It is necessary to grow

Exportation, service, biomedical and technology areas  concentrated the main company investments in the state during last years and are the state weapons to go through the crisis

It is an old proverb: In Chinese, crisis also means opportunity. This moves the work of Investe São Paulo, agency of development created in 2008 to support new investments in the state through financing lines and logistic support. From 2011 to 2014, São Paulo received 87 new companies. In 2014, more 29 projects were announced, including large companies such as Toyota, Hyundai, Chery, GE, Caterpillar, among others, in the fields of power, food and beverage, health, chemistry and farming. Till August—when the last balance sheet was issued—the state received 21 projects this year, getting an investment total of R$ 7.4 billion. For the second half, there is a forecast of 12 new projects, with an input of R$ 1.1 billion. The projection for 2015 is to get a total of 33 projects, corresponding to R$ 8.5 billion in investments and to the generation of 9051 new workplaces. And there are being negotiated other 53 projects with total investment of R$ 13.2 billion and generation of 14081 new workplaces.

Till September, the agency was accounting 119 companies attended, with investments of R$ 33.5 billion. Support to exportations is among the priorities of the agency.

New investments announced for the state include technology, inputs and services. Among them, stand out Greiner Bio-One, which is expanding a plant of tubes for vacuum blood collecting in Americana; Natura, that inaugurated a logistic hub in Itupeva; Chery, that will receive a cluster of part suppliers in Jacareí; BYD, that will produce photovoltaic plates in Campinas, in addition to trolley buses; Weidmann, that will manufacture insulating packages for transformers in Valinhos; Vinn, that is installing a hotel in São Carlos; Lwarcel, that expanded its plant of cellulose in Lençóis Paulista; Danone, that will produce yogurt in Itapetininga; Hyundai, that will install a center of R&D for flex engines in Piracicaba; Kwangjin, that produces mechanisms and modules for car windows in Sumaré; Atento, that inaugurated a center of client attendance in Guarulhos; and Unilever, that inaugurated a plant of hygiene products and of detergents and cleaning products in Aguaí. “These are companies which feel that crises are cyclic and temporary and which know that—when the economy gets better—they will be a step ahead”, explains the president of the agency, Juan Quirós.