Developed Real-Time Digital Anthropology from Mobile Interaction

In the current times, when the entire industry is driven by a customer-centric approach, it becomes essential for businesses to reach more and more customers for long term success. To make a service or product more accessible for people, crowdsourcing is taking over the market by a boom. Dr. Moura is one such individual that has innovated the path of crowdsourcing for powerful and relevant broad participation of customers.

Since 2011, Dr. Mauricio Moura, the Founder and CEO of Ideia, has continued to innovate in the area of data collection and data analysis. His premise has always been the same: clients are from the digital age and research institutes follow the digital age. The mantra has always been to collect the maximum amount of data possible, in an innovative, quick and efficient manner and always respecting data privacy. Understanding of the market is the driving force behind success in this endeavor.

The biggest innovation came from the utilization of the concept of crowdsourcing to carry out qualitative and quantitative surveys in real-time. Through mobile interaction it is possible to access people (voters, consumers, citizens) in real-time to interact, ask questions and create relationships. These interactions are called "missions".

In 2014, for example, Dr. Moura innovated and used this tool to follow the Brazilian presidential debates. Before the debates, people responded to a questionnaire about voting intention and those that responded as undecided received a "mission" to watch the debate. During the debate, they were asked questions on their phone about the performance of candidates. The answers in real-time gave insight as to who were the winners and losers in each part of the debate. This was the first time that so many undecided voters (around 2,000) had ever spoken in real-time during a presidential debate. This solution, named "Live", has continued to be widely used for live TV programs coming from the biggest broadcasters in Brazil.

In 2018, an unprecedented product was launched that used the same crowdsourcing platform: Digital Anthropology. This method combines anthropological and sociological research techniques with the latest technology.. This has opened a new era for qualitative surveys by accessing thousands of people interacting and recording videos in all parts of the country. With Digital Anthropology, it was possible to anticipate the result of the Brazilian presidential elections in 2018 – as shared with the media 8 months beforehand, much earlier than any other predictions had considered the victory of Jair Bolsonaro.

Digital Anthropology was awarded "Political Innovation of the Year" by the Washington Academy in 2019.

Therefore, the main innovation is utilizing crowdsourcing (mobile interaction) to carry out surveys. Dr. Moura helped to create the Uber of polling concept. In other words, now it is possible to do surveys without professional researchers. Real people can respond when and how they want, without the bias of the interviewer.

Understanding Human Being with Technology

From crowdsourcing (Uber of polling) it was possible to develop "Live" and digital anthropology. Understanding the human being through the use of technology in a transparent way that also protects data privacy.

The model of crowdsourcing has everything to be widely disruptive in the polling industry. Dr. Moura quotes some widespread examples here –

• In the case of live broadcasting, TV broadcasters don't contract with focus groups anymore (traditional qualitative surveys). They have access to better results, with larger and cheaper data.
• Digital anthropology has taken the place of long and expensive ethnographic studies. Efficiency and quality make all the difference.
• Quantitative surveys that used to take days are now available in hours. This was impossible without crowdsourcing.

From Innovation to Global Recognition

Innovation has grown in Ideia, it attracted investment and transformed it into a relevant player in global public opinion.

The excellent work that the company carries out under the guidance of Dr. Moura, has also received plenty of media attention, as demonstrated by the number of times that it has been featured in different formats both inside and outside of Brazil, including 865 publications in 2018 and 411 publications in the first half of 2019. Beyond that, the company has received the Napolitan Victory Award three times in the category of "Political Innovation of the Year" in 2015, 2017 and 2019 from the Washington Academy.

Such remarkable global recognition depicts that growth and recognition are the fruits of this innovation process.

Tackling Tough Times

Well, talking about the hardships layered under these achievements, Dr. Moura said that the demands of the public opinion research sector have become more difficult as technology allows for increased quantity and speed of access to information. If in the past the company had faced the challenge of bias and lack of sincerity in responses, now some people change opinion much more quickly and more often due to the ease of access and availability of vast amounts of information.

Lastly, Dr. Moura mentioned the challenge of incorporating AI into the process of collecting and analyzing data. The company is working intensely on this aspect and it knows that it is not a trivial matter.

Leadership Enriched with Knowledge

Maurício Moura completed his undergraduate studies in Economics at the Universidade de São Paulo and holds master's degrees in Social Science (University of Chicago, 2003) and Political Management (George Washington University, 2014). He is a Doctor of Public Sector Economics and Policy from Fundação Getúlio Vargas and George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Maurício has taught Microeconomics, Econometrics, and Stats. In 2018, he was nominated by the Washington Compol Magazine as one of the 100 most influential political sector professionals of the year. Recently, he received a certificate from the Owner / President Management Program (OPM), a rigorous executive education program at Harvard Business School. He is also a board member at the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University.