Bridge To Innovation

ENGLISH EDITION

Michelle Cristina Damasco Noronha

FLORIANÓPOLIS,SC, BRAZIL

2024

CONCEPTION AND ORGANIZATION

Daniel Leipnitz

Rodrigo Lóssio

EDITORIAL DESIGN AND PUBLISHING

Rodrigo Lóssio

EXECUTIVE EDITION

Letícia Wilson

Santa Editora

TRANSLATION ORGANIZATION

Alexandre Noronha

iNGLÊS iNC

PROOFREADING

Cláudia Bechler (PT)

Gary Zammit (ENG)

VISUAL IDENTITY AND COVER

Rodrigo Lago Quiquio

PHOTOGRAPHY

Fernando Willadino

LAYOUT

Eduardo Faria

ENGLISH EDITION

Michelle Damasco Noronha

https://ponte.tech

Indexes to systematic catalog:

1. Organizational environments : Innovations : Business administration 658.406 Eliane de Freitas Leite - Librarian - CRB 8/8415

© Daniel Leipnitz and Rodrigo Lóssio.

Originally published in Brazil, in Portuguese, by Santa Editora in 2021.

E-book version: nextmidia.com.br

The opinions and concepts expressed in the published articles are the sole responsibility of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the organizers and editors of this publication. This book’s total or partial reproduction without its author’s and organizers’ prior and express authorization is prohibited. All rights reserved.

Introduction

This book answers some questions that have been asked of us frequently for many years: Daniel Leipnitz, as a business leader in Santa Catarina’s technology sector, and Rodrigo Lóssio, as a communications strategist for companies and organizations in the sector. One of the main questions they have been asked is how the innovation ecosystem of Florianópolis, an island in southern Brazil and the capital of Santa Catarina, has become one of the most complete and complex in the country. In this regard, the interest lies in knowing what should be considered for this development, what are the most important points for its consolidation, and how to get there?.

After closely following the rise of Floripa to the status of a possible Silicon Valley of Latin America over the past two decades, we have always been convinced this was not a simple answer. It became clear that there were many factors contributing to the excellence of Florianópolis’ innovation ecosystem: from government support and encouragement to the investment made by accelerators, from the support offered by incubators and coworking spaces to the implementation of multi-purpose complexes and innovation parks, from the quality of teaching at local universities to entrepreneurial initiatives to capacitate and nurture talent, from the willingness of pioneering entrepreneurs to share experiences to the interest of young startup leaders in this knowledge, from the strength of associations to support for entrepreneurship, from encouraging an integrated creation process to generating opportunities, from valuing individual skills and abilities to stimulating creativity, from modern tools to the simplicity of casual encounters. We cannot deny that the latest hardware, software, systems, state-of-the-art equipment, and cutting-edge technologies have contributed to the success of Floripa’s innovation hub, but the true essence lies in the people who make it all happen. They make it happen through skill, talent, entrepreneurial spirit, and selflessness.

From our active participation in the sector, together with the pioneers, protagonists, and participants in constructing the Florianópolis innovation ecosystem, we began to analyze this process closely. In our work with the Associação Catarinense de Tecnologia (Santa Catarina Techology Association) (ACATE), we have closely collaborated on productivity, friendship, and mutual admiration. We have witnessed the effectiveness of new practices and the significance of enhancing others. We experienced significant challenges and identified important opportunities. We concluded that once local singularities were respected, an innovation ecosystem with an entrepreneurial profile could be created in other places in Santa Catarina, Brazil, and even other countries.

Therefore, we decided to organize this process as a book to share the trajectory of the consolidation of the Florianópolis innovation ecosystem, intending to serve as an inspiration and reference. We listed 32 vectors for the development of this environment and invited industry leaders to present on these topics. This was one of the most challenging stages in planning this project because the history of Floripa’s technology hub is being built by hundreds of people, all of whom play an essential role and deserve all our consideration and respect. We have curated a group of esteemed guest authors who are experts in their field and have played a pivotal role or are still actively involved in developing the sector in Santa Catarina’s capital and who masterfully represent each agent of transformation in our ecosystem.

