, Founder and Chairman of Exosphere.

The country’s innovation and startup ecosystem is at the right stage of maturity, he said, it is at this stage where truly transformational shifts can occur.

“Our experience with Brazilians and our work so far in Brazil made it inevitable that establishing a presence would become a focal part of our strategy to build a better Latin America.” he said.

Despite the fact that Brazil’s overall GDP has been falling for the last couple of years, the tech industry has been largely immune to the slowdown, growing 20 percent from 2014–2015, and continuing that run in 2016. This trend and optimism in Brazil’s growth and the nation’s focus on forward thinking projects plus the development of its startup ecosystem have created an ideal context for Exosphere to launch its next cutting edge technology program.

The location chosen by the organization to base its new headquarters is Pedra Branca Cidade Criativa, a real estate project in the region of Palhoça, near Florianópolis. With its innovative approach to urban design, Pedra Branca is built with the user at its core and it is the first project in Latin America to participate in the Climate Positive Development Program.

Prioritizing pedestrians and their needs, the project is built to be a warm secure place, designed for urban-nature harmony, and a deep connection between work and personal life.

“Just like Exosphere, Pedra Branca believes in making things for people. Our mission is to improve the concept of cities for people, building our city based on the concept of living, working, studying, and enjoying, all in the same place,” said Renato Ramos, Business Manager at Cidade Criativa Pedra Branca. “We are thrilled to receive Exosphere in our city and join their vision of technology, education, and entrepreneurship going forward.”

Exosphere will be joining an already thriving community of organizations working around education, innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology for the region, such as INAITEC (Institute for the Support of Innovation, Incubation and Technology), UNISUL (the University of South Santa Catarina), and the soon-to-open Impact HUB co-working space.

Exosphere is a learning and problem-solving community. Exosphere’s educational institution, the Exosphere Academy, conducts inter-disciplinary learning programs in science, emerging technology, and entrepreneurship. The specific fields, called “learning streams”, include material science, blockchain development, synthetic biology, space exploration, drones, and programming. Exosphere focuses on preparing its students for the Creative Economy, teaching them how to identify market opportunities, build networks & relationships, and create solutions for customer problems.

Learn more about them at http://exosphe.re/

As an institution that creates options and alternatives for the future of education and work, Exosphere is doing a 5-minute survey to understand the current status of work, education, and emerging tech. We know these questionnaires can be kind of lame so we tried to keep it short and simple: https://goo.gl/KWciuL

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