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Flavio Tin / ND
In the early 1980s, Schneider saw IT as an alternative for development
Florianopolis always had clear penchant for tourism, but never knew properly take advantage of this vocation. Just establishing itself as a political and administrative center in the state capital condition, won important university center status and kept trade as marginal activity, limited in generating jobs and taxes.
The service sector is capilarizou in recent decades and the industry, the conventional model, has not developed in the region. What happened was the proliferation of technology companies, which have industrial character, though not bearing chimneys and huge yards for maneuvers and production shipments. Currently, the segment brings an income of annual R $ 72 million to the city, while tourism earns R $ 20 million.
This sector, which has already put on the market 110 companies only from the incubator Celtic ( Business Center for Advanced Technology), is responsible for the transformation of Florianópolis one of the main references in IT (information technology) in Brazil. The phenomenon stems from the Certi Foundation, a designation that summarizes other, longer – Reference Centres for Innovative Technology, Institution for Science, Technology and Innovation. This, in turn, has in the genesis of the figure of a visionary entrepreneur who in 1984 saw the IT an alternative to give the capital of Santa Catarina a development option based on clean industry and unlimited expandability. Your name:. Carlos Alberto Schneider
When the Certi emerged over 31 years ago, the industry of Santa Catarina was, as ever, very dynamic and diverse. However, each company had its research center and product development – cases Tupy foundry, the Consul, Cecrisa and Weg, to name the best known. They maintained a strong relationship with the automotive industry, supplying components for automakers like Mercedes and Volkswagen. Also Metal Leve, a leading and world-wide, was a partner of the tip of Santa Catarina.
With the Certi, we started to think about materials, design, engineering and other items that the industrial sector would add in its production process. “The path was technological innovation, and the computer was the focus at that time,” says Schneider, who in December transferred the chairmanship of the foundation for the teacher José Eduardo Azevedo Fiates. Today, the segment includes 600 companies and has revenues of approximately R $ 1.5 billion only in Florianópolis, where it employs 6000 people.
An early pitfalls, setbacks and changes in legislation
The conviction that it was necessary to use the computer effectively to improve industrial processes, within the concept of technological innovation, coincided with a Eletrosul plan providing for the construction of ten thermal plants in the south, from 1982.
At that time, the UFSC had a technological center of respect, and it would be natural rapprochement between some insider heads – the capital and elsewhere – and who operated the main institution of higher learning laboratories of State. However, the green light from Brasilia to the partnership to gradual replacement of foreign technologies in energy generation bumped in fact Eletrobras have its own research center, installed in Rio de Janeiro – and technological institute created by Carlos Alberto Schneider and other professionals who attend Eletrosul and have your patronage, was no apparent use.
Working in the field of automation in the federal university, Professor Schneider and his team had to look for other customers. In 1984, the federal government created the Information Technology Act, which protected the national microelectronics. The new legislation provided for the establishment of research centers, the training of human resources to the segment and market regulation, for the purpose of importing computer equipment. But it was more a law that did not work, although it stimulated the emergence of a domestic industry, especially for games, toys and personal computers. For his part, the UFSC expanded its potential to develop computer technology to companies with the expertise that already within the industry.
“Other states followed suit, each in their specialty, but the only one worked was ours, “says Schneider. Then named Regional Technology Informatics Centre, the Certi was born on 31 October 1984, joining Santa Catarina and São Paulo companies. It was the beginning of a new era for the information technology, at least in the State of Santa Catarina. Neither the removal of barriers to imports, sponsored by then-President Fernando Collor de Mello, caught the growth of the foundation. Then the computer unfolded, earning subdivisions such as information and communication technology, digital convergence and intelligent systems.
Born a unique business incubator project
The year 1986 marked the emergence of an unprecedented proposal: a business incubator. The idea came from UFSC, but it was the Certi who worked and gave the project the winning format. “We went out in front,” says Schneider. São Paulo has more potential and capital, with significant investors and leading universities, but here there was a determination to do what had never been tried. “The incubator was a provocation to the city, he needed to create jobs,” said the professor.
But it was necessary to face turbulence. The Collor Plan, which withdrew all the money and threw open market imports, and the need to develop a domestic industry in computing have changed the plans of big business. By then, the Foundation Certi already developed new products for large customers of São Paulo, but with the turn promoted by Collor contracts went up in smoke. “We had to look for ideas and models that were better than others,” he recalls. Between election and inauguration at Planalto the scenario has changed.
What was the robotics, the demand for automation solutions for large enterprises, has provided products for a wide range of customers. The banking automation was the demand that came with rising inflation. That’s when came the automatic answering machines, the card reading systems and software for data processing. The Certi working with companies that provided equipment to banks, but also that, with the Real Plan (1994) ebbed, and the output was seeking customers in other sectors.
full digital convergence
Today, more than consolidated, the Certi Foundation displays a wide cartel of products generated from the intelligence of its approximately 400 employees. These minds came out solutions to the affirmation of digital TV, including devices for Ipads, cell phones and laptops. Also solutions for home appliances, medical equipment and telephony, for clients such as Philips, Siemens and Envision. It was this team that developed the electronic voting machine technology, the conversion of printed text into Braille and portable equipment diagnosing tropical diseases in remote regions. And creating new solutions is routine in the foundation, which also helps to establish incubators and technology parks across the country.
The prospects now are very good in the areas of sustainable energy and the green economy. The foundation develops management systems for companies that produce solar collectors and wind generators and seek alternatives to minimize carbon emissions. Another promising is the field of nanotechnology, which provide solutions for the production of drugs, cosmetics, textile and food. Here, again, Santa Catarina is at the forefront, with 11 operating companies, some of which already exporting what they produce.
At 66, knowing that the team Certi Foundation long walks alone, Carlos Alberto Schneider intends to reduce the intensity of daily work and invest more on strategic issues. One focus should be the factory called 4.0, which is the full digital convergence, which succeeds the previous historical stages – the steam engine (1.0), mechanical (2.0) and the area of computer and electronics (3.0). In addition, the foundation prepares new talent for business competitiveness. “This training is important because the changing needs of companies is very fast today,” says Schneider.
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