Startup Wonderland Florianópolis Might Go National and Serve as Reference for Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal deputies linked to the Chamber’s Parliamentary Front of Digital Economy and Citizenship, are looking into the Florianópolis ecosystem for a model for the country.

The enthusiasm of the locals is for the fact that the development of the technology and innovation environment of Florianópolis in particular and Santa Catarina state in general may serve as a reference for the construction of the complementary bill that defines the Regulatory Framework of Startups in Brazil.

The bill’s text is being drafted in cooperation with members of the Parliamentary Front of Digital Economy and Citizenship of the Chamber of Deputies, in partnership with national and regional bodies.

FDeputy Vinícius Poit, coordinator of the Front and rapporteur of PLP 146/2019, in late January led the delegation of the Front’s representatives to the Florianópolis ecosystem.

The Santa Catarina Federal Deputy Angela Amin joined the group, who visited the companies Dígitro and Involves, the FIESC Observatory, and the ACATE Primavera Innovation Center.

At the Santa Catarina Technology Association (ACATE), leaders of the main Santa Catarina organizations and institutions linked to the innovation sector met with the Parliamentary Front to discuss suggestions for the project text.

The visit was organized by ACATE, Commercial and Industrial Association of Florianópolis (ACIF) and National Association of Digital Certification. Representatives of the Santa Catarina SEBRAE, Seinflo, CERTI Foundation , Florianópolis City Hall, State Deputy Bruno Souza and national institutions such as the Institute for Digital Citizenship also attended.

Before welcoming the suggestions from Santa Catarina, Deputy Vinícius Poit emphasized the features and main points of the bill for which he is the rapporteur, in addition to the challenges of the text’s progress both in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate committees, and the significant relationship with the Federal Executive, so that the suggestions and provisions provided may be passed.

The labor relations in startups, the incentive to public purchases of technology and innovation, the legal security and the regulatory environment are the main points that guide the bill under development, which welcomes suggestions from all over the country.

The Parliamentary Front has visited the main Brazilian ecosystems and Poit praised the quality of the Santa Catarina environment.

“Santa Catarina is an example of a state that has built a successful entrepreneurial environment, with the leadership of the business sector, yet with the decisive support of public power and state and municipal governments. Other states can take Santa Catarina as an example”, concluded Poit.

Santa Catarina’s suggestions

ACATE’s President, Daniel Leipnitz, the meeting’s host, introduced the features and initiatives that have contributed to the development of the Santa Catarina ecosystem, as well as the role of state and municipal governments in this context.

“The most recent creation of Innovation Centers by the State, and the Municipal Innovation Network in Florianópolis, with strong support from the State Government and the City Hall of the Capital, are examples of the role of public-private partnerships and the government’s role as a facilitator of this economy,” said Leipnitz.

The organization delivered to Deputy Poit and to the Front a document containing suggestions, such as the extension of the legal framework of start-up accelerators, the inclusion of policies to incubators of technology-based companies, the detailing in the bill of “Simplified Corporations” for start-ups, in addition to improvements in the format of corporate interest in companies of different frameworks, encouraging the involvement of investors.

The president of ACIF, Rodrigo Rossoni, the technical director of SEBRAE Santa Catarina, Luc Pinheiro, the financial director of the institution, Anacleto Ortigara, and the business superintendent of the Certi Foundation, Laércio Silva, were among the leaders who contributed to the meeting. The organizations will also forward suggestions to the Parliamentary Front.

One of the group’s concerns, ratified by Deputy Poit, is in the care taken in proposing incentives that may impact, at first, the federal government’s collection. The proposal is to build an argument that tax incentive policies generate returns, in the medium to long term, such as job generation, increased revenues and resulting tax collection.

In this context, the example of Florianópolis was mentioned, which in 2000, under the government of the then mayor Angela Amin, reduced the rate of ISS to the current two percent, encouraging not only the emerging companies at the time, but the attraction of new business to the capital of Santa Catarina. The result: a growth of more than 15 times the number of companies established in the region in this period.

