CAMPINAS, Brazil — October 15, 2026 — In a major recognition of scientific excellence, the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) has 188 researchers included in the prestigious global ranking of the World’s Top 2% Most Influential Scientists, compiled by Stanford University in partnership with Elsevier publisher. Among the distinguished scholars featured on this international list are three core leaders of the SMARTNESS Research Center (Smart Networks and Services for 2030): Christian Esteve Rothenberg, Luiz Fernando Bittencourt and Hugo Enrique Hernández Figueroa,
The inclusion of these three researchers underscores the high-impact scientific output, international reach, and academic leadership driving the SMARTNESS Engineering Research Center (CPE). Co-funded by FAPESP, Ericsson, and Unicamp under a 10-year, R$ 56 million investments, SMARTNESS serves as Brazil’s flagship hub for 5G-Advanced, 6G, cognitive networking, and edge computing innovation.
Key SMARTNESS Researchers Recognized
Prof. Christian Esteve Rothenberg — Director & Principal Investigator: Serving as the Director and Principal Investigator of SMARTNESS, Prof. Rothenberg is a faculty member at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (FEEC-Unicamp). His world-recognized research spans softwarized networks, programmable data planes (P4), cognitive architectures, and AI-native 6G networks. Under his direction, SMARTNESS has established state-of-the-art experimental testbeds, including the SMARTNESS Studio 5G (SS5G), while spearheading international academia-industry collaborations across Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
Prof. Luiz Fernando Bittencourt — Education & Knowledge Dissemination Coordinator: Serving as the Education and Knowledge Dissemination Coordinator (EDC) and Co-Principal Investigator at SMARTNESS, Prof. Bittencourt is a leading computer scientist at the Institute of Computing (IC-Unicamp). His pioneering work focuses on the computing continuum, edge/fog computing, swarm intelligence, and federated learning. Within SMARTNESS, he leads major research strands such as DEMIST (Distributed Edge Computing Swarm Intelligence), driving innovations in autonomous drone fleet management, energy-aware logistics, and distributed AI.
Prof. Hugo Enrique Hernández Figueroa — Partnership Coordinator: Serving as the Partnership Coordinator (PPC) and Co-Principal Investigator at SMARTNESS, Prof. Figueroa is a senior professor and former Director of FEEC-Unicamp. A global authority in photonics, optical communications, applied electromagnetics, and metasurfaces, his work bridges hardware-level optical breakthroughs with future high-speed communications. At SMARTNESS, he facilitates inter-institutional partnerships and plays a key role in integrating the center’s advanced electromagnetic measurement facilities, such as the LEMAC anechoic chambers.
Elevating Brazil’s Role in Global 6G Research
Having three of its primary coordinators recognized among the top 2% of scientists worldwide reflects SMARTNESS’s core mission: combining world-class academic rigor with practical industrial innovation. Through its push-pull model of academia-industry collaboration, SMARTNESS continuously translates high-impact publications and patents into open-source tools, standardization contributions, and real-world telecommunication solutions.
This global recognition further validates Unicamp’s standing as a premier research university in Latin America and reinforces SMARTNESS’s commitment to preparing Brazil to lead, rather than consume, the technologies defining the 2030 horizon.