Solve real challenges and connect with leading companies.
Conecta Caldeira is the Open Innovation Program by Instituto Caldeira, aimed at connecting major companies from the Community with startups from all over Brazil that offer solutions to address these companies business challenges.
The purpose of the program, beyond solving the companies' challenges, is to create business opportunities for startups. Just last year, 31 challenges were launched, 575 startups were mapped, and 72 connections were made.
Funcionando em 4 ciclos distribuídos ao longo do ano, cada edição do Conecta trará novas empresas, desafios e startups selecionadas.
How it works
Applications for the connection program must be submitted by May 8, 2025.
Check out the participating companies:
John Deere, Sicredi, Renner Herrmann, SLC and Webcontinental.
Stage in which the registered startups are selected. Communication with the selected startups will take place between May 15 and 16.
The selected startups will participate in an online Pitch Day, during which the companies will determine which startups are the best fit for their respective challenges.
Pitch Day – May 28 and 29
After the Pitch Day, the selected startups will take part in a follow-up meeting with the goal of progressing toward a potential Proof of Concept (POC).
Preferably startups that are in the operation/scale stage – ready to present their solutions to the companies.
ges
SLC Agrícola faces an operational efficiency challenge in the process of exporting raw cotton. Currently, post-shipment document management is carried out mostly manually, involving a high volume of email exchanges between internal teams and external partners such as shipping companies, certification bodies, customs brokers, and international clients. This complex and decentralized workflow hinders agility, increases the risk of human error, makes it difficult to track the status of documents, and directly impacts the timeline for receiving payment for the shipments. The company is seeking a solution that streamlines the process, reduces operational tasks, and enhances both visibility and information security.
[ Learn more details about this challenge ]
SLC Agrícola’s cotton export process involves a series of critical steps, starting with the shipping instructions (under FOB or CIF/CFR terms) and continuing through to the issuance of the invoice and the documents required to receive payment. After the product is shipped, the company must collect and approve various documents such as the Bill of Lading (BL), certificate of origin, phytosanitary certificate, fumigation certificate, packing list, among others. This documentation flow is managed in a fragmented way and primarily through email, which makes traceability, deadline management, and information security more difficult. In December 2024 alone, over 350 export shipments were processed.
The current average time between the issuance of the Bill of Lading (BL) and the completion of all documentation is 15 days, while the company’s internal goal is to reduce this to 6 days. The main variables affecting this timeline are the issuance of the BL (dependent on the shipping company, usually chosen by the client) and the issuance of the phytosanitary certificate (handled by MAPA, Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture). The lack of appropriate tools integrated with existing systems (SAP, Simple Farm, Gecex, Outlook, SharePoint) prevents efficient visual management, delays approvals, and hinders executive oversight. The company is seeking a solution that can automate parts of the process, consolidate documentation into a centralized workflow, and provide visibility to all stakeholders—both internal and external—with features like notifications, access management, and tracking dashboards.
#Exportation #InternationalTrade #OperationalEfficiency #ProcessAutomation #DocumentManagement #SystemIntegration #SAP #SimpleFarm #Gecex #SharePoint #MaritimeExport #ManagementSystem #DocumentApproval
Renner Herrmann faces challenges in scaling and improving the efficiency of its process for specifying paints and coating systems for anti-corrosion protection. The current workflow is manual, highly technical, and relies on consulting thousands of standards, internal documents, past cases, and lab validations.
This process is not only time-consuming but also prone to errors and heavily dependent on the expertise of experienced professionals.
The company is looking for a solution that centralizes and organizes this information, enabling the generation of accurate recommendations in a faster and more standardized way—ultimately reducing response time to clients and increasing the technical reliability of the specifications.
[ Learn more details about this challenge ]
Renner Coatings deals with a wide variety of paints and customer profiles, which requires a high level of customization and technical compliance for each coating recommendation. The process begins with a client request, which is handled by the Renner Solutions Center (CSR) and directed to the technical support team. This team, composed of specialists trained in paint inspection, must consult a database containing over 5,000 standards (in both English and Portuguese), review PDF documents stored in OneDrive, access spreadsheets with case histories, and in some cases, involve internal or external laboratories for further validation. Creating the technical document with the appropriate recommendation can take anywhere from one shift to a full week, depending on the complexity of the request.
To overcome this challenge, Renner is seeking a smart solution capable of consolidating, organizing, and interpreting all standards, specification histories, and technical data that are currently scattered across various sources. Based on a request from the commercial team, this tool should be able to quickly and reliably suggest the ideal coating system for each application. The goal is to eliminate the current manual process—which is time-consuming and prone to errors—reduce response time in quotations, and ensure technically accurate recommendations, thus avoiding losses caused by specification failures. The solution should allow filtering by industry, standard, or type of use, support the standardization of recommendations, and offer scalability to efficiently serve a broad and diverse product portfolio. The expected outcomes include significant improvements in speed, error reduction, technical compliance, and operational efficiency.
