ACATE: Santa Catarina’s Association of Technology Companies

Interview with Guilherme Stark Bernard, President of ACATE (Santa Catarina’s Association of Technology Companies)

First, we would like to know what ACATE’s role is. What has ACATE done up to this point, and what are ACATE’s future plans?

ACATE’s objective is to promote technology companies here in the region of the state of Santa Catarina. We have various projects to do this kind of promotion: providing infrastructure services to local companies, workforce training projects, finding funding to support the companies and the technology, the administration of a technology incubator for the creation of new companies. These are all initiatives that one way or another contribute to the emergence of the technology sector in our region.

You mentioned finding funding, what do you primarily do in that regard?

We function as a liaison together with municipal, state or federal development agencies, to propose projects that aim to obtain funding so the companies can develop here; whether they are projects to finance these companies or whether they are projects to obtain funding that will enable hiring a workforce. We ultimately get involved in all the funding, that in one way or another can contribute to the growth of the company.

ACATE is a non-profit association, tell us about that.

The association is a non-profit entity which was established 26 years ago. We have approximately 350 members in our state today, most of these members are right here in the Florianopolis region. Within ACATE, we have employees that assist the members, and ACATE’s directors are elected from the companies that are a part of the association.

What is Florianopolis’ or Santa Catarina’s greatest strength in this area?

Until about 30 years ago, Florianopolis was a region that didn’t have a very solid economy. We basically used to live off of the tourism in the summer, which lasted for two months, and off of civil services. Within the last three decades, a very strong technology industry has developed in the region. Today, this sector is the greatest source of tax revenue for the municipality and this represents a very big revolution for the city’s image, because of that, it also ended up enabling or supporting the development of other economies. For example, in the tourism sector, corporate tourism has developed quite well in our region; in civil construction, due to the emergence of new companies, we end up generating a demand for locations and establishments where these companies can be set up, and also for locations where the people that work in the technology industry can settle. This also ends up supporting the development of other economies, apart from other increments. Another example would be that with the emergence of new companies you end up demanding more consulting agencies. One way or another, we basically end up supporting all areas that are related to starting a new company.

What are the great “flagships” or examples that Florianopolis can show, that have been a success in the last 30 years?

Well, we can simplify things. I am going to answer that question according to sectors. We changed our association’s management model a while back to deal with vertical business, so today the association supports several business verticals of energy, telecommunications, health, education, and government. Essentially, a series of business sectors, and within these verticals we have some examples of success. They are companies that emerged in this environment of technological development in our region, which also enabled a whole service area for this technology. For example, in the telecom sector, there is a vertical where one of the business owners that belongs to the sector, is the director of the vertical, and he/she promotes the involvement of the other companies within the telecom sector so that they can share their experience and propose common actions (whether it is the action of going after a market or of going after government support, mainly actions to combine these common interests). There are companies in all of these verticals that managed to be successful, not only in our state, but also at a national level, such as the health vertical that just did a joint venture with a company from São Paulo and has become the greatest technology company in the health sector today. The energy sector has also brought together some very strong companies with regards to technology in the energy sector. There are ten verticals altogether. We are creating two more verticals which will be an example of the success of the companies operating in the region, and consequently an example of ACATE’s success.

Can you name these companies?

Yes. There is Softplan/Poligraph, a company that works with management software for the judicial and civil construction sectors; AltoQi which provides software services for engineering projects; REIVAX which operates in the energy sector; Reason technology which also operates in the energy area; Suntech in the telecom sector; Digitro in the telecom sector and Intelbras also in the telecom sector. So there are essentially various successful examples of companies that went beyond the regional and state borders, and many of them that today have set themselves up outside of Brazil in a very efficient manner.

You mentioned the international aspect, where does Santa Catarina or Florianopolis stand out at an international level? What kind of dominance can it obtain at an international level?

There is an important factor here in Brazil that can also be very harmful. We have a very large internal market. Quite often, when someone starts a company to operate in the technology sector, they look at the national prospects, since the market is very large. However, we can’t forget that most of the time we are competing with companies from abroad in the same market. I think local businessmen still need to mature in that sense; while setting up a business our local businessmen need to think on a global level. This normally only ends up happening when a company is set up here in the local market, has relative success, and then after, because of growth, goes after the external market. We see this in several companies which today have some kind of initiative in the external market, but this should be worked on better right from the beginning of a company. Our association has tried to encourage this, to promote to people, that when they are setting up a company that they should already think at an external level.

