I build production-ready AI platforms.
CTO · AI enablement · Engineering leadership
I'm Nandico Aquino, a creative technologist and CTO. My focus today is AI enablement: helping teams and organizations adapt to a new way of building software, one where AI multiplies speed and leverage while production still demands strong engineering, architecture, governance, security, and operational discipline. My role is often to close two gaps at once: the gap between business ambition and technical execution, and the gap between what technology can demonstrate and what an organization can reliably put into production.
Experience
25+ years of experience, starting with my first job in 1997
25+ years building and leading engineering teams
I've worked at the intersection of technology, product, design, and marketing since my first job, in 1997. Having worked inside startups, venture builders, agencies, production companies, and corporate environments, I understand both how ambitious ideas are conceived and what it takes to make them survive the realities of enterprise execution. I founded Adjetiva in 2007. Huge acquired its operation in 2012, I ran Huge's Brasília office, and later I returned to Adjetiva. Every era had its own frontier: web, games and social apps; mobile after the App Store, and my first computer vision work; product, data and platforms; augmented reality at scale; and now, AI in production.
Startups and venture builders
Co-founder of Mova Mais, Manda Salve, Context and Verse; partner and board member at Ideia Big Data. Where ambitious ideas get their start.
Agencies and production companies
Isobar, Huge, Work & Co and Accenture Song, plus Adjetiva, which I founded in 2007 and where I'm a partner. Engineering embedded with creative and design teams.
Corporate environments
Caixa Seguros and CTIS; Fiat through Isobar, Elo through Work & Co. What it takes for an idea to survive the realities of enterprise execution.
| Dates | Role | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 2026 – present | CTO | We Concept |
| Dec 2024 – present | CTO and co-founder | Verse! Inteligência de Patrocínio |
| Mar 2023 – Nov 2024 | CTO, partner and co-founder | Context |
| Apr 2021 – Feb 2023 | Build Experience / Creative Tech Director | Accenture Song |
| Apr 2017 – Aug 2018 | Lead Product Manager | Work & Co |
| Dec 2013 – Mar 2017 | Co-founder and CEO | Mova Mais (Heartbit) |
| Sep 2012 – Nov 2013 | Managing Director, Brasilia | Huge |
| Oct 2007 – Nov 2012 | Founder and CEO | Adjetiva |
| Oct 2003 – Oct 2005 | Lead Frontend Development | Isobar |
| Jan 2000 – Dec 2002 | Software Engineer | Isobar |
| Jan 1997 – Dec 1998 | Partner, Web programmer | Zevallos Tecnologia em Informação |
Capabilities
What I do, across three areas
Current focus
- AI enablement
- Engineering leadership and team building
- Platform engineering
- Technical direction for emerging-technology experiences
- Co-creating new businesses
Today's focus is AI enablement: AI-enabled engineering, with the tooling and development harnesses to match; knowledge and context infrastructure for AI; and production-ready platforms designed for scalability, observability, security, and compliance. Across all three, the same production standard: governance, security, and delivery inside the client's organization.
Design and Product
- Product concepting
- Technical direction for emerging-technology experiences
- Journey design across physical spaces, events and channels
- Prototypes to validate with people
- Co-creating new businesses (venture building)
Technology and Platform
- Engineering leadership and team building
- Platform engineering
- Running production inside the client's organization
- Security, compliance and technical governance
- Stakeholder alignment across product, channels, technology, security, legal, procurement, and operations
Artificial Intelligence and Data
- AI enablement: AI-enabled engineering practices, tooling, and development harnesses
- Knowledge and context infrastructure for AI
- Computer vision with off-the-shelf tools
- Generative systems
Work
Four projects, and my role in each
Augmented reality at scale, an album launched into space, and an AI platform in use. Each project is told through my role in it. The campaigns, brands and awards belong to their clients, agencies and partners.
TIM · Rock in Rio · Eletromidia
Rock in History: augmented reality on the streets of Rio, inside the TIM app
My role CTO and co-founder of Context; led the technology
For the festival's 40th anniversary, Rock in Rio presented Rock in History, created with TIM and Eletromidia: an open-air interactive museum in augmented reality, spread across the streets of Rio de Janeiro. 40 stories from the festival's history at digital points around the city, in five formats, each unlocked by scanning a QR code, with guitar-pick badges and three phases building up to the festival. I led the technology: the augmented reality infrastructure, built on 8th Wall, and embedding the content in the Rock in Rio and TIM apps, with secure distribution.
