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PBTech aims for US$1mn in exports Business News Americas - 15/06/2004 Brazilian software export associations PBTech aims to exceed its goal of US$1mn of foreign sales by the end of this year, according to Jailma Araújo dos Santos, coordinator at the Paraíba state branch of small businesses support agency Sebrae. Since PBTech was created at end-2002, four of the 11 companies making up the consortium have exported some US$631,000 of goods to 12 countries, including Australia, Canada, China, Portugal and the US, dos Santos said. Two firms, Light Infocon and Ziontec, were already exporting before they joined PBTech, and two more companies, Zênite and New Ink, have since won export contracts for the first time, dos Santos said. A fifth company, Phoebus, recently signed an international partner. Light Infocon, which develops solutions for government and corporations based on its Lightbase database system, exported US$120,000 in 2002 and saw this figure rise to US$190,000 in 2003, equivalent to about 15% of total revenues. Because the company already exported products, the main benefits of PBTech are reducing the costs of participating in international fairs and international promotion, which are now shared amongst the 11 members, Light Infocon chairman Alexandre Moura said. New Ink, which designs systems for reusing printer ink cartridges, is now exporting to 23 countries, with exports of US$100,000 in 2003 and a target of US$250,000 by year-end, of which US$100,000 of contracts have already been signed with companies such as South Korea's Inkara and Mexico's Cadtoner. A total of 2.4mn reais (US$769, 000) has been invested in the PBTech project, of which the companies and the Brazilian export agency APEX contributed 40% each and Sebrae 20%. Other consortium members are Decisão, Apel, Era Digital and Insiel. Most of the companies in PBTech are based in the Campina Grande technology park in the interior of Paraíba state, which is in turn a public-private partnership between the Paraíba state government, the Campina Grande municipality, Sebrae, the state industries' federation Fiep, the state and federal universities, the government-owned bank Banco do Nordeste, the national research agency CNPq and the companies themselves. The park is an example of how the public and private sectors can work together, helped by a combination of factors including the relatively small size of the town, which allows everyone to "pull in the same direction," Moura said. The park is home to a technology incubator hosting some 11 companies and a TecOut Center designed to prepare companies for exporting to China. It is also expanding its usability laboratory to handle nine tests a month from the current level of three, to allow more space for companies from outside to test their products, Moura said. The laboratory charges around 5,000 reais a test, compared to the 4,000-5,000 pounds sterling charged by the only other equivalent laboratories in theUK, he said. There is a waiting list for access to the existing facilities. The latest development is the Digital Oasis, a 16-storey building, to be built with 5mn reais of private and public money to house around 40 local technology companies. The park recently tendered construction contracts, which it expects to sign towards the end of this month or early July, for work to begin in August and the center to be up and running by early 2006. 
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| Light Infocon Tecnologia S/A |