What Labnet does

Labnet (Laboratório de Redes e Multimídia) is a non-profit university research laboratory housed within the Instituto Tércio Pacitti de Aplicações e Pesquisas Computacionais (NCE) at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The laboratory conducts research in computer networks, multimedia, and emerging computational fields, with core technical emphasis on information fusion, Internet of Things (IoT), multi-sensor data fusion, wireless sensor networks, knowledge graphs, data science, machine learning, and cybersecurity. It is directed by Professor Claudio Miceli de Farias and includes two additional professor-researchers (Luiz Fernando Rust and Gabriel Caldas), supported by a small cohort of doctoral, master's, and undergraduate research assistants.

The laboratory's primary deliverables include peer-reviewed academic publications, research software prototypes, and the Conecta platform — an academic production management tool that aggregates Lattes/CNPq data to help Brazilian educational institutions monitor researcher output, identify subject-matter experts across knowledge areas, and detect researchers with the highest collaboration potential. Notable proprietary technical contributions include the Athena knowledge fusion algorithm for IoT data (which adapts knowledge graphs and applies reinforcement learning over multi-application WSAN integration) and a Dempster-Shafer inference method for irrigation decision-making in oil palm crops using wireless sensor network data. The laboratory also incubates three student-led teams: UFRJ Nautilus (autonomous underwater vehicles competing internationally in RoboSub), UFRJ Analytica (data science competitions and applied projects), and UFRJ GRIS (cybersecurity incident response within UFRJ's Department of Computer Science).

Labnet operates as an academic research entity rather than a commercial enterprise. Revenue is sourced from Brazilian research funding agencies including CNPq and FAPERJ, and the laboratory generates no commercial product revenue. Outreach and dissemination occur through academic publications in venues such as IEEE, the annual LAFUSION workshop (a Latin American Information Fusion community initiative), student competition teams, and institutional partnerships with UFRJ, NCE, and CNPq. The customer base is limited to UFRJ students and researchers and Brazilian higher education institutions consuming the Conecta platform; there are no commercial customers.

Name

Labnet

Legal name

Laboratório de Redes e Multimídia

Website

https://labnet.nce.ufrj.br

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Labnet is a non-profit UFRJ research laboratory in Rio de Janeiro focused on information fusion, IoT, wireless sensor networks, and applied AI/ML, serving Brazilian academic institutions through its Conecta platform and student-led research teams in AUVs, data science, and cybersecurity.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Research Services

NAICS

Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Lab Automation, Instrument Control & Workflow Orchestration Software (HLAGAJAG)

Keywords

• Academic research laboratory
• Information fusion research
• Wireless sensor networks
• Internet of things
• Multisensor data fusion

Headquarters

HQ city

Rio de Janeiro

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Academic Research Funding: As a university research laboratory, Labnet operates primarily through institutional research grants and funding from CNPq, FAPERJ, and other Brazilian research funding agencies. Revenue is not generated from commercial product sales.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Labnet is a university research laboratory at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) that conducts research in networks, multimedia, information fusion, and Internet of Things (IoT). The lab develops proprietary data fusion algorithms (Athena, Dempster-Shafer inference) for wireless sensor networks and operates the Conecta platform for academic production management that integrates with Lattes/CNPq data for Brazilian educational institutions.

Product overview

Labnet is a university research laboratory (Laboratório de Redes e Multimídia) at UFRJ focused on network and multimedia research. The laboratory's main product offering is the Conecta platform for academic production management, which integrates with Lattes/CNPq data to serve Brazilian educational institutions. The lab also conducts research in information fusion, wireless sensor networks, and hosts the Latin American Workshop on Information Fusion (LAFUSION).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Conecta Platform A platform that collects data from Lattes/CNPq to facilitate the management of academic production at Brazilian educational institutions. It tracks daily production of collaborators, identifies specialists across knowledge areas, and detects researchers with the highest collaboration potential.
• LAFUSION Workshop An annual academic workshop focusing on the latest research results on Information Fusion in Latin America, organized by Labnet and published in partnership with IEEE. Aims to create a community of Information Fusion researchers in Latin America.

Quantifiable outcome

• Annual research publications in IEEE conferences (e.g., LAFUSION workshop)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• IEEE (via LAFUSION workshop)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023LAFUSION (Latin American Workshop on Information Fusion) 2023 is organized by Labnet with papers published through IEEE. This workshop aims to create a community of Information Fusion researchers in Latin America and represents the lab's flagship academic collaboration.
• Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLabnet is housed within the Instituto Téreo Pacitti de Aplicações e Pesquisas Computacionais (NCE) at UFRJ. The university provides infrastructure, institutional support, and access to student talent.
• Instituto Tércio Pacitti de Aplicações e Pesquisas Computacionais (NCE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNCE is the parent institute within UFRJ that hosts Labnet, providing administrative and research infrastructure support.
• RoboSub Competition (Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International)minorOthersUFRJ Nautilus student team participates in the annual RoboSub competition, the world's largest autonomous underwater vehicle competition, representing Brazil and Latin America.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• INRIA: French national research institute with extensive teams in sensor networks, information fusion, cybersecurity, and knowledge representation – a higher-scale public research peer working in Labnet's core technical domains.
• INESC TEC: Portuguese research institute with significant activity in IoT, wireless sensor networks, and data fusion – directly comparable research agenda at greater scale and with stronger industry ties.

Emerging players

• Losant: Enterprise IoT platform with focus on real-time data ingestion, dashboards, and workflow orchestration over sensor fleets – comparable commercial offering in the domain Labnet researches.
• TigerGraph: Commercial graph database and analytics company focused on knowledge graph workloads – the same data structure that Labnet's Athena algorithm is designed to construct and refine from IoT sensor input.
• Particle: IoT platform company providing edge connectivity, device management, and data pipelines; overlapping commercial technology stack to Labnet's research focus on IoT and wireless sensor network orchestration.
• Stardog: Enterprise knowledge graph platform that ingests heterogeneous data sources into unified semantic models – a commercial analog of Labnet's multisensor / multi-source knowledge-graph fusion research.

Direct peers

• COPPE / UFRJ: The graduate engineering and research institute at the same Federal University (UFRJ) as Labnet; operates adjacent research in computer systems, networks, and signal processing with overlapping faculty and shared institutional infrastructure.
• Tecgraf / PUC-Rio: PUC-Rio's software research center in Rio de Janeiro; comparable in being a Brazilian university-affiliated CS/software R&D lab producing applied research outputs in networks, graphics, and information systems.
• IME-USP: Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of São Paulo; the largest Brazilian university CS research unit, producing comparable academic output in algorithms, data science, and applied computing.

Regional players

• LIFIA – Universidad Nacional de La Plata: Latin American software research lab in Argentina with similar academic mission, applied CS research profile, and university affiliation; comparable as a regional peer in research-information systems and software engineering.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/labnet

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Labnet