High Abilities and Information Technologies: The Talento Metrópole Brazilian Program

Abstract

The study presents the Brazilian experience of the Talento Metrópole program, linked to the Digital Metropolis Institute of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, located in Brazil’s Northeast. The Talento Metrópole program aims to develop the interest of young people with high abilities/intellectual giftedness in scientific research, expand skills and abilities, and get creative in the fields of information technology and its interfaces, always seeking innovation and entrepreneurship. It also aims to create opportunities for the dissemination of new knowledge and to explore career opportunities related to this area, with the purpose of creatively inserting young people into the labor market and into solidary social participation. The participants are students from public and private schools, colleges and universities, aged between 13 and 21 years. The steps that comprise the structure of the program are described and characterized. In addition, the selection process for admission to the program is described, with emphasis on the stage which illustrates the development and characterization of the instrument which investigate the sources of skills and expertise subjacent to the field of information technology.