Representatives of the Government of Rio Grande do Norte, the State’s Civil Defense and of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) visited the structure where the Augusto Severo Scientific and Technological Park (PAX) in the city of Macaíba last monday, March 21st. The purpose of the visit was to get to know the 15 thousand square meters area where the technological complex that aims to unite science, technology, industry and innovation in the State of Rio Grande do Norte will be placed, and think about possible future partnerships to make the operation achieve its full potential. The representatives also visited the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neurosciences (IIN-ELS), one of the Santos Dumont Institute’s (ISD) units that is located next to the PAX. The ISD is one of the partner institutions of the project, which will house integrated solutions in the areas of Health, Renewable Energy and Industry 4.0.

“I had the opportunity to see the dream of the Santos  Dumont Institute being born, and at that time many did not believe that it would be possible to have a project like this in a rural area, outside an urban center. Today, seeing the results presented by the Institute, the testimonies of the people who had their lives transformed by the actions of the Institution, I can say that the future of what we envision for PAX is very similar to what we see in the ISD”, said the general coordinator of the Agricultural School of Jundiaí (EAJ), linked to UFRN, Ivan Max Freire.

The PAX is named after an internationally recognized citizen of Macaíba for his contributions to world aviation: Augusto Severo de Albuquerque Maranhão. Inspired by the legacy of the creator of the airship Pax, which took off in Paris in 1902, the Technological Park is designed to be an intelligent structure, integrated with the community and companies through the Federation of Industries of Rio Grande do Norte (Fiern) and the Support for Micro and Small Enterprises (Sebrae). In addition, startup accelerators should be part of the structure to operationalize products developed in the many lines of research carried out at ISD.

The sub-coordinator of Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Norte, Dalchem Viana, took part in the visit with the delegation. Recently, the Civil Defense signed a cooperation agreement with UFRN for the implementation of technologies related to disaster prevention, with the goal of creating, in the future, a Center for Studies and Research in Disasters. “These centers already exist in other states, but we do not have one in the Brazilian Northeast region. The development of technologies that have a special look towards the social area is in our direct interest, and we are very happy to know more about the work that is done here”, he said. According to him, the creation of technologies and solutions that can help, for example, in Civil Defense actions specifically aimed at the population with disabilities is one of the areas of interest. “This is a population for whom we have a special look when it comes to disaster prevention, creating procedures, so it’s a very important job”, he stressed. The main areas of concentration in research at ISD are maternal-child health and health of the people with disabilities. 

The structure that will be the headquarters of the PAX is currently passing through renovations in the electrical and hydraulic structures. The services should be ready in the second half of 2022, and the works are under the supervision of the Government of Rio Grande do Norte, to whom the land was ceded by UFRN in 2021.