Public-private collaboration with nonprofits and local universities supported by investor Elemental Excelerator’s equitable Square Partnerships Model.
Transcend, a SaaS provider of generative design tools for critical infrastructure, is training engineering students across five universities in Brazil to use its Transcend Design Generator (TDG) software platform to design wastewater infrastructure for at-risk communities.
Transcend partnered with Brazilian nonprofit LuTeS Urbanas, engineering firm Taboa Engenharia and universities like the State University of Maringá in Paraná as part of a new replicable project model funded and supported by nonprofit investor Elemental Excelerator.
Transcend trained engineering students across five universities in Brazil to use its Transcend Design Generator (TDG) software platform to design wastewater infrastructure for at-risk communities.
Through this collaboration, students at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, University of São Paulo and other educational institutions have mastered the TDG, an intuitive, online generative design platform that enables capital planners, project developers and engineering professionals to rapidly generate preliminary engineering designs for critical infrastructure.
The designs created by the 50 students trained so far through the program would impact up to 200,000 Brazilians if implemented.
These students join a growing cohort of engineers around the world who already using the platform, including engineers at leading firms such as BRK Ambiental, Arcadis and Xylem.
“Students are hungry to experience real-world applications for their engineering education, particularly when those experiences have a real positive impact on the resilience of their communities,” said Transcend Co-Founder and Chief Customer Officer Adam Tank.
“We saw the of need for improved wastewater infrastructure design tools in Brazil and an opportunity to train a future generation of engineers to use those tools to improve their communities after graduation.”
The struggle with aging sanitation systems and water treatment facilities that must meet ever increasing regulatory, resilience and sustainability standards is especially pertinent across Brazil where only 40% of sewage is treated.
Brazil’s favela neighborhoods have some of the highest need for clean, reliable water, yet these communities lack resources to implement solutions. As a result, these communities suffer from poorly treated water and higher rates of disease and mortality.
Transcend received funding from Elemental Excelerator to implement this project with Taboa Engenharia, a Rio-based sustainable engineering firm, and LuTeS, a Rio-based nonprofit organization that mobilizes high school youth for community activities.
The collaboration connected local, high impact organizations, schools, and community members from the Rochinha and Maré neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro through a bottom-up approach.
Elemental Excelerator Founder and CEO Dawn Lippert said. “After this project, students will graduate with the skills and resources to tackle the challenges that they face in their own communities.”
“Not only did students learn how to use the most innovative software solutions available in the engineering industry, but they also applied their knowledge to better understand local issues in our favelas and design creative solutions,” said Leonardo Adler, Founder, Taboa Engenharia.
