Brazil fosters tech innovation to develop economy

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Brazil's Pernambuco state is among the country's poorest regions. That hasn't stopped local officials from trying to use technological innovation to develop their economy and society.

Over the past couple decades, government support, private investment and talented entrepreneurs have turned Recife, the capital city of Pernambuco state, into one of Brazil's most important technology and innovation hubs.

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The local governments built a Porto Digital tech park 17 years ago, when city authorities offered incentives and infrastructure to technology companies willing to operate in an area far from the big, wealthy cities.

Social public placed high expectations on that sprawling experimental hub, which was designed to help foster technological innovation.

"We have now 285 companies operating here, with total revenue of about 500 million US dollars and employing almost 9,000 people. Cities cannot remain passive when it comes to technology and innovation businesses. They have to actively attract talent and encourage them to stay and produce," said Chico Saboya, CEO of Porto Digital.

The tech park serves several big companies, but also shares spaces for smaller entrepreneurs, and provides offices for the incubation of startups and facilities to work on prototypes for their ideas.

Joy Street, the creator of educational software assisting teach math and language skills to teenage students in Pernambuco, is set up in Porto Digital. And the company is one of the best examples showing how the local companies use innovation to create value and social change.

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"Changing the world is good business, it's profitable. We have been seeing this for seven years now and we are one of the tech references in Brazil," said Luciano Meira, CEO of Joy Street.

And official believed that investing in innovation will help create more opportunities for all citizens, and increase country’s attractiveness.

"All the governments in the world are investing in this. They want startups. They want to scale up these startups. So we are trying to promote those, to increase the number of startups, to increase our attractiveness to these startups to grow from here," said Lucia Carvalho de Melo, the State of Pernambuco Secretary for Science, Technology and Innovation.