1. Urban Design in Innovation Districts Charrette 

Instructor: Victor Eskinazi (Sasaki)
Language: English/Portuguese
Date: August 17-18, 9:00-17:00
Location: Instituto de Estudos Avançados, USP
Participants: up to 16
Open to: undergrad and grad arch. & urb. (or related fields) students and recent graduates
Selection criteria: portfolio/resume and a faculty recommendation, to be sent through the registration form

Across the world, universities have become major anchors for the clustering of innovation economies, magnets for human capital and talent, and drivers of economic investment, urban regeneration and community development. The São Paulo Innovation District, anchored around USP, is poised to become a catalyst in stimulating scientific production and research expansion, and become an engine for knowledge production and entrepreneurship. 

The urban design charrette will bring together participants with a range of backgrounds for an intense 2-day workshop to co-create a spatial strategy for a knowledge district in São Paulo. Participants will be exposed to the theoretical underpinnings of knowledge districts and develop strategies to catalyze synergies between the university and outside actors in the context of a vibrant urban ecosystem. The charrette will focus on a predesignated site by the SP State authorities, and its surrounding city and landscape environment. The program will also include a site visit, hands-on ideation sessions, discussions on precedent case studies and more. 

Workshop Objectives:

• Learn about Knowledge Districts and their relationship to institutional anchors.

• Develop conceptual strategies for synergies between the university and potential future stakeholders in the area.

• Conceive a forward-looking framework for the site that builds upon previous planning efforts, integrating urban design, landscape and ecology to establish a 21st century knowledge district in São Paulo.

• Produce and present compelling diagrams and graphics that represent ideas and a vision of the district at the FGKD2026 Conference at USP.

2. Housing in Knowledge Territories: SP Innovation District

Instructors: Letícia Teixeira Mendes (CEUCI), Fabricia Zulin (CEUCI), and Silvia Mikami Pina (CEUCI, Habitares)
Language: Portuguese
Date: August 17-18, 9:00-17:00
Location: Instituto de Estudos Avançados, USP
Participants: 12-25
Open to: design professionals and students (architects, urban planners, landscape architects, engineers, designers), public sector agents (managers, administrators, policy makers), private sector agents (construction companies, developers, AECO companies), civil society agents (collectives, NGOs, CSOs, associations, community leaders) and institutions (R&D, education, innovation, incubators, sociocultural facilities) , etc.
Selection criteria: short CV, to be sent through the registration form

This workshop invites participantes to think about strategies to promote housing in Knowledge Territories (KTs) from a sustainability perspective:

• Social (accessibility, inclusion, diversity, etc.)

• Environmental (climate crisis, reduction of resources, materials and technologies, circular economy, etc.

• Economic (financial viability, PPP, business model, public policies, etc.)

The intervention area, to be defined, may comprise the following districts and neighborhoods: Butantã (university campus + facilities of the founding institutes + residential areas), Jaguaré (mixture of industrial and residential areas to be revitalized), Alto de Pinheiros (green spaces + high standard living areas) and Rio Pequeno (residential area with a strong sense of community).

Four team will be formed: (1) Design (guidelines/strategies/approaches, etc.), (2) Construction (materials/technologies, etc.), (3) Processes (legislation/regulations/regulatory frameworks, etc.) and (4) Resources (financial viability strategies/business models/partnerships, etc.). The following questions will be addressed: 

• What urban planning strategies can contribute to meeting the demand for sustainable housing in KTs?

• What building typologies promote diversity and the inclusion of socially vulnerable groups?

• What housing typologies can foster living laboratories for sustainability?

• What strategies/guidelines can contribute to the retention and attraction of talent?

• What materials and construction technologies can contribute to more sustainable residential/mixed-use buildings?

• What design strategies can contribute to reducing construction costs and material waste?

• What strategies/approaches/technologies promote the circular economy in the AECO sector?

• How can Industry 4.0 contribute to making housing construction financially viable?

• How can materiality/tectonics contribute to cost reduction and make social housing construction viable?

3. From Problem to Adoption: Venture Clienting Decision Lab

Instructor: Matheus de Carvalho, Venture Client Excellence
Language: English/Portuguese
Date: August 18, 14:00-17:00
Location: Instituto de Estudos Avançados, USP
Participants: up to 16
Open to: academic researchers, students and practitioners
Selection criteria: motivation statement, to be sent through the registration form

In this is hands-on workshop, rather than a lecture on the Venture Client Model, the session will guide participants through the four decisions that most commonly determine whether corporate-startup collaboration succeeds or fails:

• Is this business problem suited for Venture Clienting?

• Which startup profile best fits the opportunity?

• How should the pilot be scoped around business value?

• What is the right post-pilot pathway - adoption, M&A, co-development, or no-go?

Participants will work through a structured case with branching outcomes - different combinations of problem, startup profile, and pilot results lead to different strategic conclusions. This will make visible that Venture Client readiness is contingent, not formulaic. The workshop bridges academic framing and practitioner relevance - engaging for researchers, while grounded enough to resonate with innovation managers and practitioners.