Knowledge, Innovation and Agglomeration - regionalized multiple indicators and evidence from Brazil

micro-region (which includes the so-called ABC municipalities, i.e. Santo André, Sao Bernardo
and Sao Caetano) accounts for a large proportion of jobs in the selected skilled occupations. This
is hardly surprising. It is also worth noting the importance of the large area around the
metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, which encompasses metropolitan Sao Paulo (Osasco,
Guarulhos, Itapecerica da Serra, Mogi das Cruzes, Santo André, Sao Bernardo, Sao Caetano,
Diadema and other municipalities), and the Campinas, Sao José dos Campos, Santos and
Sorocaba regions. These are all industrially developed regions with significant networks of
educational and research institutions, as discussed in Section 3. Ribeirao Preto is the only micro-
region not located in this swathe of municipalities that centers on metropolitan Sao Paulo,
although it is one of the ten largest in terms of its share of the number of jobs in technological
occupations. Ribeirao Preto is also industrialized and accounts for some 2% of jobs in the
selected occupations.

The data suggest that the Sao Paulo micro-region still displays a predominance of
technology-related occupations over other types of occupation. This micro-region accounts for
56.6% of all jobs in technological occupations, 47.8% of jobs in technical occupations and 37.5%
of those in operational occupations. This feature is confirmed by the data from Pintec presented
below. However, the micro-regions in metropolitan Sao Paulo and the wider conurbation do not
display this predominance although they are equally industrialized. Campinas, for example,
accounts for only 7%, 7.6% and 8.7% of technological, technical and operational occupations
respectively. This demonstrates the significance of the Sao Paulo micro-region in higher ST&I
activities.

The main reason for this, besides the relative concentration of skilled occupations in the
metropolitan area, seems to be the nature of the industrial deconcentration experienced by
metropolitan Sao Paulo in recent decades. While there has been significant relocation of
production facilities into the wider conurbation surrounding the metropolitan area and into more
distant parts of the interior of Sao Paulo State (as well as other states), as part of a broader
process of industrial restructuring, this process has not involved deconcentration of higher
corporate functions: central administrative offices and departments of engineering and product
development often remain in the former headquarters or main manufacturing facility even when
the latter loses its share of production, employment and sales. This explains the high and more
than proportional share of technological occupations in the Sao Paulo region.

In addition to absolute numbers, we also calculated the relative density of occupations for
each micro-region in the state, defined as the total number of occupations per 1,000 jobs.⁸ The
data for the density of ST&I-related occupations highlight other micro-regions besides Sao Paulo.
The greatest density of technological occupations is found in Sao José dos Campos, where there
are just over 30 technological occupations per 1,000 jobs, followed by Osasco (27.9), Sao Paulo
(26.6), and Campinas (25.5). It is no accident that these regions have the highest concentrations
of technology-intensive industries and the largest number of innovative firms, as will be seen
below.

The regions with the greatest density of technical occupations are Sao José dos Campos
(43.1), Campinas (35.3), Sorocaba (32.2), Piedade (32), Osasco (31.9), and Jundiai (31.3). The
density of operational occupations is highest in Sao Carlos (155), Sao José dos Campos (107.3),
Guarulhos (87.1), and Sorocaba (86). Sao Paulo displays relatively low density of both technical

⁸ The corresponding data are not included in this paper, but can be obtained directly from the authors upon request.
We also calculated Location Quotients for occupations, identical to the standard LQ of regional economics. The
results were similar to those for the relative densities of occupations.

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