Government of São Paulo launched the IdeiaGov innovation program

The Government of the State of São Paulo launched the IdeiaGov innovation program, with the objective of using solutions brought by the market and society to the challenges of the state government, in order to offer better public services for the citizen and more efficiency in public management.

Supported by FAPESP, the program works on three action fronts:

1) a meeting space between different actors in the impact entrepreneurship ecosystem and the science, technology and innovation system in the State of São Paulo.
2) acceleration of businesses that solve problems of public interest and complement the government's work.
3) create challenges based on demands from government agencies in São Paulo that enhance the relationship and the hiring of innovative solutions.

"The initiative aims to make the Government of São Paulo an international reference in innovation in the public sector and also boost economic development with public procurement of innovation, mainly providing opportunities for startups, small and medium and innovative companies in general", said Patricia Ellen , Secretary of Economic Development of the State of São Paulo, at the launch of the program in June.

Impact Hub – a Brazilian organization connected to a global network of entrepreneurs, with the purpose of developing solutions and transformational businesses – was chosen to operationalize the program.

"The Government and Economic Development secretariats, who designed the program, realized the importance of bringing an organization like Impact Hub to run an initiative like this, which seeks to find solutions to cross-cutting and complex challenges found in state public management and which are common to other spheres of government in Brazil and in the world”, says Felipe Massami Maruyama, director of innovation in government at Impact Hub and who is in charge of the initiative.

Legacy of Pitch Gov

IdeiaGov brought much of the lessons learned from Pitch Gov – an initiative also launched by the Government of the State of São Paulo, at the end of 2015, in partnership with the Brazilian Association of Startups, with the objective of identifying innovative solutions developed by startups to solve the challenges of public administration in the areas of education, statistics and data analysis, public finance, housing, sanitation and energy, health, transparency and transport.

"Pitch Gov, at the time of the program's launch, could not enjoy, for example, the maturing of legislation that emerged later, such as the new Legal Framework for Science, Technology and Innovation, which brought the legal framework that could contribute to the implementation of solutions innovative,” says Maruyama.

new legal framework

Sanctioned at the beginning of 2016, the new legal framework regulates long-term partnerships between the public and private sectors, giving greater flexibility of action to scientific, technological and innovation institutions (ICTs) and their respective support entities.

One of the innovations in the legislation is the possibility of exemption from bidding, by the public administration, in the contracting of innovative services or products from micro, small and medium-sized companies.

It also establishes the possibility of using the Differentiated Public Contracting Regime (RDC) for actions in bodies and entities dedicated to science, technology and innovation. And it foresees the possibility for governors and mayors to establish a simplified regime, with their own rules for acquisitions in these areas.

Pilot Program to Combat COVID-19

Based on this diagnosis by Pitch Gov and with a more mature and tested regulatory framework, IdeiaGov was designed not only to make the connection between market and society solutions with the challenges of public authorities, but also to support throughout the journey , from supporting public servants in structuring problems to the implementation of innovations by the government through the various existing legal modalities, explains the expert.

IdeiaGov's first pilot program is aimed at identifying new technologies and innovative solutions with the potential to combat and minimize the impacts of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, on the population's health.

The program is divided into two modes:

1) “Government Challenges”: dedicated to finding innovative solutions for companies and research organizations of any size for concrete challenges facing the coronavirus in the current scenario. The first call of this modality has the challenge of carrying out tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19, in order to make them accessible for public health programs and replicable to reach the greatest possible number of people. Applications for the first challenge can be submitted until the 10th of August through the website www.ideiagov.sp.gov.br.

2) “Technological offers from the market”: it is an entry channel to receive proposals for technologies related to the fight against COVID-19, whether for products, services or processes for the area of public health. Among the general criteria for selection are the degree of innovation of the solutions presented, the potential for adoption by public administration bodies, the profile of the company and the team involved, and the maturity of the technology. The current IdeiaGov notice seeks to identify technological and innovative solutions that allow the monitoring of vital signs and/or remote operation of medication for hospitalized patients. Applications can be submitted until the 12th of August, also through the website www.ideiagov.sp.gov.br.

The proposals will be analyzed by a group of experts, composed of representatives of government agencies interested in purchasing or implementing the selected solutions, in addition to considering the specific criteria of each of the notices.

"These professionals will evaluate different aspects of the proposals, indicating when to test or validate them within an environment of real use, such as the hospital, for example, to, based on this, verify the potential of the implementation, whether through a public purchase or in other ways,” says Maruyama.

The companies will have access to the technical teams of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo (FM-USP) and the Technological Research Institute (IPT), as well as laboratory infrastructure and specialized equipment for guidance, support in the execution of proofs of concept, real use cases, pilot tests, and exchange of technical information. In addition, the initiative also has the support of several organizations operating in the areas of business generation, from science and technology, innovation in government and social technologies, such as Wylinka and the Tellus Institute.

At the end of the cycle of both modalities, the validated solutions may have access to financing lines and/or contracting of their solutions by public bodies.

“The proposal is to launch several challenges within macro-themes, such as COVID-19, enabling the articulation of partners that support us in different stages of development of the best solutions”, says Maruyama.