Innovation at PUC-Campinas transcends the limits of laboratories and technological development, encompassing student training, entrepreneurship, applied research, and crucially, the link between university knowledge and practical societal challenges. In this context, Mescla, the institution's innovation hub, functions as a central point of articulation between the academic community, corporations, government, and the general public.
Since its inauguration in February 2020, Mescla has worked to establish an environment focused on open innovation, entrepreneurial spirit, and the University's proximity to the innovation ecosystem. Its infrastructure includes laboratories and areas dedicated to project development, such as the FabLab, which is affiliated with MIT, as well as specialized spaces in artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), cybersecurity, and health and innovation informatics. Additionally, Mescla is part of the Paulista System of Technological Parks (SPTec) and operates as the University's Technological Innovation Nucleus (NIT).
The established goal is to promote innovation across multiple fronts. For students, Mescla enables them to transform ideas into projects, develop entrepreneurial skills, and experience scenarios close to professional reality. Companies find in the space a place to access talent, applied research, infrastructure, and new technologies. Meanwhile, the public sector and other social segments gain opportunities for collaboration and developing solutions for concrete problems.
From Concept to Execution
Roberto Soboll, Executive Director of Mescla, emphasizes that this movement is vital given the rapid pace of technological change. The advancement of generative artificial intelligence and the increase in computational capacity are altering research methods, product creation, and solution development, while simultaneously driving IoT and AI applications.
Soboll states: 'Society is living through a moment of technological inflection, and we need to be prepared for it. Innovation is becoming the main driver of development for us.' One of Mescla's central objectives is to address innovation comprehensively, following all phases of an idea or technology's development. Under Soboll's current administration, the work is organized around four main pillars: technological transfer, entrepreneurship, training, and support for businesses and government.
In the field of entrepreneurship, the proposal aims to support the student from the initial conception phase through more advanced stages of a business. The environment provides mentoring, training, support, and coworking areas, facilitating the evolution and maturation of projects. This process also brings academic training closer to the job market. Students not only learn theoretical concepts of entrepreneurship but also experience situations where they must identify flaws, suggest solutions, collaborate in teams, and face real challenges.
Soboll explains: 'The student plays the role of renewing the ecosystem and brings their entrepreneurial potential. Mescla prepares them for the exponential era by developing practical skills, entrepreneurial experience, and professional opportunities in real innovation environments.' Partnerships with companies intensify this process. Based on challenges presented by the productive sector, students, researchers, and professionals can collaborate on developing solutions, utilizing academic knowledge, applied research, and available technological infrastructure.
A Cycle Between University and Society
In addition to bringing various groups closer, Mescla seeks to establish a continuous flow of exchange. Knowledge generated at PUC-Campinas can be brought to society through projects, technologies, and solutions, while problems identified externally return to the university environment as new issues, research opportunities, and paths for innovation.
Soboll describes this as a virtuous cycle between the University and society. He stresses: 'Mescla must be an axis that brings the value of PUC-Campinas to society, and through this interaction feed the University, creating a virtuous circle of knowledge, aligning demand and supply, generating value.' In this model, companies bring business challenges; students and researchers offer knowledge and development capacity; the government participates in coordination and solution elaboration; and society benefits from projects focused on important themes such as health, sustainability, and education.
Preparation for the Technological Future
The transformation driven by artificial intelligence represents a new challenge for Mescla. More than just keeping up with tool evolution, the University works to create conditions for professionals and organizations to understand and apply these technologies strategically. By 2027, the operation of AI.VOS – Open Innovation Center in Artificial Intelligence, a structure of over 6,000 square meters equipped with high-performance computing, is foreseen. This space should assist companies in adopting AI, in addition to offering training, experimentation sites, and areas for studying and validating concepts.
This initiative expands PUC-Campinas's capacity to act in an area that is already redefining entire sectors of the economy and society. For Soboll, there is a particularly relevant opportunity to work with organizations whose primary focus is not technology but that need to integrate artificial intelligence into their processes. The proposal also includes technological residency, allowing companies to use existing infrastructure and knowledge to test new technologies and develop solutions before implementing them on a large scale.
Innovation as Experience
By integrating laboratories, entrepreneurship, research, training, and relationships with companies and government, Mescla redefines the concept of innovation within the University. The student ceases to be merely a recipient of content and begins to integrate an ecosystem where they can experiment, develop projects, and find real problems to solve. Simultaneously, the University strengthens its ability to meet the emerging needs of society and the productive sector. Furthermore, this entire structure contributes to the student employability rate exceeding 90% in the first year after graduation.
The expectation is that this connection will become progressively more strategic. According to Soboll, the greater PUC-Campinas's participation in real business challenges and discussions on public policies and the innovation ecosystem, the greater the University's capacity to predict trends and provide valuable answers. He concludes: 'The potential of PUC-Campinas is very great. The more connected we are to society in technological transfer, the more present we are alongside real business challenges and policy discussions, the greater our vision of the innovation ecosystem will be.'
Finally, PUC-Campinas also announced that registrations for the 2027 Entrance Exam are open. The Selection Process offers spots for more than 60 Undergraduate Courses at the University and must be completed by October 5th, exclusively through the PUC-Campinas Portal.