Why is Santa Catarina the second most innovative state in Brazil? Understand

Santa Catarina is today the second most innovative state in Brazil, behind only São Paulo, according to the Brazilian Innovation and Development Index (IBID), calculated by the National Institute of Industrial Property (Inpi). The state, which occupied third place in 2015, has consistently grown in the ranking, as it took second place in 2020 and has occupied a prominent place in discussions about innovation and technology across the country. For the president of the Santa Catarina Technology Association (Acate), Diego Ramos, this performance is a consequence of a decision taken four decades ago, when Florianópolis depended almost exclusively on the public sector and tourist activity, concentrated in a few months of the year. As a form of diversification, the capital of Santa Catarina embraced innovation as part of its DNA, and today it is officially recognized as the National Capital of Startups. "Santa Catarina built this performance over four decades based on a strategic decision. We needed to develop a new economic matrix, and technology was the natural choice: as 70% of the island's territory is a permanent preservation area, we could not have traditional industries here. Technology matched perfectly with this reality, because it is a clean economy", he states. According to Ramos, the decision was not the result of an isolated movement, but the combination of geographic limitations, a long-term vision and constant coordination between government, universities and companies. This historical basis appears today in numbers: Florianópolis concentrates 25% of the Gross Domestic Product coming from technology, the largest share among all Brazilian capitals, ahead of Curitiba, with 14.4%, and São Paulo, with 12.5%. "Santa Catarina's difference lies in the maturity and density of the ecosystem. It's not just volume, we have the most diverse ecosystem in Brazil, with a startup survival rate above the national average. Companies that grew here today reinvest in the ecosystem, forming new generations. This capacity for constant renewal is what keeps us relevant decade after decade", he says. The growth rate of the Santa Catarina ecosystem also appears in the sector's most recent figures. A survey by Sebrae Startups, from 2025, shows that the total number of companies in this category in Brazil jumped from 18,056 to 22,869 in one year, an increase of 26.7%. Santa Catarina accounts for 2,239 of these companies, equivalent to 9.8% of the national total, while Florianópolis occupies second place among Brazilian cities with the most businesses of this type. Four phases of maturation Ramos usually divides Santa Catarina's trajectory into four phases, each marked by a different type of ecosystem advancement. The first step was to invest in professional training and business development. Then came the first large companies, which became success stories and opened the doors to other initiatives. "In the 1980s and 1990s, the focus was on forming companies and professionalizing management, and Midtec, our incubator founded 26 years ago, was fundamental in this phase. In the 2000s, the first cases of scale came, with companies that began to show significant results and attract national attention. From 2010 onwards, the ecosystem gained sophistication with the entry of venture capital, open innovation programs such as LinkLab and structured internationalization", he says. Today, according to the president, Santa Catarina is experiencing a phase of global consolidation. Now, the state is not only competing in Brazil, but is seeking space within international ecosystems. The reason, according to him, is the diversity of solutions that are developed in Santa Catarina. "This trajectory was possible because we never depended on a single company or sector. The Santa Catarina ecosystem is diverse, and this appears in Acate's own structure, with 13 business verticals, including fintechs, agtechs, healthtechs, construtechs, manufacturing 4.0, among others", explains Ramos. The maturation of the technological sector in Santa Catarina also appears in the indicators of the National Industrial Learning Service (Senai) in the state. Since 2014, the Senai Institutes of Innovation and Technology in Santa Catarina have totaled R$ 1.02 billion in a portfolio of projects developed with industry, distributed across 344 initiatives for 417 companies in areas such as digital transformation and artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, advanced manufacturing and low-carbon economy For the president of Acate, none of these phases would have progressed without the base formed by Santa Catarina's universities, with emphasis on the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). The sector needs qualified labor. UFSC, together with Udesc, Univali and other institutions, trained generations of qualified professionals and created research centers that feed the ecosystem. An important example is the Certi Foundation, linked to UFSC, which was one of the embryos of the ecosystem. Many technology companies were born from academic projects or had professors and researchers as founders or mentors", he explains. Also according to the president, another determining role was that of Acate, which took over as coordinator of the technology market in 1986. Since then, the institution connects companies, influences public policies and opens doors for internationalization. A presence that goes beyond the limits of the capital Although Florianópolis concentrates the largest number of startups, investors and acceleration programs, Ramos comments that Santa Catarina's advancement is not limited to the capital. Today, major technological initiatives are already operating in all regions of the state. “Santa Catarina as a whole is a consistent ecosystem. Today, around 40% of the 1,900 companies associated with Acate are outside Florianópolis, represented in seven accredited regional hubs. This decentralization strengthens the