Endeavor

tHE CItY's CHallEngEs Belém is a capital of extremes. While on one hand, it's among the best ranked cities in three determinants (Regulatory Environment, Culture and Innovation), on the other it oc- cupies the last positions in other important determi- nants: Infrastructure (14), Market (14), Human Capital (14) Access to Capital (13). Besides it being difficult to reach the city due to its small air- port and scarce roads all throughout Pará, Belém has other challenges: it has the most expensive electric bill between the analyzed cities, and only 53% of the population has internet access, below the average 63%. To top that off, the local market is not large either. The gov- ernment and companies spend above average values, but the per capita income in the region is less than R$ 750.00 and the capital has the 2nd lowest GDP among those analyzed, this is especially worrisome because Belém has grown very little, 1.2% on average between 2009 and 2011. Besides the labor cost being higher than expected for the region, finding good employees can be difficult. Access to quality labor is still limited: only 13% of the population has higher education, and the quality of the programs available aren't high either — the city has the worst IDEB grades and less than 20% of its students are enrolled in courses consid - ered good by the ENADE. Belém is one of the main capitals of the Amazon Forest, where researchers and companies who want to study the most famous South American biome choose to settle. Inside the Federal University of Para (UFPA), the main in the state and responsible for 80% of the research done on the region, is the Universitec agency, an incu- bator with about 20 companies, that aims to establish concrete connections between companies and univer- sities, and is responsible for giving initial support — to participate, you need to present a business project or applied research. At the same time, for large companies, Universitec serves as a bridge between the market and UFPA scientists, mainly focusing on health, biomechan- ics and studies on identifying plant DNA. All these companies can rely on a database of patents, called Technology Showcase, which presents the innova- tions created within the university so that companies in- terested in licensing them can continue the development of the technology and generate products and services. tHE CItY's BEst praCtICE CasE Belém North Best score for each pillar 5 4 6 7 8 9 75 Value Position Regulatory Enviornment 7.41 2 nd Infrastructure 4.79 14 th Market Conditions 4.53 14 th Access to Capital 5.16 13 th Innovation 6.90 3 rd Human Capital 4.19 14 th Culture 7.19 2 nd Regulatory Environment Culture Infrastructure Access to Capital Innovation Human Capital Market Conditions

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