Web Summit: Floripa wants to be the headquarters of the Latin America event

Florianópolis advocates candidacy to host the Web Summit. The world’s largest technology event is seeking a venue to hold a Latin American edition in 2021. Florianópolis Ecosystem was presented by Floripa Conecta with the support of ACATE and representatives of the most diverse economic sectors.

In the last days of January an entourage led by Floripa Conecta was entrusted with the mission of introducing the Florianópolis ecosystem to the Web Summit director, Arthur Pereira.

The capital of Santa Catarina state, which in recent years has been growing exponentially in the technology sector, is one of the candidates to host the Latin American event in 2021. “We are looking for the ideal place to hold the largest technology event in Latin America and that, like Portugal, can be divided into before and after the Web Summit,” said Arthur.

In a meeting held at ACATE, with the participation of representatives from the most diverse economic sectors, Arthur had the opportunity to learn how the Floripa Conecta movement has been breaking paradigms and bringing resources to the city in months when the economy was facing its worst results.

“Our purpose, as well as that of the Web Summit, is to bring people together and share ideas. This is a very important step for the development of the city,” said Marcelo Bohrer, general coordinator of Floripa Conecta.

The technology sector figures were introduced by ACATE’s president, Daniel Leipnitz, who showed that the state’s expressive development has been attracting innovation labs from big companies like Hexagon, General Electric, Philips and Cargill, as well as investments from major funds like TPG, Kaszek Ventures, Riverwood Capital and Tiger Global.

Daniel also stressed the significance of having so many representatives from the most diverse sectors present at the meeting. “We have been preparing for this moment for four years. Dreaming, thinking, breaking paradigms and getting to know the major events around the world. We want to put Florianópolis on the world map,” said Daniel.

Arthur said to those attending that he had the feeling, in these two days of his visit, that Florianópolis is very similar to Portugal before the Web Summit. “We had a pulsating ecosystem, but we couldn’t show it to the world”. Since then, companies like Google, Mercedez-Benz and Amazon have established innovation centers in Portugal.

There is still no set date for the announcement of the city selected to host the first edition of the Web Summit in Latin America. São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are also competing.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (TEA): Santa Catarina’s technology is regarded as state of the art

Considered one of the world’s major health events, the TIP Summit was held at New York University in Abu Dhabi earlier this month. CogniSigns took part as an exhibitor when presenting its solution to the government authorities and others present.

Through this selection, the year began promisingly for the incubation of the MIDITEC CogniSigns Program. The startup was selected to take part in the 2020 edition of Technology Innovation Pioneers Summit, one of the world’s major health events.

Represented by the ACATE partner and also director of Vertical Health, Walmoli Gerber Jr., the V.E.R.A.(Virtual Empathic Robot Assistant) platform was introduced, which focuses on supporting the diagnosis and treatment of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

“One of our focuses for 2020 is internationalization and, as our solution is based on worldwide health protocols and emotional sensing technology, it does not require adaptation to be deployed in any region of the planet. We are excited about the possibilities of joint cooperation with the United Arab Emirates during and after the event”, comments Leandro Mattos, CEO of CogniSigns.

The 2020 TIP SUMMIT is a Technology Innovation Program created and promoted by the UAE Ministry of Economy and the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development.

It aims to expedite the development of technology and innovation to show real impacting results. It is an umbrella for sustainability experts, startups, influencers, investors and high-level officials around the world who come together in a global mission, which is to protect the planet through the use of technology.

The Program aims to build and expedite a true business ecosystem that includes a summit, awards and annual events focused on pioneering technology and innovation. In 2020, TIP SUMMIT included some of the most influential leaders and entrepreneurs in health, environment, technology, investment and government for crucial discussions on the latest trends, issues and potential solutions worldwide.

CogniSigns, an innovation and impact technology company, a developer of solutions in neuroscience applied to health, aims to democratize access to emotional sensing and provides tools that help and enables the diagnosis and treatment of TEA to reach families around the world. According to the United Nations (UN), the disorder currently affects 70 million people around the world.