Pernambucoders: How Porto Digital uses Programming Clubs to address the future of Science and Technology Parks and Areas of Innovation

Qualified professionals are key for a company success and its competitiveness, especially in knowledge‐based organizations, that is the case of Science and Technology Parks (STPs) and Areas of Innovation (AOIs) residents. However, this sector is facing a global lack of good professionals to fill their jobs vacancies.As an important player for their companies’ strength and for a region economic development, STPsand AOIs can contribute to reduce or even eliminate this bottleneck, like Porto Digital is doing. In 2016, it started to run a project, named PERNAMBUCODERS, to teach programming in schools inorder to contribute with better qualified professional in the future.This paper will explain in details how the project works, its results after a year, as well as how it will impact in the future of the sector and how it addresses future issues, also showing how this experience can contribute with others STPs and AOIs.