Qualcomm Wireless Reach and Instituto Crescer Announce the Opening of Mobile Virtual Reality Laboratories and Expansion of the Student Always Connected Program in Goiânia

SAO PAULO, May 16, 2024 /3BL/ - Qualcomm Incorporated, through its Qualcomm® Wireless Reach™ initiative, and Instituto Crescer announced today the opening of mobile virtual reality laboratories and an expansion of phase 2 of the ASCON Program – Student Always Connected, in four schools in Goiânia (GO). The program aims to close the digital divide by reshaping the way students learn and educators teach. The goal is to bring classrooms to life, modernizing them and enabling a world where all students are connected, intelligently, from home, the classroom or anywhere.

“Connectivity has increasingly proven to be an essential and powerful tool in the daily lives of citizens adapted to modern society, with access to information, diverse content, regardless of their interests, training or area of activity. We believe that its good use is an important aid for teachers in the training of students. Qualcomm Wireless Reach is focused on using advanced wireless technologies to enrich people’s lives through programs that strengthen economic and social development,” explains Milene Franco Pereira, Senior Manager, Government Affairs, Qualcomm Serviços de Telecomunicações Ltda.

The addition of mobile carts/laboratories with virtual reality devices from Beenoculus in each of the four participating schools, furthers achieve the goals of increasing digital inclusion and skills. Beenoculus promotes innovation in education through Extended Reality (XR) immersive experiences and training on devices leveraging the Snapdragon Spaces™ XR Developer Platform.

“At Beenoculus we say that education means taking someone to a world that exists beyond them. With this, we hope that our extended reality solutions will contribute significantly to the educational training of students”, says Rawlinson Peter Terrabuio, co-founder and CEO of Beenoculus.

In this phase, there is an increase in the number of participating students, with an additional class being added per school in 2024. “The program aims to create an environment of digital inclusion, where students have the necessary tools to reach their full potential, increasing digital skills by taking advantage of new learning opportunities. Through virtual reality, students will have access to interactive and immersive content on various educational topics, in addition to the continued use of Always-Connected PCs (ACPCs) for their formative moments, contributing to the digital transformation in schools”, observes Luciana Allan, director of Instituto Crescer.

During the first phase of the project, 120 ACER 511 Chromebooks – equipped with the Snapdragon® 7C processor – were supplied to three school communities in Goiânia. In In total, more than 200 students and teachers received these Always On laptops, ACPCs equipped with Embratel's mobile LTE connectivity features.

Through the ASCON program, teachers learn about cutting-edge technology and other topics. In phase 1, the topics included cybersecurity, cyberbullying and emotional security, metaverse, Artificial Intelligence, emerging technologies, research and basic programming concepts. In phase 2, the training will include the concepts of designing learning experience, resource curation, spatial learning, and creation/authorship of immersive resources.

The Student Always Connected (ASCON) project is a collaboration between Wireless Reach, ACER, Claro, Embratel, Calriz, Beenoculus, Instituto Crescer and the Goiânia Municipal Department of Education (SME of Goiânia).

ABOUT QUALCOMM

Qualcomm relentlessly innovates to deliver intelligent computing everywhere, helping the world tackle some of its most important challenges. Our proven solutions drive transformation across major industries, and our Snapdragon® branded platforms power extraordinary consumer experiences. Building on our nearly 40-year leadership in setting industry standards and creating era-defining technology breakthroughs, we deliver leading edge AI, high-performance, low-power computing, and unrivaled connectivity. Together with our ecosystem partners, we enable next-generation digital transformation to enrich lives, improve businesses, and advance societies. At Qualcomm, we are engineering human progress.

Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering and research and development functions and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business.

ABOUT QUALCOMM WIRELESS REACH

Wireless Reach invests in sustainable programs that demonstrate innovative uses of wireless technology to strengthen economic and social development globally. Our programs promote entrepreneurship, aid public safety, improve health care delivery, enrich teaching and learning, and improve environmental sustainability. Since 2006, Wireless Reach has benefited more than 27 million people.

Snapdragon, Snapdragon Spaces and Wireless Reach are trademarks or registered trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated. Snapdragon and Qualcomm branded products are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. Qualcomm patented technologies are licensed by Qualcomm Incorporated.

ABOUT INSTITUTO CRESCER

Founded in 2000, headquartered in São Paulo and operating globally, Instituto Crescer is a laboratory for creating and implementing large-scale social impact projects that contribute to the development and strengthening of communities and people. Counting on the contribution of national and international resources, we work with the following purposes: 1. Contribute to having Brazil's educational indicators among the best in the world 2. Have minority groups, indigenous peoples, peripheral and rural communities active in democratic spaces for social participation 3. Reduce the economic vulnerability of young people and adults 4. Influence companies to be more socially and environmentally aware.

ABOUT BEENOCULUS

Beenoculus is a Brazilian company that pioneers Extended Reality (XR) solutions for education. The company offers a complete platform that includes immersive virtual reality educational content, active teaching methodologies and data analysis for personalization. Beenoculus is committed to democratizing access to exponential technologies to transform education.