The city of Florianópolis - the island of Santa Catarina - is, not by chance, the backdrop for the entire book, which is intended to be a guide for any public manager, business leader, executive of large companies, groups of entrepreneurs, and investors who want to lead, build, or consolidate any ecosystem, especially those far from major centers.

Structure of the work

In developing the chapters, we aimed to go beyond a purely historical review to delve deeper into each concept to present a practical and objective vision of developing each vector in the context of an ecosystem. The book is divided into ten large blocks of content, which group the vectors into macro-themes: government, education and training, investments, management, infrastructure, people, relationships, integration, business, and social.

The guest authors followed the standard structure planned for each chapter. The introduction presents the concept, importance, and characteristics of one of the 32 mapped development vectors of an ecosystem. Next, it highlights How Florianópolis developed this vector, tracing its historical trajectory, the current scenario, figures, achievements, and evidence that reinforce the particular perspective of the capital of Santa Catarina. The Challenges for the Future section discusses what any ecosystem, regardless of its level of maturity, will have to face in the coming years and highlights what Floripa’s sector still needs to develop. To contribute objectively to the consolidation or creation of new ecosystems, the section How to develop this vector presents, in topics, a step-by-step guide for those who wish to follow this path. Finally, access a list of examples and additional content under Where to find it and References to better understand each vector.

With this book, we aimed to leave a practical legacy for the entire Brazilian entrepreneurial ecosystem. Our goal was to demonstrate that through unity, willpower, a lot of collaboration, exchange, and collective spirit, it is possible to overcome all of the challenges and difficulties associated with promoting innovation in Brazil. The original book Ponte para a Inovação: Como Criar um Ecossistema Inovador was launched in 2021 with the sponsorship and support of the foremost companies and institutions in the sector, which are also bridges to innovation in Brazil, and helped make this book possible. The book has become a source of reference in Brazil, evidenced by the fact that over 4,000 copies have been printed. Furthermore, 100% of the proceeds from sponsorships and book sales have been used to fund scholarships for young people in vulnerable situations in the region. In total, more than 100 young people have benefited so far. The work has crossed borders: it has reached the hands of businesspeople, students, young entrepreneurs, CEOs of major corporations worldwide, and even the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. Due to its success, we understood the need to expand its reach. In 2024, we launched the English edition, again with the sponsorship and support of prominent companies and institutions that are critical players in our innovation ecosystem.

Give first and Give back are widely used mantras in startup ecosystems. Give first encourages individuals to give of themselves without expecting anything in return. On the other hand, give back stresses the importance of returning everything learned and achieved through belonging to an innovative environment. These principles have always guided our careers - Daniel’s, as a leader of ACATE and the Associação Nacional de Entidades Promotoras de Empreendimentos Inovadores (National Association of Entities Promoting Innovative Entreprises) (Anprotec), and Lóssio’s, as a press and communications officer for hundreds of companies, organizations, and movements, such as ACATE itself, Endeavor and Startup SC. We have followed the idea of ‘Give First’ for the last 20 years, allowing us to position this work, Bridge to Innovation, as the materialization of our give backs for the Brazilian ecosystem.

Daniel Leipnitz e Rodrigo Lóssio

AUTHORS | ORGANIZERS

How the world and Brazil recognize Florianópolis

We invited national and international experts to share their perceptions about the maturity of Florianópolis’ ecosystem. Their contribution to the narrative sheds light on the importance of ecosystem construction and consolidation in the country.

A mature innovation ecosystem needs the contribution of the agents of the triple helix (universities, industry, and government) in order to provide talent, technology, and investments (angel investors, venture capital, and corporate venturing) for the development of startups, from their conception to their M&A plan. Startups are becoming a source of the future in the ecosystem as a key element in the disruptive innovation of already structured companies. Florianópolis, as the epicenter of the innovation ecosystem in Santa Catarina, with all the agents in the ecosystem sharing a single vision and consensus on actions that contribute to the effective development of the economy and the knowledge society, is currently an international benchmark of the Innovation Ecosystem for entrepreneurs who can take advantage of this economic and social environment."

