Thiago Tonus

Category: Projects

  • INSPIRE: AI in the federal government, from plan to delivery

    INSPIRE: AI in the federal government, from plan to delivery

    Partners: MGI/SGD · CPQD · FINEP funding

    Period: 2026 – present

    Role: Executive Project Manager and Institutional Liaison (via Catálise Social)

    Area: AI & Government

    Context

    INSPIRE brings together seven artificial intelligence fronts in Brazil’s federal government: data interoperability, a no-code generative AI platform, the Government AI Hub (NIA), AI cybersecurity, registry data quality, personalized communication and news dissemination (DestaquesGovBr). The challenge is keeping so many deliverables and institutions moving at the same pace.

    My role

    I coordinate the project’s executive governance: agendas and minutes for the weekly Strategic Committee, tracking of more than 240 deliverables and coordination with MGI, CPQD, Serpro, Dataprev and the Chief of Staff’s Office (Casa Civil). I also led the shift to a product mindset in management, with mapping by technology readiness level (TRL), public value statements and replanning workshops.

    Results

    • Strategic decisions unblocked at the Committee
    • AI products launched for the federal government
    • Results presentation event in May 2026
    • Institutional alignment among the project partners

    Lessons learned

    In AI projects in government, the bottleneck is rarely the technology. It lies in aligning scope and concepts across institutions — and that was the strongest finding from the interviews we conducted with stakeholders.

  • Strategic Planning at SNFI/MIDR

    Strategic Planning at SNFI/MIDR

    Partners: National Secretariat of Funds and Financial Instruments · Ministry of Integration and Regional Development (MIDR)

    Period: 2025

    Role: Facilitation, with Juliana Macedo

    Area: Development & Innovation

    Context

    The Institutional Strategic Planning of the National Secretariat of Funds and Financial Instruments (SNFI).

    My role

    We designed and ran the workshop applying a range of strategic design techniques and tools.

    Results

    Alignment across the directorates and an action plan for the following two years.

  • People-Centered Justice

    People-Centered Justice

    Partners: Federal Court of Ceará (JFCE) · UNDP (BRA/23/009)

    Period: February 2025 – May 2026

    Role: Project Lead (via Catálise Social)

    Area: Justice

    Context

    How can the services of the Federal Court in Ceará be redesigned based on the experience of the people who use them?

    My role

    I led the user research, prototype testing in Sobral, Fortaleza and Juazeiro do Norte, action planning and the design of the Monitoring and Evaluation system.

    Results

    • 10 services broken down and organized into 4 macro-services
    • Prototypes tested in 3 territories
    • M&E system with indicators and baseline

    Lessons learned

    Listening to users always makes a difference in improving services — bringing in the voice of the people who use them is a one-way road to innovation. And measuring is also designing: defining the baseline and data traceability changes the service itself.

  • LIIA and NIA: building AI capabilities in government

    LIIA and NIA: building AI capabilities in government

    Partners: Enap (LIIA) · Federal Government (NIA)

    Period: August 2024 (LIIA) · 2026 – present (NIA)

    Role: Workshop organization, facilitation and reporting

    Area: AI & Government

    Context

    LIIA is the artificial intelligence lab of Enap, Brazil’s National School of Public Administration. NIA, the Federal Government’s AI Hub, is one of the goals of INSPIRE and organizes how new AI initiatives enter government.

    My role

    I took part in the ideation of LIIA in 2024. At NIA, I worked on designing the onboarding process for AI initiatives: we defined the maturity levels (TRL) and the artifacts for each stage, identifying good practices in the current process (as is) and turning them into the future process (to be).

    Results

    • Creation and launch of LIIA
    • Identification of new AI initiatives in government through NIA

    Lessons learned

    AI is still a new and little-known topic in government, which raises many questions among civil servants. This shows how important good processes are, with well-established AI governance and ethics.

  • Instituto CNP: strategy and institutional communication

    Instituto CNP: strategy and institutional communication

    Partner: Instituto CNP

    Period: May – December 2024

    Role: Senior Analyst (via Catálise Social)

    Area: Development & Innovation

    Context

    Instituto CNP needed to organize the logic of its institutional programs and the way it communicates them.

    My role

    • Theory of Change, strategy map and one-pagers for the institutional programs.
    • Institutional presentation, social media communication plan, wireframe for the new website and brand manual.
  • Data Lab for the Espírito Santo Department of Education

    Data Lab for the Espírito Santo Department of Education

    Partner: Espírito Santo State Department of Education (SEDU-ES) · Data Governance Committee

    Period: December 2023 · February – March 2025

    Role: Field interviewer and Analyst (via Catálise Social)

    Area: Education

    Context

    The Espírito Santo Department of Education was structuring its data governance and needed a model for its Data Lab.

    My role

    • In-person application of the technology maturity assessment with the department’s managers (Dec 2023).
    • Diagnosis of innovation processes, user interviews and future-vision and service design workshops (2025).
    • Proposed Data Lab model: purpose, macro-processes, service matrix and feasibility study.
  • CoLabs: accelerating public innovation labs

    CoLabs: accelerating public innovation labs

    Partners: Enap · AECID (Spanish Cooperation)

    Period: August 2023 – present

    Role: Strategic Coordinator and Design & Innovation Consultant (via Catálise Social)

    Area: Development & Innovation

    Context

    CoLabs is an acceleration program for public innovation labs from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Spain.

    My role

    • CoLabs 4.0 (Aug 2023 – Jan 2025): creation of the learning modules, facilitation for 7 teams and consolidation of the mentoring of 20 labs.
    • CoLabs Cono Sur (Jul 2025 – present): coordination with Enap and AECID, methodological refinement of the training content and supervision of the Moodle and Miro environments.
    • Terminology review of the Portuguese/Spanish translation of the books Ethnographic Design in Public Policy and Public Innovation Labs.

    Results

    More than 20 public innovation labs supported in 5 countries.

  • Equity in Education (Ministry of Education/Secadi)

    Equity in Education (Ministry of Education/Secadi)

    Partners: Brazil’s Ministry of Education · Secadi

    Period: June – July 2023

    Role: Project Lead (via Catálise Social)

    Area: Education

    Context

    The update of the ERER Plan (Education for Ethnic-Racial Relations) and the construction of the Reference Framework for Equity in Education.

    My role

    I facilitated the workshops to update the ERER Plan and the 1st Meeting of the Reference Framework for Equity in Education, promoting an implementation of the laws better suited to the actors and territories involved.

    Results

    More than 200 participants engaged in the meetings.

  • B&F Dias: alignment after an acquisition

    B&F Dias: alignment after an acquisition

    Partner: B&F Dias

    Period: April – May 2023

    Role: Lead and Facilitator

    Area: Development & Innovation

    Context

    After an acquisition, the company needed to align teams, processes and products.

    My role

    • Design and facilitation of a two-day post-acquisition alignment workshop.
    • Redefinition of processes, products and indicators using Service Blueprint and the Business Model Canvas.
  • Listening to society for the National Office for the Defense of Democracy

    Listening to society for the National Office for the Defense of Democracy

    Partner: Office of the Attorney General (AGU) · National Office for the Defense of Democracy (PNDD)

    Period: 2023

    Role: Facilitator (via Catálise Social)

    Area: Justice

    Context

    The newly created National Office for the Defense of Democracy (PNDD) needed to hear from experts and civil society to build its regulation.

    My role

    • Remote facilitation of 8 listening workshops with more than 50 experts and civil society representatives.

    Results

    The results informed the draft regulation of the PNDD, which went to public consultation and was published by the Attorney General.