Curitiba has long been considered a city ahead of its time. Avant-garde, it has been a reference in urban planning, mobility, sustainability and ecology since the 1970s. With recognition and awards in Brazil and abroad, it has come to be called a “model city”. This fertile DNA, conducive to creating new things, makes the capital of Paraná an icon in the market for innovation and digital entrepreneurship.
Curitiba is yet another city, like dozens of others around the world, that is russia number to create a favorable and fertile environment for innovation. A center that has also been influenced by the explosion of startups and disruptive companies, a scene that brings together many thinking minds in search of new solutions, products and services.
The model to be followed is that of Silicon Valley, the great “mecca” of this type of business, located in the San Francisco Bay, in California, USA. It is no coincidence, since it was there that giants such as Apple, Google, Facebook, Uber, Netflix and many others emerged and established themselves. It is the cradle of innovation and entrepreneurship, combining cutting-edge education (universities such as Stanford, Berkeley and Caltech are there), quality human capital and high investment.
The Valley's "magic formula" is no secret, so much so that it mirrored another current technology powerhouse, the Silicon Wadi region in Israel. It is also the line that Curitiba seeks to follow, in its due proportions, to continue developing and one day reach the level of excellence and reference as are the examples abroad.
One of the principles for this is not to live solely on past laurels; it is necessary to go beyond the label of “model capital” and modernize. And this was done most clearly with the creation of the so-called “Pinhão Valley”: a series of actions that aim to foster the innovation industry in the city, inspired by Silicon Valley – including in the name.
The Curitiba Valley emerged from the union between the city government, accelerators, incubators, universities, investment funds, research centers, startups and creative cultural movements. Because it is not enough to just wait, we need to roll up our sleeves and create the conditions for the market to develop. And the true signal was given.
To this end, five pillars were defined to support Curitiba's growth in its quest to become one of the largest, if not the largest, centers in Brazil – and to surpass other important hubs such as Belo Horizonte-MG, Florianópolis-SC and Recife-PE. They are “Education and Entrepreneurship”, “Reurbanization and Development”, “Fiscal Support”, “Integration and Articulation” and “Technology”.
“As we received feedback from members of the so-called entrepreneurial ecosystem (startups, universities, large companies, professional associations and accelerators), the concept of the Valley expanded throughout the city and was structured around five pillars,” explains Cris Alessi, president of Agência Curitiba, a city government agency responsible for policies focused on innovation and entrepreneurship.
On the one hand, education plays a fundamental role in this idea of “innovative capital”. Not only universities, but also other entities such as innovation schools, coworking spaces and other collectives that work to organize courses, research, lectures and events that help create a rich and diverse ecosystem.
It is through this educational movement that new minds and, consequently, new ideas emerge. It is by fostering the creation and exchange of knowledge, in the most varied areas, that the project moves forward. Education is the basis of everything.
On the other hand, perhaps the beauty of the capital of Paraná alone would not be enough to attract companies and investors. Therefore, in addition to creating a productive, fertile and qualified environment in terms of human resources, tax incentives and benefits were also developed to attract capital from other places. In addition, for 2019, the city government announced the investment of R$10 million in a municipal innovation fund.