15th Anniversary of the Technological Park

A lot of emotion and goals for the future marked the celebration of 15 years of the Technological Park of São José dos Campos in an event held on December 3rd.

Professor and scientist Marco Antonio Raupp was the great honoree. The main auditorium of the innovation complex is now named after Raupp, who died at the age of 83 on July 24th.

At the Technological Park, he participated in its creation and implementation (2006-2008) and was its first general director (2009-2011), a position he held again from October 2014 to June 2021.

Raupp was also Minister of Science and Technology between 2012 and 2014, among other public positions.

During the event, the names of other deceased people who collaborated with the development of the complex were also remembered, such as the former deputy mayor, Riugi Kojima, the former dean of ITA (Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica), Michal Gartenkraut, and João Evangelista Steiner, former coordinator of the São Paulo Technological Parks System.

The former director of the Park and AEB (Brazilian Space Agency), José Raimundo Coelho, spoke on behalf of all employees and gave an emotional statement about his friend and colleague Raupp.

“He was a capable and brilliant scientist, a worthy and dedicated human being. He was the leader of a group that put a lot of effort into getting PqTec to this stage,” he said.

Current director-general of the Technological Park, Marcelo Nunes, spoke about the various stages of development of the complex and also about the new innovative projects that are coming.

“The Park is today a focal point in the country for innovation. At this moment, we are working, for example, on the implementation of 5G technology in our region and the unprecedented certification of smart cities in partnership with ABNT (Brazilian Association of Technical Standards)”, said Nunes, who has been working at the complex for 12 years.

The Technological Park is managed by Associação Parque Tecnológico de São José dos Campos, a social organization that has a management contract with the Municipality of São José dos Campos.