Impa will graduate at Porto Maravalley, in Rio, with a scholarship and selection for the Olympics

Mathematics and the productive sector, it is known, must be very close. How about, then, if they are neighbors?

The proposal is from Impa (Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics), in Rio de Janeiro, in its first undertaking in an undergraduate course 70 years after its foundation. The expectation is that the first class will be selected in September of next year so that classes can start in 2024.

And unlike the institute’s research and postgraduate activities, which operate in a building located in an area of ​​Atlantic forest in the south zone of Rio, the so-called “Impa Tech” will operate in the center of the city, alongside companies and startups —sharing coffee and bathroom.

The joint space will be in the new Porto Maravalley or PoMar —a redesign of Porto Maravilha—, officially launched by the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes (PSD), this Thursday (17), with Globo cookies and iced mate for the audience. Alongside Paes, in addition to secretaries and businessmen, was mathematician Marcelo Viana, general director of Impa and columnist for Sheet🇧🇷

THE Sheet, he showed, gesturing with his hands, where the classrooms, library and other areas of the course will be located inside a huge warehouse covering 10,000 square meters. The course will take up half of that space. And it will share a wall with —hopefully— 200 startups and about a thousand entrepreneurs, in addition to companies such as Americanas and Rede D’Or, which are already part of the undertaking at Maravalley.

The proposal, as announced by the Secretary of Economic Development, Innovation and Simplification of Rio, Chicão Bulhões, is that innovation companies that settle in the place pay 2% of ISS (Tax on Services), that is, less than half of the current 5 % practiced in the municipality. And they will be next to the new Impa course. A kind of “carioca silicon valley”.

In addition to the location, the Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Mathematics will have a different proposal in everything. Starting with the selection: the idea is that knowledge tests such as the Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools (OBMEP) —from Impa itself— are used in the process alongside specific tests and, perhaps, interviews.

“Mathematics is fundamental for the development of the country and the GDP [Produto Interno Bruto]”, said Viana. “We need to attract talent to the area.”

The 100 new students per year will have accommodation and scholarships to live in Rio —which is still to be defined. And they will design their own academic trajectory, after a common basic cycle. Paths will have an emphasis on math, computer science, data science, or physics.

“We know that the minority will choose mathematics”, joked Viana. “Whoever chooses, can do postgraduate studies with us afterwards.”

Impa’s master’s and doctoral program — which is rated 7, the maximum assessment by the Capes/MEC agency — is renowned. From there came the mathematician Artur Avila, who in 2014, aged 35, received the Fields Medal, popularly known as the ‘Nobel of Mathematics’. He was the first Latin American winner.

Impa is a teaching and research unit qualified as a Social Organization linked to the Ministries of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and Education (MEC).

The institute will provide —federal— resources for the undergraduate course itself, including the professors. There will be new professors, who will be hired, and also those who are already in the house’s graduate program. “We are disputing who will give the first disciplines”, said Viana.

The City of Rio de Janeiro, on the other hand, entered with the space, in the expectation of composing a great hub of education and innovation in the city.

The forecast, informs the city hall, is for a public investment of R$ 30 million in works. Delivery is scheduled for the first half of 2023, when an association of companies will be responsible for managing and maintaining the development.

That will be the time that Impa will have to approve, together with the MEC, the higher education institution that will host the baccalaureate —a kind of “Impa College”— and the undergraduate course itself.