Leading company in Brazil’s educational engineering market opens US branch in Indiana

A leading company in Brazil’s educational engineering market opens Algetec USA, a U.S. branch from which its leaders hope to grow on an international scale. Algetec provides engineering teaching equipment and pedagogical support to universities' engineering programs. Pictured is Genisson Coutinho, founder of Algetec, standing next to the company’s Integrated Fluid Mechanics Training System. (Photo provided by ALGETEC) Download image

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – ALGETEC, a leading Brazilian company in the engineering education field, officially opened their U.S. branch, called ALGETEC USA in West Lafayette, Indiana with assistance from the Purdue Foundry.

The U.S. branch will provide pedagogical support, virtual workshops and laboratory devices to the engineering disciplines at various American universities.

Genisson Coutinho, a Ph.D. candidate at Purdue University’s School of Engineering Education, founded ALGETEC to provide teaching equipment and support to engineering and technical educators in Brazil. However, Coutinho and his team are moving to the U.S. to take advantage of a more sustainable business environment.

“Eventually, we want to use the U.S. branch as our primary exportation center and ship our products across the world to international customers,” he said. “We would design and develop our ideas, products and services here, and then we would export these products across the world. We hope the U.S. branch will be able to grow more consistently.”

ALGETEC USA will mimic its sister branch in Brazil by providing the same services and equipment. However, this branch will adjust to its new market under Coutinho’s guidance and research.

“I am working towards my doctorate degree in engineering education, and hopefully from my research, my company can develop specific ALGETEC’S pedagogies for a variety of topics,” he said.

The company provides physical laboratory equipment, such as a didactic process control plant, and pedagogical support, such as efficiency analyses of new classroom methodologies. The primary market for these products are universities and engineering professors.

“In Brazil, we work primarily with universities that need lab equipment, curriculum development, and system-improving information all based in engineering education research,” Coutinho said. “For example, we are partnering with two universities to assist in the development of their upcoming online courses. We assist them with curriculum design, and physical and virtual laboratory tools.”

ALGETEC imitates a physical university lab environment through their virtual reality laboratory platform. Using the application, students will enter a university building and choose a laboratory. The virtual laboratories are designed to prepare students for their physical laboratory activities.

“Our virtual labs hold the same equipment a physical lab would,” Coutinho said. “In here, students will complete tasks and activities as preparation and practice before entering the physical lab space.”

In the virtual laboratory, students will learn how to implement engineering theories and safety procedures. Additionally, students can practice operating the virtual equipment and, then, confidently and accurately complete tasks in the physical laboratory.

“Our goal is to have students familiar with and prepared to apply different engineering theories and to operate equipment effectively when they arrive in a physical lab setting,” Coutinho said. “We do not want to replace the physical lab learning environment, but we do want to prepare students to work efficiently and safely in this setting.”

As engineers and professors, ALGETEC’s officers have access to a large collection of expertise and experience. Coutinho believes their combined capabilities and skills have allowed the company to succeed in Brazil and, soon, in the U.S.

“We support our clients through the whole process: from the top, with my work in engineering educational research, to physical lab equipment, designed for efficiency,”
he said.

ALGETEC USA receives entrepreneurial support and guidance from the Purdue Foundry, a commercialization accelerator in Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.

The company is seeking to expand awareness about their new branch and to establish partnerships with universities in need of their services. Coutinho said the company hopes to hire marketing and sales personnel specifically to help with this task for the US branch.

“Because most of the ALGETEC team knows Portuguese primarily, we need someone to work with us in using the appropriate verbiage when marketing in English,” Coutinho said.

Expanding and promoting ALGETEC USA’s influence will allow the company to accomplish its long-term goal: to become an international company with an exportation base in the US.

“The secret to our success is our passion for the work and our competence in the field,” Coutinho said. “I believe we can make a difference with ALGETEC USA.”

About Purdue Foundry

The Purdue Foundry is an entrepreneurship and commercialization accelerator in Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship whose professionals help Purdue innovators create startups. Managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, the Purdue Foundry was named a top recipient at the 2016 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Designation and Awards Program by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities for its work in entrepreneurship. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org.

Writer: Kelsey Henry, 765-588-3342, kehenry@prf.org

Purdue Research Foundation Contact: Cynthia Sequin, 765-558-3340, casequin@prf.org

Source: Genisson Coutinho, gcoutin@purdue.edu