Josep M. Piqué

Barcelona, Spain President of La Salle Technova Barcelona (Ramon Llull University) Former President IASP – International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation

I have spent my entire life in Silicon Valley and often asked about its secret. Why did a valley in California flourish and become the global economic center it is today? The reasons are diverse, but two factors often mentioned are the great universities and the hospitable climate of the Bay Area - both of which Florianópolis has in abundance.

During my visit to Floripa in 2019, I had the opportunity to meet several influential members of the city’s ecosystem. I realized that the key to the city’s success lies in the community’s dedication to promoting an ecosystem that benefits all local businesses. It takes smart, passionate, and talented people to create a global hub for entrepreneurship and innovation. Cities with a great lifestyle, such as the capital of Santa Catarina, have a distinct advantage in attracting the talent pool that a center of innovation and entrepreneurship requires.

I’ve been lucky to have visited most of the world’s entrepreneurship and innovation hubs, from Austin to Tel Aviv and Berlin to Helsinki. After a week in 2019 in Florianópolis, I am convinced that this beautiful island city will be one of the world’s centers of innovation and economic development in the 21st century."

Bret Waters

Silicon Valley, United States

Professor of Entrepreneurship at Stanford University and mentor at the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship

Today, the competition is not between innovative organizations but between innovative ecosystems. Florianópolis has built an enviable innovation ecosystem from scratch, a benchmark in Latin America. Ecosystems help develop innovations contributing to job creation, wealth creation, and a vibrant knowledge-based economy. There is a commitment to common growth when there is collaboration between companies, universities, startups, the government, and development institutions. In Florianópolis, the main success factors of the ecosystem are guided by leadership, governance, and an agenda around shared interests. The city has built an ecosystem equivalent to a Ferrari, which is still in second gear. Once the third and fourth gears are engaged, Florianópolis’ innovation ecosystem can be expected to join those of cities like Boston, San Francisco, and Tel Aviv."

Hitendra Patel

Boston, Ma, Usa

Thinker, consultant, and global leader in innovation. Founder and CEO of IXL Center

Florianópolis’s innovation ecosystem is one of our best national references in terms of an innovative and entrepreneurial environment and the transformation of the territory based on the values of 21st-century society and economy. This imagination is grounded in reality and collective construction, which has managed to articulate the actors of the quadruple helix very well: academia, business, government, and civil society. Continuity in policies, a shared vision of the future, leadership, qualified people, good communication, and the courage to transform society and the economy through innovation and entrepreneurship. These were and are the critical success factors that have made Florianópolis a source of pride for everyone working in the national innovation ecosystem. May the Florianópolis model be the bridge to the future of the region and our country, generating a better future for our people and society. With knowledge, creativity, and courage."

Jorge Audy

Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil

Superintendent of Innovation and Development at PUCRS and TECNOPUC and former president of Anprotec and IASP Latin America

Contents

Introduction

The foundations that give rise and support to a tech hub

Carlos Alberto Schneider

Government

The role of state-owned companies in developing an ecosystem focused on generating technology-based companies

José Fernando Xavier Faraco

A regulatory environment favorable to innovation

Carlos Roberto De Rolt

Education and training

University: beating heart and vibrant brain of a winning ecosystem

José Eduardo Azevedo Fiates

The importance of training and attracting talent to the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem

Moacir Marafon

Entrepreneurial training: the silent gear

Luc Pinheiro

INVESTIMENTS

Financing the innovation ecosystem

Sergio Luiz Gargioni

Venture capital investment funds

Marcelo Wolowski

Angel investors and the give-back culture

Marcelo Cazado

Management

Corporate governance for the growth of companies and organizations

Iomani Engelmann

International business missions and the importance of benchmarking

Daniel Leipnitz

Communication strategies for positioning ecosystems

Rodrigo Lóssio

INFRASTRUCTURE

Real estate developments as innovation environments

Marcelo Consonni Gomes

Innovation hubs: physical hubs as vectors of ecosystem growth

Gabriel Sant’Ana Palma Santos

The role of incubators and entrepreneur support

Tony Chierighini

Accelerating ecosystems

Marcos Mueller

Coworking: the meeting point of the entrepreneurial community

Gabriela Werner

PEOPLE

Organizational culture: the soul of companies that create open Innovation based on innovation ecosystems

