Share the Olympic Experience

Teams coming from around the world to begin competing in the Olympic Games Friday will experience new people, products and sights in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. To help us share their experiences, I checked the innovations trendwatching.com now sees in Central and South America.

     In Brazil, Olympians might pick up a new smartphone and learn Twizer provides help choosing apps, making the most of apps, and incorporating a new phone into daily lives. The Twizer service is free for everyone.

     Other interesting things Olympians might hear about in Brazil include: the fact that for six hours on one day, Uber drivers picked up clothes, bedding, personal hygiene items, non-perishable food, and pet products for free to help Porto Alegre Prefecture's vulnerable people during the winter. Olympians might see the Ben & Jerry's inspired social media campaign, #amoreprogresso, disagree with love. Last spring Ben & Jerry's opened its store in Sao Paolo to let people discuss, over ice cream, contentious issues about corruption and politics.

      Olympians coming from countries with a corruption problem also might look into Peruleaks, an independent, secure platform that enables citizens anonymously to provide encrypted information about crimes and corruption to journalists who check accuracy before publishing a whistleblower's observations. Peru's Peruleaks is part of the Associated Whistleblowing Press (AWP), a Belgium-based nonprofit, that combats corruption.

     Venezuela is trying out a new crime fighting measure of interest to Olympians from almost any country. In the El Hatillo district of Venezuela, empty out-of-service police cars park in the city's most dangerous areas to serve as a security presence criminals are loath to ignore.

     Olympians from countries writing a new constitution, such as Thailand, might ask competitors from Mexico to tell them about the system in Mexico City that invites citizens: 1) to submit proposals for a new constitution at Change.org and 2) to vote on proposed changes. Ideas that receive more than 10,000 signatures are submitted for consideration by a government panel.

     Athletes determined to keep fit by eating healthy foods with no added hormones would be interested in the Chilean company called the NotCompany, which relies on the artificial intelligence (AI) expertise of the Giuseppe startup to make meats, cheeses, and milk out of nuts, peas, grains, and other plant-based crops.

     Female Olympians thinking about life after competition could check out Peru's Laboratoria program for training women with little to no computer science knowledge and no college education. After graduating from a 5-month coding course, women receive job placement services in Peru, Chile, and Mexico.

     And, finally, what can Olympians do with plastic bottles after they finish drinking their water? If they pass through Panama, they might see the Plastic Bottle Village being built by a Canadian entrepreneur. Once steel mesh frames are filled with up to 10,000 plastic bottles for insulation, concrete covers the frames to make walls.