The Technology Transfer Center (NTT) is a laboratory of the Civil Engineering Program (PEC) at COPPE/UFRJ, focused on Research, Development & Innovation (RD&I) and training high-level human resources. The laboratory mainly supports the activities of the Computational Systems area of the Civil Engineering Program and works on the development of Artificial Intelligence, Optimization and Complex Systems techniques for modeling Engineering applications.

The NTT research group has been involved in RD&I projects in close cooperation with industry since 1977, when oil exploration in Brazil turned to the sea. The NTT was created in 1993 and since 1995 has been developing research in Data Mining, being one of the forerunners in Brazil. In 1998, the NTT organized the first international conference on the subject in Brazil. The NTT’s experience, developed over the years through institutional research projects, technological projects and RD&I in cooperation with industry, guarantees the quality standard of the work carried out by the group. It currently carries out RD&I projects in various sectors: Oil, Energy, Environment, Bioinformatics, Telecommunications, Finance, among others. The oil industry, due to its complexity and intrinsic multidisciplinarity, has promoted national technological development and the RD&I work carried out at the PEC has contributed to Brazil’s technological leadership in offshore oil exploration. Conversely, the technological challenges have fostered the development of theoretical and applied research on the subject at the PEC.

The group’s expertise is based on solid mathematical foundations for the development of computational models, in parallel and distributed environments, using machine learning (structured or not, deep or not), nature-inspired optimization, databases, graph theory, fuzzy modeling, advanced visualization techniques and the development of numerical models considering uncertainties in their parameters. This set of approaches can be applied to practically all areas of knowledge, which allows NTT to actively cooperate with various research groups at PEC, COPPE and UFRJ.

The NTT works in various areas of concentration at the PEC. In the area of Structures and Materials, the NTT collaborates in the development of computer models of materials, especially high-strength concrete, to be used in large structures. In Geotechnics, the NTT works on asphalt paving studies. In the area of Water Resources and the Environment, research related to river basin flows are some of the most frequent initiatives. Among the results obtained is the partnership with LabSAR in analyzing remote sensing images to identify environmental sensitivity indices in the Amazon. In the Oil and Gas area, NTT works closely with other laboratories, mainly LAMCE and LAMCSO, to develop solutions for various phases of offshore oil exploration, such as characterizing reservoirs using seismic data. Among the projects to be highlighted are the characterization of oil seeps in the Gulf of Mexico and participation in the Digital Management of Intelligent Fields (GeDig), which aims to improve the development, modelling, operation and integrated management of intelligent fields.