The Inova RS program from the metropolitan region and North Coast, in partnership with the National Education and Research Network (RNP), is promoting a pilot project for the creation of a Digital Identity for users of innovation environments of the Rio Grande do Sul ecosystem (Inova ID-RS) with the goal of enabling collaboration and sharing of various services within a federation composed by these players in a secure environment. With its federated digital identity, entrepreneurs and other users can easily prove who they are when accessing the online services of the federation.

The first meeting of referrals was held online on 27 July and was attended by the directors of the five innovation environments invited to participate in this pilot: Pedro Valério, of Instituto Caldeira; Rafael Prikladnicki and Leandro Pompermayer, of Tecnopuc; Sandra Schafer and Marina Bohrer of Tecnosinos; Ana Paula Matei, of Zenit Park/UFRGS; and Manuela Bruxel, of Feevale Techpark; in addition to the managing team of the project. The institutional opening of the meeting was done synchronously by the Deputy Secretary of Innovation, Science, and Technology of Rio Grande do Sul, Ricardo Bastos, and asynchronously by the Director of Research & Development of RNP, Iara Machado.

Then, they aligned expectations and the expected results from this pilot project, and a schedule for the joint work was determined, with all innovation environments cooperating actively with the RNP and Inova RS teams until December 2021. The next activity will be a training session about identity federation and, subsequently, the process of Design Thinking will start with all the participants so that technological development can begin.

"To RNP, this is an opportunity to work with the innovation ecosystem of Rio Grande do Sul in the construction of a digital identity federation, using our successful experience with the academic community. We believe that this project will promote the integration of this environment and will provide greater interaction between academia and emerging companies. Its innovative aspect is also an important point because this solution can be leveraged to other communities", says the director of Research, Development, and Innovation of RNP, Iara Machado.

What is Inova RS?

Inova RS was launched in August 2019 by the Government of Rio Grande do Sul and regulated by Decree no. 54.767/2019. The program is promoted by the Secretariat of Innovation, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Sul and aims to make the state a global reference in innovation as a strategy for local development.