O centro de incubação de empreendimentos populares solidários (CIEPS-UFU): história, frutos e perspectivas

Abstract

This study aimed to do a historical, bibliographical and documentary survey of the activities of the Centro de Incubação de Empreendimentos Populares Solidários (Cieps) of the Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU), which completes two decades working for the development of Solidary Productive Organizations (SPO), in order to celebrate its achievements and evaluate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on its activity. As from the analysis of its formative aspects, as well as the theoretical framework that permeates the extension public policies and the Solidary Popular Economy, the work intended to retake and revisit the incubator's collection, as well as to investigate the results of the work done and trace the main challenges, especially because of the effects caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and prospects for the future, in order to understand how OPS (Solidarity Productive Organizations) are developed and how they can be successful and sustainable. The role of the University and the extension actions is highlighted, in order to foster discussion around the incubation processes and enable the development of the center, celebrating its history and fruits and enabling the improvement of its performance, even remotely, for the next few years. The results demonstrate the significant participation of the incubator in the development of extension activities, as well as the relevance of its academic production, with more than 100 projects carried out and 20 groups advised.