André Krummenauer

Leadership for transformation and the power of example

Daniel Leipnitz

Diversity and women in technology

Luiza Guerreiro

RELATIONSHIPS

The culture of meetups meetups and gatherings to share, inspire and connect

Alexandre Souza

Collaboration and sharing of ideas in interest groups

Walmoli Gerber Jr.

INTEGRATION

The ecosystem of specialized services

Ismael Rogério da Silva

The integration of economic forces

Rodrigo Rossoni

Creative economy: vector for exponential economic development

Doreni Caramori Júnior

The Corporate Events Industry

Denis Braguini Bevacqua

BUSINESS

Global Culture: internationalization as an inevitable two-way street

Klaus da Silva Raupp

How a strong ecosystem creates hardware companies

Marcos Buson

Open Innovation based on innovation ecosystems

Silvio Kotujansky

How B2B companies drive ecosystem development

Eric Santos

SOCIAL

Technology for Good and Data Education at the Edge of Global Innovation

Fernanda Bornhausen

Social capital and innovation

Lucia Dellagnelo e Mariane Maier Nunes

THE AUTHORS | ORGANIZERS

AND MORE

Energy to transform

CTG BRASIL

Sustainable growth through innovation projects

ENGIE

Innovation embedded in business

ÚNILOS

Entrepreneurship + innovation, the formula that works

SEBRAE

INTRODUCTION

The foundations that give rise and support to a tech hub

Carlos Alberto Schneider

Bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate in Mechanical Engineering and was a full professor at UFSC. Proposed, implemented, and directed the Fundação CERTI for 32 years. He was a member of the Deliberative Council of CNPq and was awarded, among other honors, the National Order of Scientific Merit commendation.

Over the last 35 years, many municipalities, moved by their governments and business/academic leaders, have had the meritorious initiative to establish - understanding as a key to regional development or even to appear as a modernizing action - a business incubator, a technology park, and an innovation center, to one day become a successful tech hub. Most of these initiatives, unfortunately, did not prosper. Although apparently simple to structure, it is, in fact, complex to put together the conditions for success, aspects that this book aims to expose based on what has and has not been achieved at the Greater Florianópolis tech nub.

In this introductory chapter, the foundations of the construction of this Hub, which has become an effective Innovation Ecosystem, are described. The Fundação CERTI - Fundação Centros de Referência em Tecnologias Inovadoras (Foundation for Reference Centers in Innovative Technologies) - which I direct - has played an important role, both in terms of initiatives, dedication, and persistence and in attracting regional, national and international resources to promote innovation.

Alignment of the driving vectors of a tech hub

The generation of new products, services, and production processes, generally through the use of advanced technologies, is today characterized as innovation, and it is known that this promotes businesses and solutions of great economic, environmental, and social value. Combining Technology-Based Companies (TBC) that provide these innovative products, services, and processes, together with all the enablers for their operations and competitiveness, constitutes the so-called innovation ecosystem, a tech hub.

For a city, metropolis, or region to form an integrated technological hub means establishing a relevant financial generator, a qualified job creator, and a driving/ modernizing instrument for traditional economic segments, generating consistent development on all fronts.

It is important to note that an effective tech hub will promote:

•Provision of raw material:

Entrepreneurs and key technologies come from a good university, a good technical school, a competent research and development (R&D) center, and/or a dynamic private or state-owned company. These are the key elements of the whole process, not just to get it started but to its ongoing development, and they guarantee success if they are kept connected and aligned with the hub’s strategic focus.

