Rio de Janeiro, December 01st – Rio Oil & Gas 2020 began this Monday (30/11) with Starting Up, debate sessions in partnership with Petrobras on opportunities and challenges for startups in the O&G and energy industry. Starting Up was presented by the journalist specialist in digital, Pedro Doria, and closed by the president of the IBP, Clarissa Lins.

The panels brought discussions about how the O&G sector can be attractive for entrepreneurs, the opportunities for startups generated by the segment and how the integration between the O&G chain and startups has been taking place, aiming at building ecosystems. In addition, cases of successful startups were presented and shared with entrepreneurs who are just starting out, as well as lessons learned about this market.

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Juliano Dantas, executive manager of Petrobras-Cenpes, stated that whatever the company's strategy, it will be very important to accelerate innovation processes, and certainly startups play a fundamental role in this context, since they work with speed and new talents and bring a new model of thinking to the traditional industry. “For this to actually happen, we have to build an ecosystem that allows for new forms of contract between the big players and startups, in addition to engaging companies with this purpose of innovation”, he said.

Gustavo Araújo, CEO of Distrito, which brings together one of the startup ecosystems in Brazil, spoke about the power of open innovation. “The market is learning that staying connected and connected to what is happening around it is the engine for its own transformation. Open innovation turns out to be very efficient in a world where companies have to transform themselves at an accelerated rate,” he said. 

When analyzing the financial market, for example, before opening up to Fintechs, two thirds of the Brazilian population did not have a bank account, according to Araújo. Fintechs have reduced this rate to 25%. “We can also live an open energy, in a very regulated market. This will generate improved customer service and lower production costs. So, exercising open innovation is fundamental in the O&G sector, which already has a lot of technology, but now needs to start innovating in its business models, customer service, following other segments”, he added. 

Claudia Diniz, Executive Director of MiningHub, the world's first open innovation hub in the mining sector, explained that startups act as a true pillar of transformation in the sector, by employing new technologies for operational and administrative areas. “It is a cultural shift. We take the challenges of our industry and talk to all players, including suppliers, researchers and startups, to quickly reach solutions to problems common to mining companies. The knowledge generated, that is, the intellectual property of the projects, continues to belong to the startups and, thus, we encourage entrepreneurship and the permanence of these companies in the market”, she said.  

“I believe that we, as IBP, have to encourage this type of hub to be created in the O&G sector, since we are a collaboration platform”, said Clarissa Lins, president of IBP. 

At the end of the discussion, Christian Schock, director of O&G at Siemens, brought some tips on what the company is already doing to contribute to the decarbonization of the oil and gas industry, with an eye on the future. “It is important to make it clear that we are not going to do the entire energy transition process overnight. If we look at history, all transitions took about 50 years and now will be no different as 80% of global energy is still based on hydrocarbons and demand will increase by 40% in the next two decades. The O&G industry has always been one of great innovation. With the wave of decarbonization it will be no different and I believe it will be even more accelerated. Innovation is Siemens' main focus and, therefore, we encourage startups to develop solutions for our partners”, he concluded. 

Creating business opportunities

Mediated by Robert Nunes, General Manager of Digital Transformation at Petrobras, the panel “Creating opportunities to undertake in the O&G and energy industry” also sought to discuss some of the challenges of the partnership between startups and companies in the industry, in addition to how this collaboration has evolved over time. over time. Participating in the discussion were Patrícia Grabowsky, Head of Innovation at Subsea 7, Pedro Leal Noce, Raízen Innovation Executive, Fred Arruda, CEO of the Recife Center for Advanced Studies and Systems (Cesar), Bruno Rondani, CEO of Open 100 startups.

The afternoon also featured representatives of startups that already work in the O&G area and are scheduled for a chat about inspiring cases and lessons learned. 

“At the end of the day, it's not about having good technology, it's about having a mature market for the technology, and the mature market for the technology is not like a perfect wave. It is a turbulent and violent tsunami”, explained Duperron Ribeiro, CEO of PhDsoft Technology Inc.

Leandro Basílio, CEO of DeepSeed Solutions, highlighted the importance of maintaining focus, even if there is portfolio diversification. “It is very seductive, at times, to diversify into several industries, with the promise of scalability, but keep in mind that, in an oil and gas business, you will only be able to stand out if you really become an expert”, he defended.

Mediated by Alex Dal Pont, Manager of Innovation in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems at Petrobras, the round also had the participation of Lelio Souza, CEO of Intelie, and José Augusto da Silva, CEO of Pipeway. 

Awards

The program also featured Pitch de Startups. Evaluated by an important jury, such as Amure Pinho, president of ABStartups, and Ricardo Marquini, Leader of partnerships in R&D at Total, among others, eight startups presented their technology and innovation projects for the O&G sector. The winners of this challenge were: Unidroid, in first place, followed by Instoor and RZX, in second and third places, respectively. The startups won an award sponsored by Microsoft, and the best startup voted by the public, a discount voucher on courses at UnIBP, the university in the oil and gas sector. 

All content from the first day of Rio Oil & Gas will be fully available to congressmen on the platform's On Demand channel.