Unesp creates innovation agency
Agência Fapesp 03/30/2009
Last week the São Paulo State University (Unesp) created the Agência Unesp de Inovação (Unesp Innovation Agency), a reorganization of the Center of Technological Innovation of the University in operation since 2007. Physicist José Arana Varela, Full Professor of the Chemistry Institute located in the Araraquara campus, and vice-president of the FAPESP (São Paulo State Research Support Foundation ), was appointed executive officer of the agency by rector Herman Voorwald. The vice-officer is Vandelan da Silva Bolzani, professor of the Institute of Chemistry and part of the coordination of the Biota-FAPESP program.
By changing the name of the Center of Technological Innovation to Unesp Innovation Agency, the agency seeks to be in line with the Federal and State laws of innovation and the policies adopted by the main universities of the country. "The purpose is to increase the skills, integrating all Unesp's initiatives aimed at innovation", affirmed Varela. "The Unesp Innovation Agency will be a favorable environment to attract both professors and researchers and companies. It is important to emphasize that we are not thinking only in innovating products or processes, but in stimulating innovation with strong social character", he said to Agência FAPESP. Support to applied research, compliance with the institutional policy of incentive and protection of the creations, evaluation of the convenience or not of the intellectual protection and follow-up of the applications for intellectual property are the primary attributions of the center. Added to those are the implementation of a program of valuation of the technologies developed by the institution, the promotion of the effective involvement with incubator companies of technological basis - with the development of a network of incubators at Unesp - and the search of a greater interaction with junior companies. "We will have also a strong operation together with the São Paulo System of Technological Parks. We will establish agreements and partnerships with the several parks that are being implemented in the State", said Varela.