•Existence of facilitating elements:

»Shared, collaborative, inspiring, integrative physical spaces with operational and technological supports. These spaces include efficient incubators, accelerators, coworkings, innovation centers, and technology parks.;

»Access to financial resources in the form of grants, advance purchases, financing (from venture to bank loans);

»Market agents, marketing, communication, national and international representations, etc., in short, visibility of the hub;

»Interaction channels with specialized HR providers, consultancies, and scientific and technological research access.

•Hub Management Group:

Bringing together voluntary leaders committed to articulating and cooperating actions for economic, technological, environmental, and social development.

Developing a tech hub or innovation ecosystem is a public policy agreed upon between regional leaders who are involved in formulating and articulating strategies and actions. An acceleration in the generation of results will depend on how many effective cooperative actions are carried out competently, minus the number of actions that are undone by mismanagement, unaligned interests, misinformation, lack of transparency, etc., which are not uncommon, unfortunately.

Evolução do Polo Tecnológico de Florianópolis

With over 35 years of existence, systematically promoting technological innovation and continuously improving its mechanisms, the Florianópolis Technology Center is one of Brazil’s most complete innovation ecosystems. Given that Brazil’s positions in international rankings of education, competitiveness, innovation, etc., are shameful, the Hub also has cultural, managerial, political, and behavioral obstacles and deficiencies. The proposal of this book is well-conceived. Each vector of action will highlight what can be done to correct the flaws and what can be done to make a new leap in development.

In 1985, Florianópolis, a city of public services and seasonal tourism, faced growing unemployment. In the mayoral election campaign that year, there were promises of job creation, the most typical of the region, but in the speeches of all the candidates, the magic of IT jobs appeared, awakened by the then-current National IT Policy. After the municipal elections, the then Governor of the State of Santa Catarina, Esperidião Amin, had his Secretary of Industry and Commerce assign his advisor, Prof. Honorato Tomelin, to bring together companies, universities, banks, and CERTI, created in 1984, to ask the question: how can we create jobs with IT?.

Some guests, representatives of society, and those working in IT put forward ideas and demands that led CERTI to devise an environment to promote the development of companies, which became known as an incubator. After ten meetings, with a growing number of enthusiastic representatives from private and public organizations, the governor was presented with the proposal for a Technological Business Incubator (TBI) to be managed by CERTI and a Condomínio Industrial de Informática (Computer Industry Condominium) - (CII), to be managed by the then-formed Associação Catarinense de Telemática e Eletrônica (Santa Catarina Telematics and Electronics Association), now the Associação Catarinense de Tecnologia (Santa Catarina Technology Association) (ACATE). Both projects received funding from the State Government of Santa Catarina to be implemented in a rented building near the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (University of Santa Catarina) (UFSC). The two different mechanisms for promoting business innovation aligned with the then-outlined regional development strategy, summarized in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Sketch/blueprint of the desired Florianópolis Tech Hub

The plan involved UFSC, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (Santa Catarina State University) (UDESC), and CERTI, with an emphasis on providing raw material in the form of young entrepreneurs and innovative technologies. The TBI housed and supported the startups/TBC of individuals or companies, transferred companies, and R&D business units, while ACATE’s CCI brought together the TBC already operating in Florianópolis. With its high-tech products, generally machines, instruments, automata, and software for modernizing IT processes, the Hub’s priority focus was implementation. The main result was expected that companies and organizations in Santa Catarina would be able to meet their digital automation demands for competitiveness and growth. With rigor and transparency, the effective operation of the Florianópolis Tech Hub took place in early 1987.

The plan included, after two years, implementing an Industrial District for Information Technology for the strengthened companies in the incubator and condominium. In fact, with the support of the then governor of the State of Santa Catarina, Vilson Pedro Kleinübing, a computer enthusiast, the then-named Parque Tecnológico Alfa (Alfa Technology Park) (ParqTec Alfa) was made available in 1993. In the five years of delay, some established companies sought their own spaces in the city or even abandoned Florianópolis.

