The Innovation System of Sao Jose dos Campos: Main Institutions, Architecture, Contributions to Economic and Social Development, Perspectives and Future Challenges

摘要

The city of São José dos Campos, located in the State of São Paulo, has gone through important transformations, during the last sixty years. Originally dedicated to health treatment, it is currently a national R&D and innovation center, especially in aerospace and defense. The city's trajectory shows the installation of a set of organizations in the areas of high education, R&D, innovation, industrial promotion and production, and services, concentrated in the mentioned sectors, which are considered as integrating an innovation system. The paper addresses the constitution of such system, emphasizing its historical evolution and main organizations. It also addresses the public policies affecting the system, and its future perspectives, responding to bottlenecks and competitive challenges. The initial topics present Santos Dumont's vision about the importance of the Brazilian autonomy regarding aeronautical technologies applied to national development. They also present the Smith/Montenegro Plan, a fundamental contribution to the establishment of the Aeronautical Technical Center (CTA)¹, and other organizations of the innovation system. The next topics describe the architecture and the main components of this system, and discuss the challenges to its expansion and improvement, in order to sustain its contributions to the development of São José dos Campos and the whole country.