It may be the only city in the world named for a song. This planned city was built from scratch in the 1940s, when a song about a woman named Maria do Ingá became popular among the planners and early residents. Shortened to Maringá, it became the official name – and explains the city’s nickname, Cidade Canção, or “Song City.”
Today, the top three economic sectors by revenue in Maringá are agriculture, industry (food processing, chemicals and textiles) and services. But by employment, the order is reversed, with the service sector employing more than three-quarters of workers, while industry employs most of the rest and agricultural labor makes up just 1% of the workforce.
Expanding Opportunity
With a population of nearly 770,000, Maringá is well-served by multiple private-sector ISPs, which provide nearly universal availability and support digital services and remote work. Economic disparities, however, depress adoption, and Maringá has responded by implementing free Wi-Fi across 500 public spaces, including squares, terminals and urban facilities. Through public-private partnerships, it has also pushed wired services into schools and innovation centers in the city.
The city’s service sector is currently dominated by retail and wholesale trade, with five shopping malls, and wholesalers of food, dry goods, textiles, wood, auto parts and appliances. Tourism is also vital and is managed by the Maringá and Region Convention & Visitors Bureau. On this foundation, the city is working to grow a technology sector and the workforce that can supply its needs. In partnership with its universities and the private sector, it is delivering thousands of hours of training in programming, AI, robotics and innovation practices. The city has also introduced the Municipal Week of Girls in Technology, which brought together more than 700 students with tech companies and higher education to foster greater participation by women in technology careers. An Entrepreneurial Journey program launched in 2026 offers a structured program for entrepreneurs including training, mentorship and investor connections, while an internal program for city employees offers 300 online courses preparing them for developing and delivering online government services.
Centers, Parks & Testbeds
Maringá got an early start on technology innovation. In 2012, it launched the Maringá Innovation Center, a nonprofit organization, to be the engine powering an innovation ecosystem engaging government, universities, industry and civil society. Today, it coordinates innovation programs, promotes innovation events and develops platforms like Maringá Conecta, which links business challenges to local technological solutions.
More recently, the city, tech companies and universities acquired land and invested in infrastructure to begin building the Maringá IT Park as a home for the innovation economy. The first phase of the project attracted 12 tech companies and developers and led to the creation of 400 new jobs. The city also launched InovaWeek, a program of lectures, workshops hackathons and matchmaking sessions aiming to share knowledge, stimulate entrepreneurship and bridge the academic-industry divide. Within four years of its founding, the annual event was attracting 50 partner institutions and 2,000 participants.
Maringá then added an annual GovTech program in which it offers tax incentives to companies that present innovation technology solutions for government challenges. The first program attracted 27 companies and generated 17 projects for testing on city infrastructure.
Accelerating Inclusion
For the offline population, public-private partnerships are providing training that ranges from basic digital literacy to programming, robotics and applied AI. These programs also target business creation with courses in business modeling and solutions development. There is a special focus on inclusion for the elderly population through practical training on everyday technology use, from smartphones to digital public services, banking applications, online communication and online safety.
The Mobile Technology & Innovation Lab brings technology education to municipal schools. It offers hands-on workshops in robotics, programming and AI to promote critical thinking, logical reasoning and creativity. The TechBus, as it is called, is reaching hundreds of children per year.
Zero Waste
Maringá is committed to growing the city in a sustainable, smart and inclusive way. Its Zero Waste Program aims to shift waste management to a circular economy model in which the private sector can benefit from recovery and reuse of waste while minimizing landfill disposal. The city invites companies to submit technology solutions for testing, from biodigestion to waste-to-energy solutions. The waste treatment solutions emerge from the program with commercial value beyond their contribution to the city’s sustainability.
Agriculture remains the biggest sector of Maringá’s economy, yet only a small employer because of the success of agricultural technology. “Song City” is working to make technology a driver of employment growth instead, and to build more inclusive prosperity in the decades to come.
Population: 765,000
Websites: www.maringa.pr.gov.br
Smart21 2026