In Brazil, as in the majority of developing countries, innovation faces specific challenges such as lack of budget for research and technology. The incentive in innovation from both the private sector and the government is still very shy, specially when compared to the budget provided in 1st world countries such as the US, Germany or Japan. Even in an economically optimistic scenario, with the World Cup and the Olympics coming up, the culture of innovation in Brazil is still taking baby steps. In the economic context and with so many imminent questions in the social aspect, Brazilian people have developed a new ability in the innovation field. The ability to take a creative look at current technologies and use them to come up with new uses, new adaptations and new solutions that will serve their needs.

Today, in the slums, more than 10 million people do not own computers at home and depend on community centers to access the Internet. Such centers are public spaces with few resources that offer a number of computers connected to the web, side by side, providing no privacy. An there lays a big problem that those who are used to accessing the Internet from personal computers will often ignore. The lack of privacy turns the Internet experience into something that is far from ideal. For example: when do you ever access your bank online with people staring at your screen? Would you feel comfortable searching for personal information on topics such as “erectile dysfunction” among tens of people?

Privacy is key to take the best the Internet can offer. Taking that into consideration, Terra, one of Brazil’s largest content portals, realized: What if there were a way to democratize the digital privacy in the slums? That’s when Terra VIP was born. A project inside the Paraisopolis slums that today holds more than 100 people. We installed a new monitor in all community center of Paraisópolis that works almost magically: those who look at the monitor with bare eyes don’t see anything; those who look at it wearing special goggles see everything. Thus providing the person wearing the special goggles with privacy during their session. Magic? Not really. The technology behind this solution that improved the lives of Paraisopolis’ residents is very simple. We took apart old LCD monitors that were going to be donated to the slums, removed their polarized filters (capable of transforming white light into images for our eyes) and we made goggles using them. A team of only 3 electronic engineers was enough to cover all the Internet community centers in Paraisopolis.

Much more than a strictly technologic innovation, Terra VIP turned one technology into a social innovation. Today 100 thousand people from the Paraisópolis’ community can access their online banking, open private emails and visit social networks with complete privacy. And thinking practically, since all the raw material to build the “private monitors” is in the monitors themselves, we have a sustainable and measurable solution. After the success of the project in Paraisopolis, Terra has two next steps for expansion: 1) to increase the coverage of Terra VIP monitors in community centers of other less privileged areas in Brazil 2) to create training programs to teach community leaders how to build their own private monitors, turning the solution into something even more comprehensive and democratic.