"This case study shows Brazil's capacity for innovation in the IT sector, and why the country is emerging as a key location for outsourcing", says Fernando Damasceno, chief engineer at the Brazilian unit of Italian car parts company Magneti Marelli, who will present his solution at Brazil IT's Solution Provider Session, on Tuesday, Oct. 10th. Damasceno will be interviewed by Gartner analyst Michael Maoz.

Damasceno, a Brazilian engineer, led the team that created the IT solution that constantly calculates the mixture of fuels in the car's tank and adjusts the engine to perform accordingly. In 2002, his team sold the software to Volkswagen, which introduced the first flex-fuel car in Brazil the next year. Damasceno's black box is now a part of cars sold by the five largest car makers in the country, including Volkswagen, Ford and GM.

Brazilian engineers started developing the technology behind flex-fuel cars in the 1990s based on their prior experience with ethanol-only vehicles during the 1970s, when Brazil's government helped fund the R&D effort which would lead to massive production of ethanol-fueled cars in response to the international oil crisis. In essence, the difference to the American technology is that the Brazilian flex-fuel injection system is cheaper, smarter and not limited to certain types of fuel or fuel mixes. Cars can run on gasoline, ethanol, or any mixture of both.

Today there are an estimated one million flex-fuel automobiles operating in Brazil, and that number is expected to grow fivefold in 8 years. E100 fuel (or pure ethanol) is sold at all of Brazil's 30,000 service stations. Annual production is in the range of four billion gallons, of which around 690 million gallons are exported. Ethanol accounts for about 40% of the fuel consumed by passenger vehicles, which means that for most Brazilian drivers, the only real issue between gasoline and ethanol is which is cheaper at the pump.

Brazilian engineers are continuing their work. Bosch's subsidiary in Brazil has created a new technology that allows cars to be powered by natural gas, in addition to gasoline and ethanol. Moreover, last June Magneti Marelli and Fiat launched the first vehicle to run on pure gasoline, Brazilian gasoline (mixed with alcohol), ethanol or natural gas. The Tetrafuel technology is also the results of Mr. Damasceno's R&D efforts.

Brazil IT - Booths 101 and 104
Flex-fuel Technology: A Brazilian Innovation
October 10, 12:15 PM - 1:15 PM
Location: Dolphin / Oceanic 5

For more information, visit www.brazil-it.com. To schedule interviews with Brazilian IT executives participating in the Gartner Symposium/ITXpo 2006, contact Christine Studart at Brazil Information Center (202) 471-4020 or (240) 498-4250.