Souza’s Original Works
Velaqua’s proposal was original and inspired users and contenders around the globe.
FAPESP
To fund the applied research project, Souza applied for and was awarded by the FAPESP – A major and most competitive Brazilian Research agency – a level of award that was only granted to PhD-level professionals at that time.
Consequently, Souza requested scholarships to his team of engineers from FAPESP as well. See more about Souza’s research and the team he built on Fapesp website.
As the project and the partnerships advanced, FINEP and CNPq also scholarships and subvention to the project, due to its technical and social impact.
CNPq
The CNPq, the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, known in Portuguese as Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico, is a Brazilian major federal agency for scientific and technological advancement.
The agency provides extensive research funding, scholarships and fellowships in Brazil and for Brazilian scientists abroad in partnership with international research agencies.
The CPNq signed term document can be found here.
The CPNq project approval document can be found here.
FINEP
Souza was granted through his owned company, H.R. de Souza Informatica ME, an approximately $350,000 funding, being BRL 754,990, for a project totaling BRL 1.1 million, under “Innovation for Social Development” area.
This project aimed to update the techniques utilized in Velaqua, developed as part of the FAPESP funding, using the experiences obtained under the UNISANTA partnership, such adding underwater computer vision processing to the robotic car. The project was successfully concluded in October 2011.
FINEP is the Funding Authority for Studies and Projects, known in Portuguese as Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos. It is the greatest financial institution for innovation in Brazil, that operates under the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MCTI). It plays a key role in fostering scientific and technological innovation development in the country industry.
The FINEP document approval can be found here.
Souza and his owned company were granted the non-reimbursable funding, which means the project selection criteria was high. In 2007, only 27 projects in the innovation for social development were approved. Among the approved companies, the list shows international and national companies of the caliber that competed the same resources of Souza’s area: Thales Information Systems SA, CIANET Industria e Comercio SA and others.
In the other areas, global industries fought for the same type of subvention: WEG Equipamentos Eletricos SA, EMBRAER SA, Braskem SA, NOKIA SIEMENS Networks Telecommunicacoes do Brasil SA, Philips da Amazonia LTDA, among other big players.
Souza’s Patent for Velaqua
This resulted in a patent request, and a product that has was used by major Brazilian Teams and the Team Brazil members prior to major competitions. The equipment was used as a device to allow its users to write international papers on swimming and triathlon.
To find and list the Humberto Ribeiro de Souza claims in the INPI, the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Institute:
Access the INPI website https://busca.inpi.gov.br/pePI/jsp/patentes/PatenteSearchBasico.jsp
- Click on “Continuar”.
- Click on “Patente”
- Type the patent number PI 0504538-8 in the “Contenha o Numero do Pedido” field.
The first page of the original document claim can be found here (Portuguese).
Souza’s Patent Filling Impacts
Velaqua and IOX2 developed and built
Velaqua and IOX2 were developed as a consequence of the researches, findings and patent filling. It had a key role in keeping Brazil on track to have a significant number of athletes at major international swimming competitions.
Institutions and researchers benefited from the equipment set
Global results can be checked in Wikipedia, about the Brazilian top swimmers that have awarded medals at world championships and Summer Olympics. More about the athletes and results can be found here.
Papers were produced using the Velaqua and IOX2 set for research purposes. Usually, the users were IT&D customers, the company that produced the equipment set. On the other hand, the equipment was shared among the institutes associated with CBDA, the Brazilian Swimming Commision, and the institute itself, notably the Universidade Santa Cecilia and SESI Sao Paulo.
The referred paper can be downloaded from https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cpa/article/view/6644
More about the project
SEBRAE – Book chapter: 99 Innovative Solutions
FINEP – Innovation Magazine 1
FINEP – About FINEP
FINEP – Selection list and competitors. Kindly Scroll to page 8 and check the highlighted row.
Patent first page
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