During a visit to Unicamp last Tuesday (19), Cargill's Vice President of Research and Development, Kerr Dow, confirmed the North American multinational's participation in the International Hub for Sustainable Development (HIDS).Present in 70 countries, Cargill has a broad field of activity, including agricultural products and services, food and animal nutrition. In 2011, Cargill opened its first food technology and innovation center in Latin America at Ciatec 2. The location was chosen precisely because of its proximity to Unicamp, with which Cargill already has several projects in partnership. “Sustainability is a core value for Cargill and HIDS meets our objectives,” he said.
Kerr Dow explained that the company develops several projects with the aim of consolidating sustainable supply chains in products such as soy, cocoa, cotton and animal nutrition. “With HIDS we want to expand projects in partnership with Unicamp, especially to create bio-based solutions for the food industry, one of Cargill's main focuses currently, said the vice president. “We are looking for opportunities in this area and we believe that Brazil has strong potential to generate these solutions”, he added.
The creation of HIDS is being coordinated by the Integrated Directorate for Integrated Planning (DEPI). Its mission is to contribute to the process of sustainable development, bringing together national and international efforts to produce knowledge, innovative technologies and education for future generations, mitigating and overcoming the social, economic and environmental weaknesses of contemporary society. “The idea is, based on the presence of universities, companies, research institutions and even residences and the provision of services, to build a model of sustainable development that can be a reference”, stated the rector of Unicamp, Marcelo Knobel. HIDS should occupy a total area of 11,3 million square meters, which includes Unicamp, PUC-Campinas and Ciatec 2, a hub created 30 years ago by the City of Campinas as a reserve for technological development. According to Knobel, the big challenge is to build a governance model that reconciles the objectives of all actors present, public and private.
For the director of the Cargill Latin America Technology Center, Carlos Prax, it is essential to build a specific business and partnership model for the region. “Creating a different type of economic zone could unlock the potential of the entire area,” he said. The executive director of Depi, Professor Marco Aurelio Pinheiro Lima, added that Unicamp has been working together with the Secretariat for Economic Development of the Government of the State of São Paulo, which is considering the possibility of creating special rules for the area. Our objective is to establish a district where synergies between government, universities and companies occur and which result in a large living laboratory of robust, intelligent, flexible and sustainable urban solutions. “By aligning the objectives of various actors around a more sustainable model of occupation and development, HIDS aims to be a reference for the city of Campinas, the State of São Paulo and the country”, he concluded.
