---
title: Innovation at the service of urban transport in Brazil
url: "https://www.systra.com/en/news/innovation-at-the-service-of-urban-transport-in-brazil/"
type: post
date_published: 2021-02-19
date_modified: 2021-04-02
schema:
  @type: Article
language: en-US
word_count: 505
reading_time: 3 min
canonical: "https://www.systra.com/en/news/innovation-at-the-service-of-urban-transport-in-brazil/"
featured_image: "https://www.systra.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/bus-scaled.jpg"
---

# Innovation at the service of urban transport in Brazil

![Innovation at the service of urban transport in Brazil](https://www.systra.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/bus-scaled.jpg)

Our assignment, at the crossroads of collective intelligence and new
technologies, has just taken a major step forward, with the presentation of our
diagnosis to the mayor of Teresina on 8th February and the launch of the open
innovation phase. After a year of work by SYSTRA’s teams in Brazil and Paris,
the diagnostic phase of the urban transport network in this city of two million
inhabitants is now complete.

### “By consulting the stakeholders, the best solutions can be built.”

To carry out our assignment well, a consultation and co-construction approach
was adopted. The COVID pandemic has extended the initial timeframe, but the
digital solutions have made it possible to carry out the co-construction of the
project with the stakeholders.

![mariana-moura](https://www.systra.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/mariana-moura.jpg)

> We gathered the needs of all the stakeholders in order to understand their
> expectations, whether through meetings with the trade unions, questionnaires
> with users, or digital ‘design thinking’ workshops. It is by consulting the
> stakeholders that the best solutions can be built.
> Mariana Moura, project coordinator in Brazil

This diagnostic phase, which lasted a year, highlighted three issues: trust in
the bus network, the question of diversity, through the inclusion of women and
persons with reduced mobility, and finally the question of transport efficiency,
including environmental efficiency.

In order to find solutions to these issues, the second phase of the project has
just been launched around the concept of open innovation. For the city of
Teresina, which is in favour of new technologies and lives at the pace of
digital technology, it is obvious: technological innovation is one of the keys
to its transport problems.

> Whether we’re talking about blockchain technology, ‘mobility as a service’,
> better data management or electromobility, new technologies and digital
> solutions offer an unprecedented range of possibilities for all those involved
> in the mobility field, and the city of Teresina has been able to ask itself
> the right questions at the right time.
> Joan Serrano, Deputy Director of SYSTRA’s Consultancy & Development
> Directorate

### Bringing projects to life thanks to open innovation

In collaboration with the University of Fortaleza, SYSTRA has therefore
developed an approach which consists of bringing innovative projects to the fore
through workshops with developers. At the end of these ‘design thinking’
sessions, which are taking place between February and May, the projects which
best meet the needs will move on to a POC (Proof of Concept) phase. In a third
phase, the best POCs will be selected and can be deployed throughout the city.

But SYSTRA’s assignment is not limited to providing purely technological
solutions. A more ‘anthropological’ dimension has also been taken into
consideration, with thoughts on tactical urban planning, or on the safety of
women using the bus network. A specialist in gender issues is also contributing
his expertise to the project.

In addition to this assignment entrusted to SYSTRA, the city of Teresina has
launched a Mobility Observatory to monitor transport provision and improve the
experience of users.