Brazil Economic Development Trade Mission

The last day of our trade mission started with Mayor Ballard being interviewed by TV Brazil, which is part of the Bandeirantes Communications Group, to discuss some of the highlights of the trip.  Interestingly, Brazil's television, newspaper and radio outlets are all interrelated.  There are multiple media companies, but they have all three media components.  Surprisingly, the Internet hasn't had the negative impact on the communication/publication companies like it has had on the U.S.  Print subscriptions are down, but online subscriptions have compensated for the loss.

After the media interviews we visited COPPE.  COPPE has become the largest engineering education and research center in Latin America and is comprised of 113 laboratories.  They analyze a variety of issues including offshore oil, hydrobuses, biofuels, CO2 emissions, solid waste, wireless Internet and stem cells.  Their project scope is vast but there were a few projects that I found particularly interesting, including the first wave power plant (energy created by waves in the ocean), a hydroelectric bus (which they are planning to introduce in 2010) and a magnetic levitation train that has no wheels or tracks.  COPPE is also researching the potential for using urban waste and sewage as an energy source.  This possibility could have an enormous impact on Brazil, the U.S. and the world.

It was then time for us to head home; slightly exhausted but definitely more enlightened.

The below statement from fellow delegate Carey Lykins, president and CEO of Citizens Energy Group, summarized the trip well.

"Overall the trade mission trip was a wonderful experience.  We went with the idea to open doors and open doors we did.  We discovered on the other side of those doors that the Brazilians, not unlike Americans, are a very energetic and knowledgeable group.  They have a great deal of leading edge technology in biofuels, biodiesel and bioengineering that we can learn and benefit from.  We look forward to partnerships with some of the new relationships we forged this week.  The trip was a tremendous success."