Beyond Business: Behavioral and cultural intelligence as a compass for smart cities and organizations
On September 25, another edition of the Beyond Business Lunch took place, a joint initiative of Seal Group and Católica Porto Business School, which brought together business and academic leaders to reflect on the challenges of the future.
The guest speaker, Dr. Raul Villamarin Rodriguez, Associate Dean of Woxsen University (India), presented the innovative model Behavioral GPS™ for Smart Cities, developed in India between 2022 and 2024, which combines artificial intelligence, behavioral analysis, and cultural integration to predict human behaviors with more than 85% accuracy.
During his intervention, Dr. Raul underlined that “the smart cities of the future are not built only with technology, but with a deep understanding of human behavior.” The Behavioral GPS™—already implemented in eight Indian cities—makes it possible to anticipate patterns of mobility, consumption, and interaction, promoting more effective, sustainable, and culturally adjusted democratic decisions.
Among the main conclusions of his presentation, the following stand out:
- The need to balance technological innovation with human values, ensuring that AI solutions preserve citizens’ autonomy and involvement;
- The central role of cultural intelligence in adapting global technologies to local contexts, strengthening their acceptance and effectiveness;
- The importance of international partnerships between universities, companies, and governments to develop ethical and sustainable solutions for cities and organizations.
With expansion plans for Europe, with Portugal as the pilot country, the model proposed by Woxsen University now intends to apply this approach to the European context, in a balance between collective efficiency and individual autonomy.
“We live in a time when technology and artificial intelligence challenge us to rethink the role of the human being in the decisions of the future. Beyond Business is precisely a space of encounter between science, ethics, and leadership, which allows us to look at economic and organizational development with a more human and integrated lens.”
— Sérgio Almeida, CEO of Seal Group
The Beyond Business – Lunch Cycle thus reinforces its mission to promote dialogue between academia, science, and business leadership, anticipating trends and inspiring strategies for truly human and intelligent development.
