On December 9, 2025, during the 6th edition of the Port Innovation Caravan, held at Porto de Santos (SP), Juliane Castro Carneiro, Innovation Manager at Porto do Açu, joined the panel discussion “Governance in open innovation ecosystems.” The panel took place at the Auditorium of the Sindicato dos Despachantes Aduaneiros de Santos (SDAS) and was part of the technical program of the event promoted by Agência Nacional de Transportes Aquaviários (ANTAQ) and the Ministério de Portos e Aeroportos (MPor), in partnership with HUB Brasil Export.
The Port Innovation Caravan is an itinerant initiative by MPor and ANTAQ aimed at disseminating a culture of innovation across Brazilian public ports and private terminals, bringing together public and private leaders, specialists, startups, and representatives of the port community to discuss structural challenges and opportunities in the sector. In this edition, discussions focused on strategic topics such as research, development, and innovation, digital transformation, sustainability, smart port management, and, centrally, governance in open innovation ecosystems.
In the panel, moderated by Dayse Carneiro (SEST/MGI), Juliane represented not only Porto do Açu but also a practical and mature perspective on how to structure and operate collaborative innovation ecosystems in the port context. Throughout the discussion, the role of Cais Açu Lab was highlighted as a governance model capable of bringing together companies, startups, educational institutions, government, and strategic partners—connecting real business challenges to innovative solutions with measurable impact. Her participation reinforced the positioning of Cais and Porto do Açu as national references in open innovation applied to the port sector.
The panel also featured Daniel Divino (SENAI Santos), Alexandre Euzébio (Fundação CENEP), and Ramon Cunha (CNI), expanding the debate on the importance of institutional coordination, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and strategic alignment to ensure that innovation delivers concrete and sustainable results. The discussions emphasized that innovation is not limited to the adoption of technologies but depends on solid governance models capable of integrating different actors and interests around common objectives.
Throughout the event, ANTAQ’s Director-General, Frederico Dias, highlighted the Caravan as a platform for sharing best practices and fostering positive competition among Brazilian ports, while leaders such as Cristina Castro, Superintendent of ESG and Innovation, reinforced the human and collaborative dimension as a central element of innovation processes. In this context, the participation of Juliane and Cais made a significant contribution to the national debate by sharing concrete experiences and reinforcing the commitment to a more modern, integrated, competitive port sector, prepared for the challenges of the global economy.
