- Brazilian Silicon Valley
Brazilian Silicon Valley is a term commonly applied to the city of
Campinas ,Brazil , because of its similarity to the 'original'Silicon Valley , located inCalifornia in the USA.Characteristics
Campinas has gained this distinction because it has several comparable features, such as:
*It is a modern city, located near a giant
metropolis , São Paulo
*It has a vibrant,high-tech university andresearch environment, composed of the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP ), the Pontificial Catholic University of Campinas (PUCCAMP ), the Center for Research and Development in Telecommunications (CPqD ), theNational Laboratory of Synchrotron Light , theRenato Archer Research Institute (CenPRA), the Brazilian Company of Agricultural Research (EMBRAPA ), theAgronomical Institute of Campinas , the Biological Institute, the Food Technology Institute, theEldorado Institute , theWerner von Braun Institute and several others. Campinas boasts a researcher/population ratio equal to those of the most advanced technology centers.
*A number of high-tech, non-pollutant electrical andelectronics industries have settled around Campinas, such asIBM ,Lucent ,Samsung ,Nortel ,Compaq ,Motorola ,Dell ,Fairchild ,Huawei ,3M ,Texas Instruments ,Celestica ,Solectron , and Bosch.
*Severalindustrial park s and incubators for high tech companies in the fields ofmicroelectronics ,computers ,software ,telecommunications , etc. have developed there.History
Until the 1970s, the Campinas region had few industries and had an economy based on
agriculture and in the services andcommerce sectors. With the foundation of UNICAMP and the ready availability of high-qualityresearcher s,engineer s andstudent s focused onphysics ,electrical engineering ,computer sciences ,mathematics ,mechanical engineering , etc., a number of high-tech companies started to establish their industrial plants andR&D labs nearby, such asIBM . The municipality of Campinas and those surrounding it began to foster actively the growth of this new area, and the CIATEC I and II (Companhia de Desenvolvimento do Pólo de Alta Tecnologia de Campinas ) industrial zones were established around the university campus, in the subdistrict ofBarão Geraldo . The Center for Research and Development (CPqD) set up byTelebras , a state holding for thetelecommunications industry in Brazil, which had grown enormously under the military regime umbrella, was the second boost to Campinas Silicon Valley. A law was passed by the Federal government, protecting Brazilian-made technology against imports, and this resulted in further growth. Together with UNICAMP researchers a number of pioneering developments occurred in the brand-new areas oflaser s,fiber optics ,digital telephony ,computer technology,software development, and so on. In addition, thePetrobras state-owned oil giant was starting to develop a long range oil exploration program with the aim of making Brazil independent of oil imports, a policy also started by the military for strategic and economic reasons (theoil shock had deeply affected the country), and UNICAMP was one of the leading research universities to participate. In this respect, UNICAMP's open philosophy of collaboration with the private sector (unheard of in Brazil until that time), established by his visionary founder and first rector, Dr.Zeferino Vaz , prepared the way for a unique synergy between industry and university.Other areas
Other areas in Brazil are also claiming a similar status to Campinas Silicon Valley, although they are much less organized and with smaller companies. They are:
*São Carlos ,State of São Paulo , with a high teconology industries andUniversity of São Paulo andFederal University of São Carlos .
*Recife , state ofPernambuco , with a budding Digital Port and many collaborative ties with theUniversidade Federal de Pernambuco
* The Vale do Sapucaí in Minas Gerais, with several cities (such asSanta Rita do Sapucai ) where collaboration between high-tech industries and universities (such asINATEL ) is generally recognized as one of the best examples of a nascent Silicon Valley.
*Belo Horizonte , state ofMinas Gerais , not properly a Silicon Valley because it has mostly a software industry, but the upcomingBHTec along with possible semiconductor industry developments in its metropolitan area (specifically, inConfins ) could change this situation.
*Florianópolis , state of Santa Catarina, also has mostly a software industry.
* The cities ofRio de Janeiro ,Porto Alegre ,Curitiba ,Blumenau andLondrina , all in the Southeast and South, have also a strongly developed digital economy.Bibliography
* Lahorgue, M. A Science and Technology Park as a Tool for the Consolidation of Life Sciences Cluster: The Case of Porto Alegre Technopole, "Center for Economic Development", Bulgaria.
External links
* [http://www.serpro.gov.br SERPRO] , Federal Data Processing Service, Brazil
* [http://www.atlantico.com.br Instituto Atlântico]
* [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.07/silicon.html?pg=9 Campinas Silicon Valley] , "Wired Magazine", July 2000.
* [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.09/silicon.html Silicon Envy] . By Brad Wieners. "Wired Magazine", Issue 6.09, September 1998.
* [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020624/login/main2.htm Brazilian Answer to Silicon Valley] . By Marion Kaplan, "The Tribune", June 24, 2002.
* [http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=1371 Brazil: Recife -- the New Silicon Valley] . By Paulo Reblo, Wired.com, "CorpWatch", January 18, 2002.
* [http://www.brazzil.com/p32dec02.htm Silicon Valley South] . By Ted Goertzel. "Brazzil Technology", December 2002
* [http://www.american.edu/initeb/ay5376a/geographics.htm Brazil: IT Geographics] . American University.
* [http://www.ciatec.org.br CIATEC Campinas Portal]
* [http://www.cps.softex.br/ SOFTEX Campinas Nucleus]
* [http://www.incamp.unicamp.br/ InCamp Business Incubator] , UNICAMP, Campinas.
* [http://www.techtown.com.br/ TechTown High-Tech District] , Hortolândia
* [http://www.aboutsaopaulo.com/city/hortolandia.html Hortolândia] , Hortolândia
* [http://www.technopark.com.br/ TechnoPark High-Tech District] , Campinas
* [http://www.cpqd.com.br/site/ContentView.php?cd=2365 CPqD Polis] , Campinasee also
List of places with 'Silicon' names
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