The state of Pernambuco will gain this Monday (20) an innovation and technology center that will function as a nursery to develop projects that boost the productivity of industry in the region and across the country. The structure set up by the National Industrial Learning Service of Pernambuco (Senai-PE) was named Senai Park and is located in the city of Ipojuca, in the metropolitan region of Recife.
The 1.4 hectare facility – almost a football field and a half – is divided into modules and is located on the outskirts of two other locations that are a reference for the northeastern industrial sector: the Petrobras Abreu e Lima refinery and the Port of Suape.
The space will be used for industries to set up so-called pilot plants, which will function as a testing environment for the development of products and technologies. It’s like mini-factories, so it’s easier to test and evaluate solutions, procedures and innovations.
According to the director of Innovation and Technology at Senai-PE, Oziel Alves, the objective is to provide industrialists with ways to reach the “industry of the future”.
“The main purpose is to develop new technologies, put them on the market, take them to a real industrial scenario, so that we can effectively show these technologies in operation”, he described.
Recife (PE) 10/17/2025 – Senai Park Warehouse, an innovation and technology park in the Suape Port Industrial Complex, in the municipality of Ipojuca, Metropolitan Region of Recife Photo: Fabio Rodrigues-Pozzebom/ Agência Brasil – undefined
Industry 4.0
The industry of the future, also known as industry 4.0, is one that uses digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), industrial internet of things, digital twins (virtual replica of an object or system), additive manufacturing (3D printer) and augmented reality.
Senai’s regional director, Camila Barreto, points out that the innovation center is an element of integration of companies, universities and research institutes “around solutions to concrete industry challenges”.
Industrialists will also be able to make virtual visits to monitor the development of innovations. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools will monitor the processes.
In addition to creating products and technologies, the space will be aimed at “tropicalizing” foreign techniques, that is, adapting them to the environment of national factories.
Senai Park can be accessed by companies from outside Pernambuco. For Oziel Alves, even if the industry is not from Pernambuco, it increases the chance of new business in the region.
Projects worth R$100 million
The innovation space already has two contracted projects totaling R$100 million in investments, both related to the energy transition.
One aims to develop the green hydrogen chain, a clean fuel. The second deals with the production of lithium batteries, essential for the growing fleet of hybrid and electric cars.
>>Innovation center takes energy transition into industry
There is an expectation of raising another R$200 million in other developments. One will develop a radar system for automatic vehicle braking. Another, with the American multinational oil company ExxonMobil, involves drones with specific functions on offshore oil platforms.
With the development of technologies at Senai Park, industries participate in a type of risk sharing, as they do not assume the entire innovation process alone, as they already find a structured “nursery”.
Investment multiplies
The president of the Federation of Industries of the State of Pernambuco (Fiepe), Bruno Veloso, classifies Senai as “the great technology researcher we have today in Brazil”.
Recife (PE) 10/17/2025 – Port of Suape, located in the municipality of Ipojuca, Metropolitan Region of Recife Photo: Fabio Rodrigues-Pozzebom/ Agência Brasil – undefined
He highlights the fact that the innovation center is neighboring the Port of Suape, an industrial complex with 90 companies in operation. “This number of employees is a perfect environment for us to be here carrying out technological development, because we have a very large diversity of industries around us”, he assesses.
The regional director, Camila Barreto, cited a study by the Fraunhofer Institute, the largest applied research organization in Europe, on the multiplier effect of investment in innovation on the economy.
“For every R$1 invested in projects that seek innovation within Senaireturns R$18 to the economy.”
Senai, which will also work on workforce qualification, is part of System S, entities maintained by contributions from companies and focused on professional qualification and social assistance.
*Reporter and photographer for Brazil Agency traveled at the invitation of Senai-PE.
