ESALQ Technological Incubator renews the Deliberative Council

For the next two years, ESALQTec, a technological incubator at the “Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture (USP/ESALQ) will have its Deliberative Council chaired by professor Mateus Mondin, from the Department of Genetics at ESALQ. Evaristo Marzabal Neves, senior professor at the Department of Economics, Administration and Sociology and Francisco de Assis Alves Mourão, from the Production Department at ESALQ, were also elected members of the Council which intends, according to its president, “to give greater visibility to the incubator that completed 10 years and needs to be positioned at the center of entrepreneurial and technology actions in the region”.

According to Mondin, one of the objectives of this management is to permeate the universe of incubated and associated companies in order to strengthen their relationship with academia. “Most companies, whether incubated or associated, are not formed by people coming from the University of São Paulo and the opportunity they have to build this bond with USP is a source of pride. Companies linked to ESALQTec make a point of highlighting their link with ESALQ-USP and always carry the name of our incubator forward. This promotes the institution.”

New zoning – Mondin recalls that, despite Piracicaba having a technological research and production network developed for the agro sector, the agents involved in this process lack entrepreneurial actions that take advantage of the existence of the fifth best university in the world in agricultural sciences. “ESALQ is the only agricultural school in the world that is in the tropical region and this is a differentiator. In Piracicaba, we have a very large network of technology, companies, research centers and, in order for these agents to develop with greater convergence, we propose that the Piracicaba Technological Park (PTP) undergo a new zoning”.

The new zoning proposal was presented last week, during a meeting of the ESALQ Administrative Technical Council. On the occasion, Mondin gave a brief history of ESALQTec, drew a map of the incubator's current reality and argued that the new zoning can help incubated and associated companies and encourage new projects. “The very existence of the Technological Park depends on the premise of including an incubator and a university, but the problem is that the current zoning of the PTP covers a tiny portion of ESALQ and does not include experimental areas and ESALQTec and therefore the incubated ones cannot benefit from tax exemptions”, explains Mondin.

According to Mateus Mondin, the State of São Paulo has good examples to be followed, such as the Technology Parks of Sorocaba, São José dos Campos and Ribeirão Preto. In these municipalities, the respective zonings are formatted in such a way that they include Unesp, Unifesf and ITA, in São José, Unesp, UFSCar and USP itself in Sorocaba.

Advantages – The main benefit of the new PTP zoning model is the tax subsidy for companies, mainly with regard to the Tax on Services of Any Nature (ISSQN), a tax that is levied on the provision of services. This benefit alone, points out Mateus Mondin, would lead to an escalation of advantages for current and future enterprises that are located there. Another benefit would be a less bureaucratic process for initiatives between the PTP and companies located there with ESALQ-USP. Mondin bets that “Partnerships between companies and laboratories at ESALQ-USP would increase, it would facilitate the process of acquiring large equipment, in addition to enabling the promotion of entrepreneurial initiatives by undergraduate and postgraduate students. In practice, we would take a big step in bringing academia and the private sector closer together in order to facilitate the technology transfer process.”

Next steps – from now on the proposal goes through legal procedures. Once approved, the next step is the signing of the protocol of intentions with the PTP, from then on the process goes to Piracicaba City Hall, where the law that determines the PTP's geographic area will be changed. “We hope that the new zoning will be approved as soon as possible and that our incubated companies from ESALQTec and ESALQ-USP will already be able to enjoy the benefits of being part of the PTP this semester”, concludes the professor.