[{"jcr:title":"Insper alumnus creates mobility startup based on Final Project of Engineering program","cq:tags_0":"area-de-conhecimento:engenharia","cq:tags_1":"tipos-de-conteudo:acontece-no-insper/alumni"},{"richText":"The journey of Marcelo Reis, finalist in the latest edition of the José Eduardo Ermírio de Moraes Award and founder of PrediPark","authorDate":"23/04/2024 11h49","author":"Michele Loureiro","madeBy":"Por","tag":"tipos-de-conteudo:acontece-no-insper/alumni","title":"Insper alumnus creates mobility startup based on Final Project of Engineering program","variant":"imagecolor"},{"jcr:title":"transparente - turquesa - vermelho"},{"themeName":"transparente - turquesa - vermelho"},{"containerType":"containerTwo"},{"jcr:title":"Grid Container Section","layout":"responsiveGrid"},{"text":"At 23 years old, mechanical engineer Marcelo Lisboa de Castro Reis already has a rich professional journey. Born in São Paulo, he graduated from Insper in 2022, had three exchange experiences during the program, founded the student organization  [Insper Consulting Club](https://www.instagram.com/insperconsultingclub/)  and is now an entrepreneur in sustainable urban mobility. The creation of  [PrediPark](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbxCSi1fFgs) , a smart parking startup that offers a predictive solution to reduce wasted time and carbon emissions by optimizing the process of searching for car spaces, made Reis one of the finalists in the 5th edition of  [José Eduardo Ermírio de Moraes Award](https://www.insper.edu.br/pt/transformacao/premio-jose-eduardo-ermirio-de-moraes) , whose objective is to recognize the leading role played by students and alumni of the Insper Community who are leaders in inspiring projects.   Reis says that, since he was a child, he has considered himself curious and has always been interested in learning about different cultures and people. It was precisely this eagerness to learn that led him to the Engineering program. “I have always been fascinated with understanding the world and I thought the program could help in this mission of learning how things work. I opted for Mechanical Engineering, which is more general and ends up providing an interesting basis for all engineering fields. And I chose Insper because I wanted to have contact with the business world, and for its method of learning by doing.”   According to Reis, the program provided him with an important theoretical basis and helped him develop problem-solving skills. “In addition to Engineering, I have always wanted to explore other fields of knowledge, and Insper was great in opening many doors for me. I went on an exchange program and spent a month in Germany studying automotive energy and renewable energy with the support of the university. Then, I spent a month in South Korea studying solar or photovoltaic cells. Upon my return, I participated in an energy efficiency student organization, of which I was one of the first members and was responsible for the steering and braking systems,” he recalls.   With these experiences, Reis thought he already had an interesting knowledge in the engineering field and decided to explore new possibilities. He enrolled in technology-related electives such as Data Science and Blockchain. “I also decided to venture into the business world and studied Financial Accounting. At that time, I joined  [Insper Jr.](https://insperjr.com.br/)  and I really liked it. I can say that I found myself there. I did seven projects with different themes, industries and scopes and became interested in a career as a consultant.”   Reis noticed that Insper did not have an initiative dedicated to a consulting career and decided to make his first entrepreneurial move. “I founded the Insper Consulting Club to be the entry point for students into consulting companies, which have strict selection processes. The idea was to help them prepare for the interviews and we achieved a 60% approval rate among participants. At that time, I was responsible for several centers, and it was a very enriching experience to participate in this management,” he says.   It was this experience that awakened Reis’ entrepreneurial spirit. “I realized that creating something that impacted the community around me made me happy. That’s when I started thinking strategically to develop myself further and learn more about entrepreneurship. This is why I did my academic exchange at the University of California at Berkeley, in Silicon Valley, a major center for startups. It was a memorable experience and I realized that I would like this in my life. I wanted to be an entrepreneur.”   Upon returning to Brazil, Reis was an intern at two companies: the mobility startup 99 and the consulting firm Accenture. Meanwhile, it was time to decide the topic of his PFE (Final Engineering Project) at Insper. “One of the topics presented really attracted me. It included the possibility of working with a French organization that wanted to reduce carbon emissions. The project involved data, impact, and a bit of entrepreneurship. I liked the topic and ended up getting in touch with this world”, he recalls.   The project was developed with Bruno Vieira Sanches, Davi Dom Bosco Silva and Lucas Nicascio dos Santos, Mechatronic Engineering students, and they designed a predictive model for the PFE. Throughout the process, they discovered that transport is one of the biggest carbon emitters, especially light road vehicles, and that 34% of traffic congestion results from drivers looking for a place to park.   Therefore, the group developed a project focused on parking lots in partnership with Imredd (French acronym for Mediterranean Institute of Environmental Risk and Sustainable Development), from the University of Côte d’Azur, in France, and with the  [Arq.Futuro de Cidades Laboratory](https://www.insper.edu.br/pt/pesquisa/centro-de-estudos-das-cidades)  from Insper. The city hall of Mandelieu-la-Napoule, a city in the south of France, provided data to help design the predictive model.   “The project was quite successful. We were recognized by Falconi Consulting, and the French city said it was interested in using the product. That’s when the entrepreneurial streak manifested itself and I saw value in the topic. I kept thinking about this idea and wondering whether I should take the project a step further, but no one on the team wanted to continue. Even so, I organized myself and, at the beginning of 2023, I left my position at Accenture to get the idea off the ground”, he says.   It was then that PrediPark was born, a startup based on predictive models for parking your car with the aim of improving mobility and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Reis says that the process is long, but some stages were already completed. The first of them was doing the fieldwork. For two months, he went to the streets to talk to people, understand the points that influence traffic and the parking process, look for his target audience and understand how to monetize the future solution. “At the same time, I had to develop the technology and give the product a face. That’s when I returned to Insper and formed a partnership. Some computer science students helped me create a proof of concept, which gave the product a better look. Having this network of contacts was essential,” he says.   In the second half of 2023, Marcelo recruited a business partner, who also studied at Insper, and went in search of partnerships and funding to make the idea feasible. “We established a partnership with the Joinville Technology Park, where we have access to cameras to run tests. We made important contacts with public bodies in São Paulo to start to get traction for the company. And we were approved in the Nexus acceleration program at the São José dos Campos Technology Park,” says Reis. “Now, we are in the validation stage to start running the product. We have great expectations.”"}]