Established after splitting from UFPB in 2002, it is one of the leading technological and scientific production institutes of northeastern Brazil, being mentioned in a 2001 edition of the Newsweek magazine as a technopole - among 9 other around the world - that represents a new vision for technology.
In 2002 the UFPB, at the time formed by the campuses in João Pessoa, Areia, Campina Grande, Patos, Cajazeiras and Sousa had four of them detached due to the creation of the Federal University of Campina Grande