With the transfer of TBI in 1995 to ParqTec Alfa, its physical space increased fivefold with investment from the Government of Santa Catarina and its new operational format, closer to an innovation center, it was renamed the Business Center for the Laboratory of Advanced Technologies (CELTA), continuing to be a business unit of the CERTI Foundation. There was then a leap in the development of new companies. The same phenomenon happened when ACATE, its CCI, and its incubator MIDITEC moved to the pleasant Primavera condominium, inaugurating the Centro de Inovação ACATE (ACATE Innovation Center) (CIA) there in 2015.

As the number of companies significantly increased and grew, the demand for professionals and technical, business, and social services was even more significant, inducing countless concomitant initiatives, successful or not, making a chronological account of the complex or even unfeasible. We have therefore opted for a historical overview, highlighting the evolution according to some key approaches to developing the Innovation Ecosystem. Some of these vectors will be explored in greater depth in other chapters of this book by the leaders involved in achieving them.

Stimulators of the creation, attraction, and development of TBCs

Due to their effectiveness and attractiveness, CERTI’s and ACATE’s incubators have always been in intense demand, allowing selection processes to be carried out that add proposals of greater technological, market, and entrepreneurial merit. As a result, companies of significant innovative competence were formed, some with substantial growth in size, others less so but highly specialized, achieving high survival rates. In practice, the incubators were responsible for a significantly larger number of companies than those that graduated. This is because entrepreneurs, encouraged to prepare their business plans upon initiating integration into the ecosystem, did not give up when they received news of the impracticality of accessing the incubators. Instead, they found a garage to carry out their plans. Various other mechanisms have also emerged, such as condominiums, coworking spaces, accelerators, business centers, etc., which have joined the process of strengthening startups.

The Hub also became attractive for large national and international companies to set up branches, new units, or R&D departments. In this context, however, there was repeated resistance on the part of business people working in the Hub for fear of rising costs in the competition for talent and services, which were already insufficient. For the dynamics of the Hub, a well-negotiated partnership strategy would be better suited to the lack of governance of the Ecosystem.

However, it was in 2007 that CERTI observed that the applications for its CELTA incubator amounted to more than a hundred, yet few involved researchers and advanced technologies, as dealt with by various R&D groups of the existing ICTs in the ecosystem. This led to the proposal of a new mechanism to attract entrepreneurs with the skills and know-how to develop their startups under guidance, training, and evaluation, flanked by a rigorous selection process in terms of innovation strategy, giving the winners seed money to implement their innovative startups in six months of guidance. This mechanism was called Sinapse da Inovação (Innovation Synapse), which, after a very successful local trial operation, was adopted by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e Inovação de Santa Catarina - Fapesc (Santa Catarina State Research and Innovation Support Foundation) and extended to the entire state of Santa Catarina, aimed primarily at inducing promising startups for the 50 or so Santa Catarina incubators that existed at the time, most of which had operational difficulties due to a lack of raw material¹.

Fapesc has sponsored seven Innovation Synapse operations, operated by CERTI, over the course of more than ten years, generating more than 500 startups in 85 municipalities in Santa Catarina. The Innovation Synapse methodology has gained national notoriety, while Santa Catarina has come to stand out even more as an innovative entrepreneurial state par excellence. In 2019, the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation) - (MCTI), the Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (Financier of Studies and Projects) - (Finep) and the Conselho Nacional das Fundações Estaduais de Amparo à Pesquisa (National Council of State Research Support Foundations) - (Confap) adopted CERTI’s methodology and services to set up the Programa Nacional Centelha (National Spark Program). More recently, other initiatives, particularly led by Sebrae/SC, ACATE, Federação das Indústrias do Estado de Santa Catarina (Federation of Industries of Santa Catarina) (Fiesc), Universities, and Associations, have promoted the training and even the creation and strengthening of startups. According to a survey by ACATE, at the end of 2019, Greater Florianópolis had 3,941 innovative technology companies with around 16.600 employees².

