Council Leadership on Track for 2nd US-Brazil Innovation Summit

Left: Reginaldo Arcuri, President of the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI), signs Memorandum of Understanding alongside Samuel R. Allen, Council on Competitiveness Chairman, and Chairman and CEO of Deere & Company; Deborah L. Wince-Smith, President & CEO, Council on Competitiveness; and Erik Camarano, President of the Brazilian Competitiveness Movement (MBC). Center: Catalyze. U.S.-Brazil Innovation Learning Laboratories. Right: Deborah Wince-Smith, Council on Competitiveness President & CEO; Chad Evans, Council on Competitiveness Senior Vice President; Welber Barral, Brazilian Foreign Trade Secretary.

Today, the Council on Competitiveness released Catalyze, a comprehensive report documenting the proceedings and key findings from six US-Brazil Innovation Learning Laboratories that took place in 2009 across both nations -- an outcome of the 2007 first-ever US-Brazil Innovation Summit, endorsed by President George W. Bush and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The report recieved active engagement and support from the Brazilian Competitiveness Movement (Movimento Brasil Competitivo/MBC), the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (Agência Brasileira de Desenvolvimento Industrial/ABDI), the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and more than 500 leaders from industry, academia and the public sector.

Catalyze captures the outcomes of a series of progressive dialogues and intense workshops -- in Porto Alegre, Chicago, São Paulo, Silicon Valley, Rio de Janeiro and Denver/Golden -- aimed at sparking participants to create new partnerships in the energy space that will boost innovation capacity and value creation in both nations -- with particular emphasis on a bi-national smart grid initiative and a bi-national "co-incubation" initiative.

The findings of Catalyze will also shape the continued engagement between the Council on Competitiveness and its key Brazilian partners -- as will a new, strategic Memorandum of Understanding signed on March 29th by Samuel Allen, Council on Competitiveness Chairman, Chairman and CEO of Deere & Company; Deborah Wince-Smith, Council on Competitiveness President & CEO; Chad Evans, Council on Competitiveness Senior Vice President; Reginaldo Arcuri, President of ABDI; and Erik Camara, President of MBC.

The MOU cements ongoing activities between the partners and paves the way toward the 2nd US-Brazil Innovation Summit that the Council, MBC and ABDI will co-host with Georgetown University -- on campus in Washington, DC, September 20-21, 2010.

Engagement with senior public and private sector leaders -- on both sides of the equator -- in preparation for the 2nd US-Brazil Innovation Summit is well underway. This week, Wince-Smith and Evans presented Catalyze to Brazil's Foreign Trade Secretary Welber Barral.