#ProcessAutomation #ArtificialIntelligence #KnowledgeManagement #OperationalEfficiency #IndustrialCoatings #TechnicalStandards #ProductRecommendation #Industry #LATAM
John Deere faces challenges related to the efficiency of corrective maintenance for its agricultural machinery. Currently, response times vary depending on the individual experience of technicians, as much of the knowledge is scattered across manuals, systems, spreadsheets, and often relies on the memory of more experienced professionals.
The process lacks standardization, is difficult to access, and does not systematically leverage historical data on failures and past solutions.
The company is seeking a solution that centralizes and makes this technical knowledge easily accessible, integrating different sources of information to speed up diagnostics, reduce equipment downtime, and increase the efficiency of maintenance operations.
[ Learn more details about this challenge ]
At John Deere, when a machine experiences a failure, the technician performs maintenance using information from systems such as SAP, manuals stored in Microsoft folders, and the machine’s own internal system. However, these sources are decentralized, lack standardization, and make rapid analysis difficult—especially for more complex equipment, where diagnostics can take between 5 to 6 hours. On average, there are about 100 machine families, each with up to five different types of manuals, totaling over 500 technical documents in various languages and formats. In many cases, technicians must rely on the experience of more seasoned colleagues or interpret initial signals provided by the machine to find the right path among multiple available tools, which compromises both the speed and consistency of the process.
To overcome this challenge, the company is looking for an intelligent solution that consolidates technical knowledge and maintenance history into a structured, standardized, and easily accessible knowledge base. This tool should integrate with SAP and Microsoft systems, allow for quick in-field searches, suggest solutions based on manuals and past occurrences, and enable the continuous recording of new insights—feeding the system with updated resolutions. The goal is to democratize access to information, ensure compliance with the takt time (ranging from 9 to 60 minutes), reduce machine downtime, and improve the efficiency of maintenance operations—making technical knowledge accessible to all professionals, regardless of their level of experience.
#MaintenanceManagement #AgriculturalMaintenance #KnowledgeManagement #OperationalEfficiency #SystemIntegration #ProcessAutomation #SAP #Microsoft365 #FastDiagnostics
Sicredi is looking for solutions that encourage critical thinking and creativity in children and teenagers as they develop school projects. The initiative is carried out in partnership with public schools and involves a structured program supported by pedagogical guidance and specialized consulting.
The challenge arises particularly after the initial phase of the program, when students begin defining their practical projects and often present repetitive ideas or projects limited to basic crafts.
The organization is seeking a lightweight, accessible digital tool that expands learning possibilities, encouraging students to think more strategically, innovatively, and in connection with their local context.
It’s important to note that the entire process is currently analog, and the goal is to find a digital solution that complements—but does not replace—the current approach.
[ Learn more details about this challenge ]
The challenge is part of a program developed in partnership with public schools, involving students from the 6th grade of elementary school through high school. After an initial training phase covering topics such as innovation and cooperativism, students are guided through an analog game with stages and missions that lead to the creation of a school cooperative. However, when it comes time to design projects for this cooperative, many students struggle to propose creative and meaningful solutions, often limiting themselves to “obvious” ideas or concepts that are not well connected to the challenges of their local context.
Sicredi is looking for solutions that encourage critical thinking and creativity in children and teenagers as they develop school projects. The initiative is carried out in partnership with public schools and involves a structured program supported by pedagogical guidance and specialized consulting. The challenge arises particularly after the initial phase of the program, when students begin defining their practical projects and often present repetitive ideas or projects limited to basic crafts. The organization is seeking a lightweight, accessible digital tool that expands learning possibilities, encouraging students to think more strategically, innovatively, and in connection with their local context. It’s important to note that the entire process is currently analog, and the goal is to find a digital solution that complements—but does not replace—the current approach.
#Education #CriticalThinking #Creativity #EdTech #DigitalInclusion #Gamification #SkillDevelopment #ActiveLearning #InnovativeYouth #TechnologyInEducation
With a growing volume of products and updates, WebContinental faces operational bottlenecks in validating the data submitted by sellers in its system and across integrated marketplaces. The review process—which involves checking images, descriptions, weight, dimensions, tags, and legal aspects—is manual, time-consuming, and error-prone. As a result, products may be rejected by marketplaces due to lack of standardization, inconsistencies, or violations of policies (such as unauthorized use of registered trademarks). This scenario delays product publication, creates rework, and leads to revenue loss.
To address this challenge, the company is looking for a scalable technological solution with high accuracy that can automate critical steps in catalog qualification—such as information validation, inconsistency detection, data enrichment, and the enforcement of compliance rules. The tool should be easy to integrate with internal systems and partner platforms, deliver significant operational improvements, and maintain the quality of product listings. The goal is to boost productivity, accelerate the onboarding of new products, and ensure a better experience for both sellers and end consumers.
#Ecommerce #DigitalCatalog #ProcessAutomation #DataQuality #RetailTech #Marketplace #Scalability #DataValidation #CustomerExperience #OperationalEfficiency