Jefferson José da Conceição
Cleo Duarte
In Brazil, the
establishment of Science Parks has been one of the government goals of many
cities. São Paulo city leads efforts for the installation of a Science Park in
the city. The Municipality will hold a seminar on the subject on 21/09/2016 at
USP Leste (see cmcti.com.br). In recent years, the cities of São Bernardo do
Campo and Santo André, in Great ABC
Paulista (metropolitan region of São Paulo), also have taken important steps
for the implementation of Science Parks in these cities. Also in São Paulo
State, the cities of São José dos Campos, Campinas, São Carlos and Sorocaba
seek to strengthen their Science Parks already established.
A Science Park
is a place to hold meetings between members of universities, public
administration and productive sector.
"A Science Park manages and stimulates the flow of technology and
knowledge between universities and research and development institutions and
enterprises. Many of the companies in or around the Science Park are small and
medium, but the trend is that more and more large corporations to connect with
the open innovation arenas that Science Parks organized "(Taken from
www.sisp.se).
So, nothing
better than seeking experiences of
the leading models in Science Parks, as well as in terms of Research,
Development and Innovation. That is, we should be inspired by the so-called
"benchmarking" (best practices to follow) on the subject. Certainly
Sweden is among these countries.
Situated to the
north of Europe (Scandinavia Peninsula) Sweden has an area of 449,964 km2 and a
population of about 9.6 million people (Brazil has an area of 8,516,000 km2 and
a population of approximately 200.4 million people). However, the GDP of Sweden
US$ 393.8 billion (2013) and its GDP per capita of US$ 40,900 express its
economic strength (it is estimated that the GDP per capita of Brazil in 2016 is
US$ 15,000) . Sweden has one of the lowest world of inequality indices and one
of the highest Human Development Index (HDI). About 1/3 of the population that
works has higher level. The country is in the group of countries that most invest
in R&D in the world. The public and private sectors together spend about 4%
of GDP in Research and Development.
Thus, we
understand the importance of the Swedish Association of Science Parks and
Incubators (SISP). The Association has 65 members representing 33 Science Parks
and 43 incubators. More than 4,000 companies are connected to the Science
Parks. It is this strong investment effort in education, research and
development that explain why Sweden occupies, according to the World Economic
Forum, the 4th position in the international competitiveness ranking
(2009-2010).
Therefore, the
authors of this article have made efforts to accomplish this important
interview, which is now published on the blog of ABCDMaior
(www.abcdmaior.com.br).
Both
interviewers have had important contacts with Sweden in the recent years.
Jefferson José da Conceição, one of the interviewers,
then as Secretary of Economic Development, Labor and Tourism of São Bernardo do
Campo (between 2009 and mid 2015) was involved in discussions concerning the
installation of a factory to produce components of the Gripen aircraft in Great
ABC Paulista. He also had been in Sweden,
in some occasions, visiting Sciences Parks, universities, companies and
government. As Secretary, he helped found, formally, on December
19, 2016, the Science Park Association of São Bernardo do Campo. It is a civil
non-profitable association that brings together city government, academic
institutions, labor unions, trade association, economic Great ABC Development
Agency, Local Productive Arrangements (APLs), among others. One of the first
tasks of the Association is to structure the project for the construction of
the Science Park building in the city.
Cleo Duarte, the
other interviewer, has Swedish citizenship. She lived in Sweden for many years,
worked in Stockholm in the education area and has a great knowledge of the
culture.
Our interviewee,
Sten Gunnar Johansson, 65, is a very important expert in Science Parks. For 21
years (1993-2014) he was CEO of Mjärdevi Science Park (www.mjardevi.se), one of the most important
in Sweden. The Mjärdevi Science Park is located in Linköping, where Saab has
it’s headquarter and a factory that manufactures the Swedish supersonic
aircraft Gripen.
Linköping has
one of the most renowned universities in Sweden: Linköping University. Among
the universities in the world with less than 50 years old, it occupies the 24th
position in the QS World University Rankings, which covers 22,000 universities.
