On August 14th, Insper and Amazon Web Services (AWS) signed an agreement to strengthen projects and research in the area of cloud services with the support of generative artificial intelligence (AI). The contract was signed by Guilherme Martins, President of Insper, Paulo Cunha and Dave Levy, respectively, General Director and Vice President for the public sector of AWS in Brazil. Present at the ceremony were Tania Haddad, President of the Board of Counsellors of Insper, Claudio Haddad, President of the Board of Trustees of Insper, and members of the institution's administration.

In this collaboration, AWS will offer cloud credits through the AWS Cloud for Research program. The support to students, educators, and researchers encourages the creation of cloud solutions that can be replicated for the education and research sectors. "The agreement with AWS enhances our processing capacity for the various databases we have, which are available to researchers both from Insper and from other institutions. This collaboration boosts our research capabilities, strengthens our goal of always being at the knowledge frontier, and expands the impact of the knowledge generated from Insper to society," said Martins.

The credits will also allow secure access to research tools with the aid of AWS services, benefiting more than 27,000 researchers and students from the Insper community. The company will provide advisory assistance for Insper to develop a data migration plan for the school's cloud. "Cloud computing has proven to be quite effective when well applied in the scientific field, useful in research that requires a large data processing capacity, such as in high-complexity simulations," said Cunha.

With these new tools, the Center for Data Science at Insper will be renamed the Center for Data Science and AI, a space designed to integrate education programs, stimulate research and extension, and maximize partnerships with companies and the public sector. "With more technological resources, we can carry out research with greater computational power and data analysis," said André Filipe Batista, Chief of Information Officer of Insper. "The results of these studies directly impact society and achieve Insper's objective of promoting transformation through teaching and research."

The agreement also includes access to the AWS Academy Program — for improving the skills of the IT team, faculty, and students — and the promotion of the use of the online learning platform AWS Skill Builder in Insper's programs.
 

Generative AI and Cloud Training

The partnership also generates a new training program in Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud, focusing not only on Undergraduate and Graduate students but also on alumni, professors, the entrepreneurial community, and professionals throughout Brazil. The goal is to train 5,000 students by 2025.

The course "Artificial Intelligence: Impacts on Business and Society" is part of the AI Challenge, which consists of a course developed by Insper, as well as AWS training modules and a hackathon. The course is free and will begin in October. It will be available to individuals aged 18 and over, also aiming to reach young people who could have their careers transformed by this qualification. Registrations are already open and can be done at this link.

The Insper professors have created an initial module that offers an overview of AI, including its potential, success cases, impact on performance and organizational health, and responsible AI issues. The following modules, offered by AWS, include AWS Discovery Day and AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials, which cover basic concepts about AWS cloud and its resources, as well as the Generative AI Foundations module focused on generative AI. The course will be offered on demand and concludes with a live event and certificate award.

Participants will also have access to a hackathon with themes developed by the Lemann Foundation and the Itaú Foundation, supporters of the initiative. In total, the challenge will last two months, and at the end, participants will receive a Generative AI Certification. Additionally, they will compete for awards, including exclusive vouchers to obtain the new AWS AI Practitioner certification for those who want to delve deeper and further qualify in cutting-edge technology.