Arnaud Bertrand was invited to give the inaugural lecture at the XVIth BRAFITEC forum (BRAsil-France Ingénieurs TEChnologie), held at the École Normale Supérieure de Méditerranée in Marseille from June 10 to 13, 2023. The forum brought together 250 people, representing more than 140 French engineering schools and 70 Brazilian universities. The attendees were very impressed by the quantity and quality of the work carried out by the LMI TAPIOCA and its ability to develop interdisciplinary projects.