On the campus of the university, it is the Mjärdevi Science Park. The Science
Park belongs to the Municipality of Linkoping.
Between 2006 and
2014, Sten Gunnar was also President of the Council of Karolinska Institutet Science
Park (www.sciencepark.ki.se), located in Stockholm. Also chaired the European
Division of the International Association of Science Parks, IASP (www.iasp.ws). He is an
expert on issues of innovation and Science Parks of the European Commission and
the Economic Committee of the United Nations of Europe.
After long
career leading Science Parks that are among the top international ranking, Sten
Gunnar became an independent consultant on issues related to Science Parks,
Innovation and Regional Development. He is consultant of several international
Science Parks, development agencies and businesses. He is also a frequent
speaker at international events. Sten Gunnar is the author of a series of
articles on Science Parks.
The interview
was held on 2 September 2016. The translation is free, made by the
interviewers.
1) When the first Science Parks were
established in Sweden?
The first
Swedish science park were established in Lund, close to Malmö/Copenhagen in
1983 (Ideon Science Park). Second came Mjärdevi SP in Linköping in 1984.
2) It is common to hear about the model
"triple helix" of Sweden. What is this model?
Triple Helix is
a very common concept in Sweden. It was initiated by Prof. Henry Etzkowits in
1993 as a description of the University-Industry-Government relations and the
interaction between them. The "triple helix" is a spiral model of
innovation that captures multiple reciprocal relationships at different points
in the process of knowledge capitalization. The first dimension of the triple
helix model is internal transformation in each of the helices, such as the
development of lateral ties among companies through strategic alliances or an
assumption of an economic development mission by universities. The second is
the influence of one helix upon another, for example, the role of the federal
government in instituting an indirect industrial policy in the Bayh-Dole Act of
1980. When the rules of the game for the disposition of intellectual property
produced from government sponsored research were changed; technology transfer
activities spread to a much broader range of universities, resulting in the
emergence of an academic technology transfer profession. The third dimension is
the creation of a new overlay of trilateral networks and organizations from the
interaction among the three helices, formed for the purpose of coming up with
new ideas and formats for high-tech development.” (Henry Etzkowitz, Working
paper 2002•11, The Triple Helix of University - Industry – Government
Implications for Policy and Evaluation). Later, “the Quadruple Helix”-model and
even “the Quintuple Helix”-model had been introduced by others.
3) Science Parks in Sweden tend to be
focused on certain selected areas or are they multifocal, depending on the
priority projects at the right time?
It depends. Some
are very focused on specific disciplines/profiles (e.g. Karolinska Institutet
Science Park in Stockholm with a strong focus on Life Sciences and
Medicin/Medtech) while others take a broader perspective (e.g. Mjärdevi SP
which focus on Visualization, Modeling & Simulation, Connectivity &
Mobile Broadband and Vehicle Safety & Security Systems).
4) How is the cycle of a given strategic
project in the Swedish Science Parks? During the cycle, at which time the
government is more important? And universities? And companies?
The question has
many answers, depending on ownership, funding, management and governance. In a
typical project financed by the national agencies and/or EU you will probably
find a project period of 3-4 years (one year for setting it all up in terms of
structure and cooperation, 2-3 years of hard work and then end it all up with a
couple of months of reports). The government and the university has an
important role in the application phase and often in the beginning of the
project, while the companies are important during the whole process.
5) From the point of view of physical
structure, which would be the average size (in area) of a Science park in
Sweden?
Size is not an
important issue in the Swedish way of working with science parks. You can find
parks with 20-30 companies on 4-5 000 sqm of (office/work) space, but you can
also find parks like Mjärdevi SP with 300 companies on 200 000 sqm of space on
700 000 sqm of land.
6) How the Science Parks in Sweden are
supported financially?
There are many
different funds in the Swedish system. The most important and the biggest
fundings for many parks comes from the municipalities/cities, the different
regions, the real estate investors and/or in some cases the universities. On
top on this, there are a lot of “project money” floating around (from national
agencies, European Commission and others).
