Information Technology Clusters 

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro is a natural place for a technology cluster.  There are approximately 265 thousand university students and twenty thousand researchers.  There are 110 universities that offer 566 programs. SENAI (National Industrial Training Service) offers many consulting, training, research, and human resources services. (33)

There is a large telecommunications cluster in Rio de Janeiro.  The major companies that are present in the cluster include: National Grid, Sprint, France Telecom, Nippon, Telefonica, MCI WorldCom, Embratel, Bell South, Canadian Telecom, Qualcomm, South Korea Telecom, Williams International, and Portugal Telecom. 

Sao Paulo/Campinas

Campinas is approximately one to two hours from Sao Paulo. The areas have some differing clusters but are very often referred to together. The following companies all have a presence in Sao Paulo and/or Campinas: Lucent Technologies, IBM, Nortel Networks, Lyondell Chemical, and Metso Paper.

Nortel Networks has a manufacturing plant, training facilities, and an "excellence center" in Campinas.  These facilities have been in place since the early 1990s and have undergone great development in the past few years.  The Campinas research center specializes in wireless TDMA and CDMA technologies. (31)

IBM has introduced a new technology center to Sao Paulo that will be focusing on research on Linux.  This research will be specifically about Latin American usage of the open source operating system. (32)

An example of hardware production is the Lucent Technologies plant in Campinas.  This plant produces cell phone technologies including cell sites.  This location was selected from due to its proximity to Sao Paulo, great transportation facilities, and the research and teaching institutions in the area. (45)

Porto Alegre

This specializes in Biotechnology.  Some of the biggest companies in this area are Glaxo-Wellcome, Smith-Kline, Novartis, and Aventis.  The items produced in this region vary from disposable needles to healthcare software to pharmaceuticals. (29) 

While I was in Brazil in May 2003, I visited Aventis' Latin American headquarters.  While I was there, they gave my group a presentation of their local operations.  They explained that their Brazilian operations were all manufacturing where the pharmaceutical drugs were processed before being sold.  An interesting insight into the pharmaceutical business is that the active ingredient in the drugs is made at the corporate headquarters in France.  The only process created in Brazil was the filler and assembly of the drug.  This is a way for the pharmaceutical companies to protect their trade secret processing from being compromised.

Recife

This small port city offers a small but well educated workforce of IT professionals.  The University of Pernambuco has given this area a reputation as a good choice for technology companies to send their resources.  The major companies in the area are: Microsoft, Motorola, and Ericson.  This area is attractive to companies due to the lower labor costs than the southern parts of Brazil.  These costs can be as much as 30% lower than Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro.  This area has been called a "digital port", a play on words describing the ocean port location with a technology focus. (34)  

The Brazilian government has been investing large sums of money into this "shantytown" to try to create a technology center. "Pouring public money into a technology cluster where basic sanitation and schooling are lacking may seem superfluous to some, but government officials say they cannot wait for the city's social problems to be solved first." (35)

• There has been a lot of press about Recife becoming Brazil's silicon valley.  However, I find this to be unlikely.  The following reasons explain why I find this to be an impossibility. 

• The location of the city is much too far away from the major population centers to be a true center of research, development or manufacturing.  

• There are few universities which makes for a small educated workforce.  

• The investment from the government alone cannot create a technology center.  

• There needs to be a large pool of educated workers, much closer to the size that you would find in Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro.  

• There also needs to be exceptional transportation facilities.  Traveling to Recife is a very difficult endeavor.  There is no direct flight from the United States to Recife.  There are regular flights to many cities in the south but almost none in that region of northern Brazil.  

• To make matters worse, the surrounding countries outside Brazil to the north are just as far away as the southern cities.  The major transportation centers in Brazil are in the south with the majority of the population and industry.  All connecting flights from Brazil or surrounding areas would be very expensive.

Sources:

(29) Lahorgue, Maria. "A Science and Technology Park as a Tool for the Consolidation of Life Sciences Cluster: The Case of Porto Alegre Technopole", Center for Economic Development, http://www.ced.bg/eng/projects/project11/calendar/iasp2000/papers/lahorgue/lahorgue.html. 

(30) Garcia, Renato. Roselino, Jose. "Critical Evaluation of the Results of the 'Informatics Law' and its Reflexes on the Electronic Complex", University of Sao Paulo, http://www.abo.fi/fc/eunip/fp/Garcia-Roselino.pdf. 

(31) "Nortel Networks in Brazil", Nortel Networks, http://www.nortelnetworks.com/corporate/global/cala/brazil/overview.html. 2000.

(32) "IBM Opens Linux Technology Center", ZDNet, http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-937795.html. June 20, 2002.

(33) "Infrastructure and Logistics", State Government of Rio de Janeiro, http://www.sepdet.rj.gov.br/06Investir/ENGLISH/5Infra.htm. 

(34) Reblo, Paulo. "Brazil: Recife -- the New Silicon Valley" http://www.corpwatch.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=1371. January 18, 2002.

(35) "Brazil Port Trades Prostitution for Computation", NY Times, http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-brazil-port-dc.html. December 19, 2000.

(45) "Lucent Technologies Inaugurates Manufacturing Facility in Brazil", Lucent Technologies,  http://www.lucent.com/press/1298/981215.cob.html. December 15, 1998.