Santos gets ready for technological park expansion
Valor Econômico
The Municipal Government of Santos, on the coast of São Paulo, intends to set aside an area of six square kilometers, in the continental area of the city, to receive the second hub of the Technological Park of Santos. The place is located in the neighborhood of Guarapá, nearly 33 km from downtown Santos, neighbor of the future Barnabé Bagres port. The characterization of the land as capable to receive technology and innovation activity will be included in the land use and development regulations, which is undergoing review, said the Secretary of Development and Strategic Affairs of the city, Márcio Antonio Lara. The proposal will have to be reviewed by the City Council, which may take place still in the first quarter. The expectation is that the new Technopole be operational in two years.
Today, the insular area of Santos - where the City historically developed - has the first hub of the technological park. They are 220 non-continuous square meters, occupied by the facilities of universities and research centers, with which companies can make arrangements to use labs and other resources to develop innovation. With the second hub, the idea is to develop areas where the companies can establish their own centers of development. "The center will have a more traditional format, with a new infrastructure to receive research centers and innovation companies that depend on larger areas for their implementation", says Lara.
According to Lara, Santos has attractive potential and demand to increase the offer. "That is already happened. For example, here in the central region we have Halliburton and Schlumberger, two large companies that constitute the national organization of the oil industry and there are contracts with Petrobras. Companies of the kind promote innovation that generates effect of attraction of new companies", says the secretary. Still in the scope of the pre-salt, Lara says Petrobras - that is erecting its office in Santos - has already decided it will bring the city a hub of the Leopoldo Américo Miguez de Mello Research Center (Cenpes) to operate in the development of logistics and innovation research in the pre-salt.
A work made by the State System of Data Analysis Foundation (Seade) funded by the Government of Japan has identified the IT segment as one of the vectors of development in region of Santos, together with activities like the port, retroport, logistics, energy, environment and tourism. Lara's expectation is that the accreditation of the first stage of the Park takes place in the second half. Two plans are currently being outlined - one of science and innovation and another of marketing -, whose goal is to identify companies in the sector and the potential for attraction of new undertakings.