7) In Sweden, how Science Parks deal with
the issue of intellectual property of innovative projects developed by start
ups that are present in the Science Parks?
In most cases,
the issue is managed more from an adviser/mentor point of view. This means that
most park has connections with firms/experts which can help (offer their
services) to the start ups. It is an important to have a strategy on how to
work with this.
8) How do you see the experience of
Virtual Incubators? Is this experience growing in Sweden?
There are a
(growing) number of companies virtually connected to the incubators, but still
most of the incubators see a great value for companies to share site with the
other incubator companies. It makes the incubator processes more efficient and
it offers a great opportunity for sharing knowledge and experience between the
start ups.
9) The city of São Paulo is seeking to
install a Science Park. Even before the physical building the City is
developing a Virtual Incubator linked to the Science Park. What do you think
about this strategy?
It is difficult
to deliver ideas and thoughts regarding this without knowing the full picture,
the overall strategy, the ownership and the management. The issue is too
complex to discuss (on distance) without having this specific information.
10) A major contribution of the Virtual
Incubator of São Paulo will be the support to the incubated in the structuring
of its Business Plan. What do you think about that?
It sounds like a
good start. In general, I think it is important to work very demand-oriented.
Different start ups has different needs.
11) In your opinion what are the most
important activities to be done at the Science Park at the beginning of its
activities? I mean, what should be prioritized at the beginning?
For having an
opinion on this, you need to know about what is done by others, how does the
“innovation system” looks today and what kind of needs do the companies, which
are expected to become tenants, have.
12) Mjärdevi Science Park has multinational
companies such as Ericsson. How the Science Park should relate to these
companies? Should the requirements and demands be different depending on the
size of the company?
The question to
find an answer to is why they are in the science park. Is it because of the
university research, the clustering of companies and people, the space itself,
the students, or…? Another question to ask is how the company can be a part of
the “life” of the park and be a “good citizen”. New and small companies has
definitely other needs and demands than the big ones. Ericsson can probably do
good without the science park management, while others can’t. An interesting
aspect to think of is also if the park can do good without Ericsson.
13) Mjärdevi Science Park is a municipal
company with over 5,000 employees. In your opinion, what is the importance of
municipal actions in the first years of the Science Park?
Mjärdevi Science
Park AB (the management company) is a municipal company with 5-6 employees. The
park (the 300 companies) has 6,000 employees. The most important actions during
the years has been to (via a municipal real estate company) invest in the first
buildings and later on in other buildings without having contracts with tenants
for every sqm. Also the park has always been an important part of the promotion
of city. And by setting up the management company and finance the major part of
its activities, the municipality had made it possible to develop the park and
to make it to one of Europe´s most well-respected.
14) What is the importance of international
exchange - for example, between Brazil and Sweden - to the success of a Science
Park?
Internationalization
is for many parks one of the most important issues. The reasons for this are
quite obvious, for the companies it is a question of finding new markets but
also finding new strategic competences for the development of the company or
its products. For the park itself it is a question of helping the tenants to
new markets, and by that help them to grow, but also attracting foreign
companies to the park, either for “office” or for a strategic alliance with one
or more companies. It is also important to attract foreign competence to the
city/park.
Jefferson José da Conceição is Professor of City
University of São Caetano do Sul (USCS) and Technical Director of São Paulo
Development Agency - Adesampa. It was Secretary of Economic Development, Labor
and Tourism of São Bernardo do Campo (Jan. 2009 / jul.2015) and Superintendent
of SBCPrev (ago.2015 / fev.2016). jefferson.pmsbc@gmail.com
Cleo Duarte works at
the Economic Development Coordination (which is part of the Department of
Development, Labor and Entrepreneurship of São Paulo City). Co-responsible for BR-SE
Cultural Training, site for Brazil-Sweden relations www.brsetraining.com.br cleo@brsetraining.com.br cle.duarte@outlook.com
Article published in
the abcdmaior newspaper's website (www.abcdmaior.com.br), blogs column on
September 5, 2016.
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