Can you explain how they could do this?

For instance, when you develop a hardware product you should already think about certifying the product to meet international standards. With software, you should already develop it on a multi-platform in terms of languages, i.e. in English or in Spanish, etc. There are various initiatives: to prepare a team within a company to master a language so that they can eventually assist in that area in the future. Most of the time, when the companies in our region decide to go after the external market, we see that they have to work hard in this regard because it was neglected in the beginning. One of ACATE’s roles is to encourage this right from the beginning, to show a company how important it is to already prepare itself for that moment of branching out into the external market, and this is a great legacy that ACATE itself can leave for the future generations of the companies. We saw this clearly in a survey that was promoted, because we have acknowledged that one of the greatest obstacles that we have in terms of local companies growing or expanding is the lack of skilled labourers. This is because the companies are growing in a superior rate to the amount of new professionals graduating from universities or trade-schools. We took the lead to promote some steps in regards to qualifying labourers. The first thing that we did was a survey, first here in the Florianopolis region and then at a state level. To our surprise, we discovered that the main demand that approximately 80% of business owners put down as a request of a new professional, was proficiency in the English language, whether written or spoken. This is something that really stood out to us so that we could start promoting it right away. If we want to sell our products out of Brazil, then we have to be prepared for that.

What are ACATE’s future plans? What are your goals?

We just inducted a new board of directors at ACATE, and at the moment we are redoing our strategic planning. Mainly, some actions that we have already managed; of course in the following actions we will be dealing with the situation of the lack of skilled labourers which I mentioned before and of us offering labour in quantity and quality to the companies that demand them, or that are growing; structural projects for the companies so that they are qualified for this new market; and some actions at a governmental scale to give a greater incentive to the state’s buying power for technology companies. It’s clear that a technology company needs support in the beginning in order to get in a good position; unless it is a breakthrough technology, where you generate a new value or another market need which grows quickly. However, when it is incremental technology, for the emergence of a new company you need the state to support these initiatives, so this is an activity that the association can be promoting.

Can you now tell me about the technology parks that are here? What would you say about them? What do they have to offer around here?

The technology sector doesn’t depend a lot on equipment or machinery. It is a sector that depends a lot on human beings, on intelligence; and one way to encourage or to utilize this, is by putting uniting or encouraging people that can contribute within the sector, to be together in the same environment. In this context, it is important to establish technology parks, business incubators and corporate condominiums, so you can bring them together and so there can be some synergy. This is extremely important. Quite often, it has also helped when these investments or these infra-structures are near an education centre, like a university, which is an example in our region. So we support these kinds of initiatives. I think it’s fundamental for the emergence and growth of these companies.

How do you provide your support?

We provide our support by leading some of the undertakings’ construction projects, not necessarily as the executor of the undertaking, but by seeking for a private investor that can construct a building or that is in a park that has already been established. Around here there is ParqTec Alfa, which is our Tecnopolis, and that is very important; and now there is a new project which is the Sapiens Park. Within this new project, ACATE is encouraging some companies to construct a building in a cooperative manner so they can settle in the region. They are initiatives that end up contributing a lot to the emergence or strengthening of these parks. This is a way in which ACATE can contribute.

In conclusion, what message would you like to give to a national or foreign investor, or a businessman that is interested in technology companies? What would your message be?

I would say that normally, at a global level, the technological parks that have been established in a consistent manner were established in places that are pleasant to live in. We have that in the Florianopolis, Santa Catarina region. We have the power to attract qualified professionals that want to live where there is good quality of life, and that is one of the reasons for the success in our region. To invest in a place like Florianopolis, ends up being a good choice because: it has these characteristics of an industry that is already consolidated, it is growing strongly, it is in a country that has also demonstrated the power to grow a lot and there is also this whole matter of quality of life associated to it. So, these are without a doubt some of the factors. We notice them in many business owners in the region that ended up choosing Florianopolis right at the beginning, not only because of the good university, or because of the good infrastructure that is available, but mainly because it is a pleasant place to get established. This is certainly a success factor and we can really take advantage of this as an attraction for investors in our region.