Brasília – In a bid to encourage the development of technological solutions to meet the needs of oil, gas and energy industry businesses, Petrobras put out a request for proposals (RFP) this Wednesday (4) in Research, Development and Innovation from startups and small businesses. As many as 10 projects in six fields will get BRL 500,000 to BRL 1.5 million in funding, to a total of BRL 10 million at an initial stage.
The RFP involves challenges proposed by Petrobras for creation of products, vehicles or software in fields including robotics, artificial intelligence, energy harvest and storage and, CO² utilization, etc. Entries will be accepted through September 22 on the website of the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae). Bidders will have up to two years to roll out their projects. Besides funding, they’ll get assistance in overcoming initial challenges, including interaction with Petrobras technicians and training.
Phase one results will be out by mid-October. Project evaluation will include the impact of each proposed solution to Petrobras’ business, consistency and feasibility, ease of implementation, technical skills of the teams at hand, level of innovation, level of technological maturity, and potential scale gains. The challenges include creating an affordable, small-sized automated or remote-controlled submarine to help with underwater inspection activities and software to boost storage efficiency for solar or wind sources.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