It is worth highlighting the importance of the successful achievements of the Technology Hub for the National Innovation System. From Florianópolis, knowledge is disseminated, enabling various Brazilian public policies that directly impact the formation of a culture that fosters entrepreneurship and innovation, resulting in an increase in the number of competitive Brazilian TBC³. Some examples are the MCTI’s Centelha Program, InovAtiva Brasil, run by the Ministry of Economy, and various other nationwide actions, such as Agentes Locais de Inovação (Local Innovation Agents) - (ALI) and the Implementação de Ecossistemas Regionais de Inovação (Implementation of Regional Innovation Ecosystems), both run by Sebrae Nacional. CERTI, through its Centro de Empreendedorismo Inovador (Center for Innovative Entrepreneurship), directed by Leandro Carioni, with a large executive team, has supported the formulation and operation of impactful programs in Santa Catarina and Brazil.

A key role in the development of the Hub is played by ACATE, with its various initiatives to strengthen the business and innovative performance of its member companies, always chaired by successful entrepreneurs, leading businesspeople from the Hub who have strived for the growth of the business community, not only in the Florianópolis Hub but throughout the state of Santa Catarina.

Expansion of environments to undertake Innovation

The Alfa Technology Park, implemented with funds from the State of Santa Catarina, met a critical demand, as newly formed companies were looking for a space to continue their healthy coexistence in incubators/condominiums. The spaces in the small technology park were quickly taken over, and the government, eager to get rid of the enterprise, failed to comply with two precepts of the idealized project. On the one hand, the competitive process was not rigorous; on the other, executive management at ParqTec Alfa was no longer being implemented. Despite these setbacks, the Park has grown as a national benchmark, particularly because of the 70 locally generated TBC installed there.

As space became scarce at ParqTec Alfa, CERTI, at the turn of the millennium, proposed an innovation park, as in other innovative entrepreneurship initiatives, under the leadership, commitment, and enthusiasm of its Superintendent José Eduardo Fiates. Thus, with funds obtained from an MCTI call for proposals for technology parks, Sapiens Parque’s master plan can be established as a benchmark mechanism for promoting innovation and environmental protection. With the state government joining the Innovation Park, adding 4.3 million square meters of neglected land in the north of Santa Catarina Island, the special purpose company Sapiens Parque S. A. was capitalized, established in 2002 by CERTI and the Instituto Sapientia (Sapienta Institute), with the mission of setting up and operating the innovation park, with new shareholders Companhia de Desenvolvimento do Estado de Santa Catarina (State of Santa Catarina Development Company) - (Codesc) and SC Participações (SC Par).

It was with the understanding and commitment of the Governor of the State of Santa Catarina, former Minister of Science and Technology, Luiz Henrique da Silveira, that various S&T&I actions were made possible, especially the implementation of Sapiens Park. After the renovation of the Casarão, the former administration building of the penal colony, the park’s headquarters, and the first innovative ventures, as well as actions to integrate with the surrounding area, were operational. It took 12 years to achieve full legalization and real estate registration of the 257 plots/spaces for the developments at the service of innovation.

The first major undertaking set up in the Park was the Instituto de Petróleo, Energia e Gás (Institute of Oil, Energy and Gas) - (InPetro), a UFSC R&D unit funded by Petrobras/ANP, which was a valuable endorsement of the master plan, strengthening the generation of technological knowledge. Later, two other projects linked to UFSC came to strengthen the scientific-technological segment of Sapiens: the Photovoltaic Energy Center and the Reference Center for Pre-Clinical Pharmacology, built as a CERTI unit, now part of Sapiens Parque S.A., under the operation of Centro de Inovação e Ensaios Pré-Clínicos - CIEnP (Center for Innovation and Pre-Clinical Trials), a national reference for drug development. The remarkable interaction with UFSC was made possible with the decisive support of the administration of Rector Álvaro Prata between 2008 and 2012.

The business front was even more decisive and key to the acceleration of the Innovation Park, particularly with the construction of Softplan’s new headquarters in a super-sized building (27,000 square meters) that is physically and operationally modern for innovation. Several other companies/R&D units now operate in shared areas, offered by CERTI’s InovaLab, the Centro de Inovação ACATE (ACATE/Sapiens Innovation Center), the Centro de Serviços Makan (Makan Service Center), the Centro de Inovação CERTI (CERTI Innovation Center) and Sapiens Parque S.A. itself. At the end of 2019, there were 57 operational CNPJs (National Register of Legal Entities), bringing together around 2,700 employees, almost 10% of the working population envisaged in the original plan.

