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production structures. With regard to Sao Paulo State, this has enabled us to create a typology for
use in the formulation of public policy. Four basic types of clusters or local systems are
suggested: (1) centers of sectoral or regional development, which stand out for their great
importance both to local or regional development and for the respective sector or class of
industry; (2) advanced vectors, which are highly important to the sector but diluted within a far
larger and more diversified economic fabric and therefore less relevant to local or regional
economic development. This is the case with local production and innovation systems located in
densely industrialized metropolitan areas; (3) vectors of local development, which are important
for a region but do not play a significant role in the main sector to which they relate. Most are
regional poles in geographical dispersed activities; (4) embryos of clusters or local production
systems, which have little importance to their sector and, because they coexist with other
economic activities in the same region, are not yet especially important to the local economy. The
results can be seen in summary form in Maps 6, 7, 8 and 9.
Combining the results of the mapping and regionalized indicators of ST&I activities,
including the local capabilities of institutions that provide firms’ scientific, technological and
service infrastructure, we can see a reasonable correlation between the localization of clusters or
local production and innovation systems and the geographical distribution of ST&I activities. In
particular, it is worth drawing attention to the localization patterns in the vicinity of major
metropolitan areas such as those of Sao Paulo and Campinas, and on certain geographical axes,
especially along major arterial roads, the Parafta Valley and the Anhanguera and Washington
Luiz highway axes.
This factual observation can be empirically proven by analyzing a vertical cross-section,
so that the evidence produced by an overview of regionalized indicators is analyzed from the
standpoint of each identified case of a cluster or local production and innovation system.
However, there is no space to do so in this paper.21 The following paragraphs therefore present an
illustrative discussion of one case of an advanced vector: the information technology and
communication activities in the Campinas micro-region.
The Campinas metropolitan area ranks second only to metropolitan Sao Paulo among the
areas that most generate innovations in Brazil.22 Like Sao Paulo, Campinas is one of the most
advanced regions in the country in terms of industrialization. Thus there are numerous local
production and innovation systems within these large areas, but they are diluted in a highly
diversified and wide-ranging production structure. Many may be relevant as objects of study. For
the present purpose, we have chosen the various activities relating to information and
communication technologies (ICT).
Using the OECD definition of ICT activities, i.e. including software production and
services as well as hardware manufacturing, we found that the Campinas micro-region contained
610 establishments with more than 14,500 workers in these activities, according to the 2002
RAIS database. The following segments accounted for the largest shares of total employment in
Sao Paulo State in the ICT sector: manufacturing of basic electronic material (13.1% in 2002),
telecommunications equipment (33.9%), and telephone handsets and communication systems
(47.7%).
These industries are among the largest employers of workers in skilled occupations. In
2002, the numbers employed by manufacturers of telephone handsets and communication
systems in the region accounted for 65.4% of the total number employed in technological
occupations in this industry throughout the state. The proportions were 45.4% for the
21 For a more detailed discussion, see Suzigan et al. (2004).
22 For details, go to www.inova.unicamp.br.