The Metropolitan Region of São Paulo as an innovation center in Brazil

Abstract Little by little, knowledge has ceased to be a thing related to the spirit and has become a thing related to money. The social relations established in the act of knowing have been progressively submitted to capital, and innovation is being viewed from the perspective of exchange and value. Such perspective guides this discussion, which considers innovation an urban resource, viewed from the relationship between the innovative industry and the urban dimension. This enables us to understand why the metropolitan region of São Paulo is the country’s innovation center. This condition reveals a new element of social and territorial differentiation of the Brazilian development that should not reinforce inequality. Differences exist and need to be understood; however, they cannot be translated as sources of inequalities.