Science, technology and innovation in the Brazilian State of São Paulo: the need for public policies for region-based development

This paper seeks to show the development potential of different regions of Sao Paulo State based on an analysis of its science, technology and innovation infrastructure. In the last ten years, public and private investments in S%T%I grew in Brazil. This new institutional climate opened several opportunities for development according to the different patterns of S%T%I territorial distribution, as we show in Sao Paulo. We analyse these differences based on the spatial distributions of the following input/output indicators: higher education institutions, post-graduate students, indexed scientific articles, investment in innovation, patents, incubators and tech parks. The paper suggests that different territorial patterns should be considered in the formulation of public policies for development.