- 40 festival stories in five augmented reality formats
- Three activation phases, from May 16 through the festival in September 2024
- An augmented reality activation at TIM locations across Brazil
Instituto Gloria · Artplan
Instituto Gloria: "Não deixe ela virar paisagem"
My role Creative technology team; CTO and co-founder of Context
A campaign by Artplan with Instituto Gloria, supported by Metrô DF, for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, in Brasília, 2023. The title means, roughly, "don't let her fade into the scenery." Over five nights, graffiti murals by Key Amorim and Ganjart were altered to show physical, psychological, economic and moral violence. A QR code on the mural opened an augmented reality view of the artwork's full transformation. I built the entire technical side, including the R&D to make real graffiti interactive.
- Cannes Lions nominee, with Artplan leading the campaign
- 49.9 million campaign reach, per Instituto Gloria
- Reports to the 180 hotline rose 34%, per Instituto Gloria
Record Collection · Loducca
Sat-JF14: John Frusciante's album, launched on a satellite
My role Adjetiva Tecnologia, credited as programmer; the company I founded and where I'm a partner
To launch Enclosure, John Frusciante's 11th album, the label Record Collection and the agency Loducca put the record on an experimental satellite, Sat-JF14, sent up on an Interorbital Systems rocket from the Mojave Desert on March 29, 2014. An iOS and Android app tracked the satellite in real time and unlocked the album as it passed over the listener's region, with a chat for fans. Adjetiva is the credited programmer. I was on stage at Cannes, with Loducca and the client, to accept the Lion.
- Cannes Lions 2014: Gold (Mobile), Silver (PR) and Bronze (Promo)
- LIA 2014: Silver (Media Promo) and Bronze (Apps)
- One Show 2015: Bronze Pencil (Mobile); Clio 2014: Bronze (Branded Content)
- Shots Awards: Mobile Campaign of the Year
Verse! Inteligência de Patrocínio
Verse: an AI platform for sponsorship intelligence, from R&D to product
My role CTO and co-founder
A sponsorship intelligence platform: opportunity analysis built to governance and security standards, a proprietary algorithm (the AROS implementation), and AI tooling. I led the platform's research and development, and built and managed the software, API and application development team. The AI delivers actionable recommendations for clients' strategic decisions.
- AROS Assessment: diagnosis, Verse Index and compliance seals
- Intelligence: a plain-language question becomes a recommendation
- My Projects, Sponsorship Map and Project Submissions
Brands
Agencies
- Isobar
- Huge
- Ogilvy
- Artplan
- Wunderman
- Loducca
- TV1
Brands I've worked with
Selected brands, across different companies and eras, alongside the agencies Isobar, Huge, Ogilvy, Artplan, Wunderman, Loducca and TV1. The brands belong to their owners.
Awards
Awards for work where I led the technology
Across the projects where I led the technology, I count four Cannes Lions: two Gold, one Silver and one Bronze, plus awards at the London International Awards, One Show, Clio, New York Festivals and El Ojo de Iberoamérica. The awards are credited to each project's agency and client. I also served on advertising festival juries from 2009 to 2017.
The four major festivals
42 Gold · 1 Silver · 1 Bronze, plus 3 finalists
41 Gold · 2 Silver · 1 Bronze
2One Show Interactive
2plus 2 shortlists
| Festival | Award | Project |
|---|---|---|
| Cannes Lions 2014 | Gold (Mobile), Silver (PR), Bronze (Promo), plus 2 shortlists | Sat-JF14 |
| LIA 2014 | Silver (Media Promo) and Bronze (Apps) | Sat-JF14 |
| One Show 2015 | Bronze Pencil (Mobile) | Sat-JF14 |
| Clio 2014 | Bronze (Branded Content), plus 2 shortlists (Digital and Direct) | Sat-JF14 |
| El Ojo 2014 | 2 Silver (Innovation, Promo) and Bronze (Direct) | Sat-JF14 |
| Shots Awards | Mobile Campaign of the Year | Sat-JF14 |
| Webby Awards 2015 | Nominee and Honoree | Sat-JF14 |
| Wave 2015 | 2 Silver (Mobile, Direct) and 2 Bronze (Mobile, PR) | Sat-JF14 |
| FIAP 2015 | Gold (PR) and Silver (Innovation) | Sat-JF14 |
| Anuário do Clube de Criação 2014 | 2 yearbook selections (black star and digital) | Sat-JF14 |
| Cannes Lions | Nominee, with Artplan | Instituto Gloria |
| One Show Interactive 2010 | Bronze Pencil (Best Mobile Applications) and a Merit Award | Fiat 500 Faces |
| New York Festivals 2010 | Silver (Best Use of Mobile) | Fiat 500 Faces |
| El Ojo de Iberoamérica 2010 | Silver (innovation and interactive) | Fiat 500 Faces |
Contact
Let's talk.
Email me at fernando@nandico.com.br, message me on WhatsApp at +55 61 98402-0482, or find me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/nandico.