São Paulo – Six projects by Brazilian students will be presented at the Milset Expo-Sciences International 2013, a travelling science and technology fair due in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in September next year. They have been shortlisted from among 350 works, Brazilian and foreign, featured in Mostratec, a science fair held in late October in Novo Hamburgo, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Organized by Fundação Liberato, a state-level vocational school, the 27th edition of Mostratec has accredited several projects to participate in domestic and foreign fairs. The Milset (Portuguese acronym for International Movement for Leisure Activities in Science and Technology) is the only such fair to be held in an Arab country. “Each project that enters Mostratec is assessed by a board of professors and professionals, who select the most mature projects in each [scientific] area,” explains Mostratec’s general coordinator André Viegas.
The Brazilian projects shortlisted for the Emirates fair cover technology, biology, and social sciences. They have been devised by students from Escola Antonieta e Leon Feffer, and Colégio Dante Alighieri, in São Paulo; Fundação Nokia de Ensino, in do Amazonas; Ifsul and Fundação Escola Técnica Liberato, in Rio Grande do Sul; and Escola Dr. Romildo Veloso e Silva, in Pará. According to Viegas, works have been selected for the Milset that were created by up to three students aged 21 or less.
Viegas explains that before the date of presentation in Abu Dhabi, the projects will undergo modifications. “The fair creates lots of interaction. People leave there full of ideas. Once the project gets there, it’s been improved from what it was at the original fair,” he says.
To the Mostratec coordinator, the opportunity to be at international events causes students to “start envisioning [career] opportunities in science as well.” “Science and knowledge open doors. It is a viable path to success,” he says.
In addition to Milset, Mostratec has also accredited projects to participate in fairs in the United States, China, Turkey, Holland, Mexico, Peru, Indonesia, Taiwan, Azerbaijan, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, Spain and Italy, as well as other events in Brazil.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
