Software for Good

Launched on September 23, 2020, during the 20th University Week at the University of Brasília (UnB), Software for Good (SpB) is a social-impact macro project and a proposal to establish a collective: a community of people and organizations, meanings, actions, solutions, feelings, and energies aligned to generate good through digital technology, especially software. Anchored at the Center for Studies, Development, and Innovation in Software (CEDIS) of the School of Sciences and Engineering Technologies (FCTE/UnB) and coordinated by professor George Marsicano, SpB’s mission is to develop digital solutions with positive social impact, at no cost to the end user, integrating areas such as software engineering, health, education, advertising, and social services.

Through the articulation of diverse forms of knowledge and collaborative work with public and private institutions, the program aims to promote citizenship, empowerment, and social transformation through technology.

About the program

SpB emerges as a response to the need to connect technological innovation with real social demands. As a macro project, it organizes and gives continuity to linked initiatives such as the DOARTI project , developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program proposes the creation of an ecosystem for developing social software, supported by multidisciplinary teams and a network of internal and external partnerships at the University of Brasília.

Its mission is:

To align and inspire people and organizations to do good.

Its purpose is:

To generate positive social impact, free of charge to the end user, through the development of software combined with other multidisciplinary actions in areas such as social services, health, education, and public communication.

Its values are:

Transformation
Citizenship
Dignity
Trust
Empowerment

Its goals are:

To develop software-based solutions with positive social impact
To build a sustainable network of aligned people and organizations (internal and external to UnB) willing to contribute to the community (local, regional, national, global)
To generate innovation, technologies, and scientific evidence aimed at improving social quality of life
To contribute to the (human and technical) education of UnB students
To strengthen (identity, resources, teams, organization) and connect the set of actions and projects associated with SpB

Associated projects

DOARTI

Emerging in the context of the pandemic, DOARTI is a project linked to Software for Good. It created a digital platform for mapping and connecting charitable organizations with potential donors in the Federal District. With an app and website already in operation, the project supports 21 social initiatives and strengthens solidarity networks. It is developed entirely by volunteers and involves students and professionals from various fields.

AgroMart

AgroMart is a free software platform that connects family farmers to consumers, focused on Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) groups. It began at a UnB hackathon in 2020 and has evolved since 2021 through successive undergraduate theses at FCTE, each picking up the existing codebase to deliver a new layer — infrastructure, payment methods, co-farmer management, development process and accessibility. It is mentored by André Lanna and Rudi van Els , and its code is public.

LEPIC

Focused on education, LEPIC aims to develop a tool for assessing and monitoring children’s reading fluency. The project is a result of a partnership between UnB (FCTE and FCTS) and UFMG, and it supports public literacy policies based on accessible technology and scientific evidence.

A3M

A3M: Educational innovation with active methodologies records CEDIS’s work in the Learning for the Third Millennium Program at UnB. It connects active methodologies, learning indicators and digital products for pedagogical monitoring, applying the same social-impact logic of SpB to the field of education.

Green SD

Project Green SD addresses the sustainability of software itself: how to build, run and evolve systems with lower energy use and a smaller environmental footprint, and how to bring that agenda to companies. It is the SpB front where social impact is measured in resources saved rather than in people served.

Technological products (2025–2026)

In 2025, new initiatives connected to the social-impact software line were catalogued as technological products in the Lattes CV. In 2026, the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention and Childhood Violence Prevention apps received computer program registration certificates from INPI (see Software registrations ):

Benefits and sustainability

SpB provides significant benefits both to society and to the university. Society gains from free digital solutions that directly improve quality of life, education, and inclusion. The university strengthens its outreach mission by enabling students to participate in real, interdisciplinary projects with public relevance—generating publications, internships, and transformative practical experiences.

To ensure sustainability, the program includes strategies for obtaining funding through public calls and partnerships, as well as a shared team model across projects, optimizing human resources and use of available funds.

How to participate/contribute

Faculty, students, professionals, and institutions interested in collaborating with Software for Good may contact professor George Marsicano Corrêa (georgemarsicano@unb.br). This is an opportunity to join a movement that combines technology, citizenship, and social innovation to generate solutions that make a real difference in people’s lives.