Sapiens Parque emerged with a world-class concept and extraordinary growth potential. However, due to the obstacles imposed by control bodies and repeated government disagreements over the project, progress (like two steps forward and one step back) has been one-tenth of typical international standards ⁴. It is worth noting that in Brazil, most initiatives on this front never come to fruition, which is why Sapiens Parque is highly admired.

However, the development of innovative companies in the Florianópolis Ecosystem continued apace, continually creating opportunities and solutions. This is how dozens of developments have sprung up in the form of business centers, condominiums, and owned and rented buildings along what is now known as the Rota da Inovação (Innovation Route) (Figure 2), which connects Sapiens Parque to the new International Airport, passing next to the UFSC Campus, the headquarters of CERTI, UDESC, and other colleges, ParqTec Alfa, the Centro de Inovação ACATE, the Square Corporate Business Center, the Centro Empresarial Corporate Park (Corporate Park Business Center), the Escola Nacional da Polícia Rodoviária (National Highway Police School) and many other key enterprises in the technological innovation process.

Figure 2: Map of the innovation ecosystem of Grande Florianópolis (Greater Florianópolis)

The conceptual development and implementation of mechanisms to promote innovation have, for the most part, had the decisive support of the already prominent Governors of the State of Santa Catarina, with guidelines for economic self-sustainability and internalization, which has been the case, in particular, with the business incubators Prof. Antônio Diomário de Queiroz, as president of Fapesc, of innovation centers and hubs, by Paulo Bornhausen, as state secretary for Sustainable Economic Development (SED), and of technology parks, by Miguel Ximenes when he was president of Codesc.

Training professionals for innovative companies

In the 1980s, UFSC, in particular, had its technological units as a national benchmark with significant R&D activities. Well-educated professionals, who were also accustomed to enjoying Florianópolis’ 100 beaches, established, together with the initiatives of the Business Incubator and the IT Condominium, the ideal conditions for the startup of Florianópolis’ Innovation Ecosystem.

Years later, UDESC, the Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina (Federal Institute of Santa Catarina) - (IFSC), and universities from the ACAFE System - the Associação Catarinense das Fundações Educacionais (Santa Catarina Association of Educational Foundations) - joined the process of training and preparing entrepreneurial talent. On the other hand, over the years, there has been a stagnation/drop in the quality and quantity of graduates while companies have increased their demands, resulting in a critical shortage of suitable labor, leading to solutions:

•search for professionals in neighboring municipalities and states;

•organization of companies’ training programs;

•offering specialized training/qualification from other organizations;

•hiring professionals working at a distance.

The lack of human resources is pointed out as the biggest bottleneck for the development of the Ecosystem. ACATE has seen a demand for more than a thousand professionals, especially those specialized in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), from its members in Florianópolis ⁵.

There is also a significant shortage of business management, strategy, and innovation professionals. In 1998, UFSC realized the demand and created Escola de Novos Empreendedores (School for New Entrepreneurs) - (ENE). Due to the pioneering spirit of the UFSC and its partnership with the Hub through CERTI, the initiative received significant investment from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) (Capes), a foundation of the Ministério da Educação (Ministry of Education), structuring an extension program offering short courses ranging from basic business management courses to advanced courses for business executives, including teachers from overseas. When ENE’s activities were making significant progress, becoming a landmark pilot program for the Universidade Empreendedora (Entrepreneurial University), coordination was transferred to specialists, and it succumbed and failed to fulfill the critical role it had been designed to play in strengthening the Technology Hub.

More recently, the Escola Superior de Administração e Gerência (School of Administration and Management) (ESAG)/Udesc, in partnership with entities from the Hub, even planned a course in technology business administration, with strong interaction with companies from the ecosystem. In the competition for resources for implementation, the project lost out to implementing a new law course, disconnected from the demands of the Tech Hub.

Given the permanent demand for managers and technicians, there are repeated