INESC P&D Brasil assesses impact of electricity rural community in Brazil
INESC P&D Brasil is involved in MNEmerge, a European project where the goal is to assess the social and economic impact of multinationals in emerging markets, such as Brazil, India and Africa, in terms of technological innovation, social responsibility, poverty, environmental safety, public health and energy.
In the particular case of Brazil, project MNEmerge (“A Framework Model on MNE’s impact on global development challenges in emerging markets”) addresses the issue of rural electrification. In that sense, members of INESC P&D Brasil visited the municipality of Sananduva, Rio Grande do Sul, where the rural community of Linha Betânia is located. Until 2006, this community did not have electricity. The goal with this visit was to assess the impact that rural electrification had on local development.
The visitors learned that because of electricity, the community managed to receive investments from the Integrated Initiatives “Luz para Todos” (electricity for all) in order to improve the quality of life of the population. As a results, the agroindustrial production has been increasing as well.
Project MNEmerge features an international and interdisciplinary team of nine partners. Besides INESC P&D Brasil, the consortium includes Lappeenranta University of Technology (coordinator) and Turku University (Finland), Kings College London, Oxford and Brumel University (UK), and individual representations from institutions in Japan, India and Ghana.
The project is inserted in the EU 7th Framework Programme, as has a total budget of three million euros and a planned duration of 36 months.
More information on the project here.
