Petrobras Issues Public Bid Notice for Innovation Projects With Startups

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Aiming to stimulate the development of technological solutions that meet the business needs of oil, gas, and energy, Petrobras issued yesterday, September 4th, a public notice with a call for bids on Research, Development, and Innovation projects aimed at startups and small innovative companies.

The call for proposals provides for the financing of up to ten projects, in six different areas, with amounts ranging from R$500,000 (US$125,000) to R$1.5 million, totaling R$10 million at this stage.

The public notice operates by means of “challenges” proposed by Petrobras for the design of products, vehicles or software, in areas such as robotics, artificial intelligence, energy storage, capture and use of CO², among others.

Registrations are open until September 22nd on the website of the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE). Participants will have up to two years to develop their projects.

According to Petrobras’ engineer and project leader Ricardo Ramos, the first stage result is expected to be released in mid-October. The impact of the proposed solution for Petrobras’ business, the project’s consistency and feasibility will be assessed, including the solution’s ease of implementation, the team’s technical capacity, the degree of innovation, the level of technological maturity and the potential for scale gain.

Among these “challenges” are the development of a small, low-cost, automated or remotely controlled submarine to aid in underwater inspection activities, the development of software to increase the storage efficiency of energy produced from solar or wind power, and even a system for managing underwater images (360° photos and videos) and interactive navigation to assist in the planning process and platform interventions.

In addition to financial resources, the selected startups or small companies will also have assistance in overcoming the initial challenges, such as financial support, interaction with Petrobras’ technical staff, business training, being able to generate more innovating products, services, and business models. Ramos stated that the call for proposals includes specifications on what is taking place, in the case of conclusion of the challenges and development of scale solutions.

The initiative, developed in partnership with the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE), is part of the Petrobras Connections for Innovation program and was designed to bring the company closer to startups. In total, the program will have a duration of five years. Other calls for bids are expected in the future. The total investment forecast is R$60 million.