By Carolina Nalin – O Globo
Courses, lectures, new research facilities, closer collaboration between the public and private sectors, and opportunities for startups to pitch to global investors. Rio de Janeiro has been building an innovation-driven environment aimed at establishing itself as a leading technology hub in Latin America in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).
One of the opportunities driving this movement is Web Summit Rio — the international technology event that will hold its fourth edition from June 8 to 11 — but the city’s strategy is already visible before the doors of Riocentro even open.
Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere plans to announce in the coming weeks the installation of a supercomputer in the Parque Olímpico region, developed in partnership with the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications, leveraging the energy infrastructure built for the 2016 Olympic Games.
At the same time, the city administration is developing an AI-powered platform to digitize public services and provide personalized assistance to citizens. In the mayor’s words, it will be “a city hall you can call your own.” Web Summit Rio has also been secured in the city for another five years, through 2030. The event is projected to generate a total economic impact of R$1.8 billion across its eight editions.
“We are consolidating our position as a city that offers all the conditions necessary to become one of the AI hubs of the Southern Hemisphere. We have skilled talent, infrastructure, energy, water, creativity, and a large number of technology companies. It is becoming increasingly clear what role Rio can play,” says Cavaliere.
The project in Parque Olímpico, Rio AI City, was announced during last year’s Web Summit. It will operate as a data center hub and will be connected to Porto Maravilha to support AI-driven innovation.
Mapped Startups
Maravalley, a technology hub in Rio’s Port Zone that brings together technology companies, startups, and the IMPA Tech college, will host its own program during the week leading up to the event. From tomorrow through Wednesday, it will hold Maravalley Week. Around 1,000 participants are expected, with more than 30 hours of content spread across three thematic stages. On June 10 and 11, during Web Summit, Maravalley will host “Mayors of the Future,” bringing together municipalities from across the country to discuss govtech solutions.
For Daniel Barros, CEO of Maravalley, this sequence of initiatives is intentional:
“Part of our work is accelerating connections so that business opportunities can emerge.”
Maravalley will also have a presence at Web Summit with its own booth and 24 startups. In addition, it will unveil an unprecedented mapping of more than 1,000 startups in Rio, including economic data and geographic distribution.
“In the future, we want to achieve greater density through initiatives such as Maravalley Lab, focused on industry, and Maravalley Office, designed to support the growth of companies already established here,” says Barros. “We are also considering bringing computational capacity and a GPU-powered data center, which would further differentiate us as a hub. We expect news on that front later this year.”
Invest.Rio, the City Hall’s investment promotion agency, will use its Web Summit booth as a showcase for Rio-based startups to connect with investors, partners, and global companies.
“There is a vast community of investors who are still unfamiliar with the ecosystem we are building. That is Invest.Rio’s role: ensuring that when they decide where to allocate capital, Rio is on their radar as a strong and competitive alternative,” says Sidney Levy, the agency’s president.
According to Levy, Rio combines large-scale infrastructure, growing international connectivity, renewable energy generation capacity, and a university ecosystem that graduates approximately 10,000 students per year in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Within this context, FGV Direito Rio has established the AI Hub, an advanced artificial intelligence research center within the institution’s Center for Technology and Society.
“Rio has the potential to become an internationally recognized center of excellence in AI. The development of digital-focused companies, educational programs, and AI training initiatives is expanding rapidly throughout the city,” says Professor Luca Belli, one of the center’s coordinators.
Web Summit helps demonstrate the scale of the ecosystem the city has built since the original Lisbon event arrived in Brazil. Across the previous three editions, Rio welcomed approximately 100,000 attendees, 3,400 startups, and 1,600 investors. In 2025 alone, the event hosted 1,397 startups from 43 countries and 657 investors from 26 nations.
“The conversations we will facilitate in Rio are among the most important taking place in technology today and demonstrate that Brazil has a place in them,” says Artur Pereira, manager of Web Summit Rio.
This year’s edition will feature the arrival of the humanoid robot from the Chinese company Unitree at Riocentro. In addition, the Summit Engine platform will connect participants based on interests, industries, and objectives.