UNLEASH: Make it Worth Every Minute
My name is Pedro Paulo Rossi and I am one of the thousand SDG talents that will be part of the first edition of the UNLEASH event. In a few hours I will be flying to Denmark, where for nine days I will join forces with my colleagues to create real, scalable solutions to the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite the excitement, I confess I still do not believe I had the honor of being selected. In this first post, I’ll tell you a bit about my trajectory until now.
For 30 years I lived in Rio, the place where I was born, grew up, became a Computer Engineer and then a specialist in IT Governance. Despite the technical background, my career choices have turned me into a sort of generalist with successful passages in Marketing, Finance, HR, Risk, Process and Project Management. But my true passion is to act as a link between business and technology. In the last 3 years I have been working in the innovation sector of Brazil’s largest telecommunications company, where I was responsible, among other things, for identifying market opportunities for ICT solutions related to education, public safety, health and transportation.
While pursuing my career goals, I have always wanted to do something more for my country. Brazil is blessed by nature, but it has a chronic problem of corruption and inefficient management. Determined that I would be part of the change, I started the public administration course as a second undergraduate and decided to participate in a political project that was being born. The Partido NOVO (“NEW” in Portuguese) is a political party created by ordinary people who, not being represented by the traditional parties, have gathered around a common dream, to return Brazil in the right direction. Since then I have supported the party and participated in the discussions as an affiliate. If I decide to apply for an elective position in the future, Education will be the central pillar of my government’s plan, as it is the way to face the two major problems of the country: social inequality and violence.
After much reflection, I came to the conclusion that I should prepare myself for a few more years before seeking a public office in my country. At the moment I am studying at IE Business School, having people from more than 50 different nationalities as colleagues.
Unlike many unleashers, I’m not going to the event with a personal project or a pre-conceived idea in mind. I want to put my knowledge and skills at the service of innovation and develop solutions together with my teammates. Computer Engineering has great potential to address education challenges. There is a lot to discuss and much room for evolution, including the untapped potential of artificial intelligence, virtual reality and big data, among others. We only have 9 days to face this challenge, there is no time to lose!
