Brazil will, over the next 10 years, be the sixth country in which large global companies invest most in research and development. The country is currently in the 12th position. This information is part of the figures disclosed yesterday, April 24, by French innovation expert Marc Giget, at the 2nd Brazilian Congress of Industrial Innovation, which is taking place at the Hilton Hotel, in São Paulo, in the Brazilian Southeast.
Giget is responsible for innovation projects in the master's and doctoral courses at the National Center of Arts of France, Marc Giget, Giget was one of the speakers at the event, which ends today (25) and is scheduled to have brought together 500 people, among them businessmen, executive, academics and representatives of the public sector.
According to Armando Monteiro Neto, president of the National Confederation of Industries (CNI), which is promoting the event, the Brazilian target is to turn 2% of the country Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to innovation by 2010. Nowadays, the public and private sectors in Brazil together invest 1% of the country GDP in research and science.
Brazilian industrialists are going to present, at the end of the event, a plan to provide incentives to company investment in innovation. The federal government is also preparing a plan to support the development or research and technology in industry, and negotiations should be complete in two months.
According to the Innovations director at the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI), Evandro Mirra, Brazil currently has 1,200 companies capable of doing research for innovation. Among them, 400 are exporters and 170 are in a global leadership position in their sectors.
Mirra mentions technology, agribusiness, oil and gas, banking automation, industrial automation and renewable energies as sectors in which Brazil is a leader. "Agribusiness was one of the first areas in Brazil that learnt how to mobilize knowledge to have more efficient production," stated Mirra.
The Innovation director at ABDI stated that Brazil has presented success in adding knowledge to mass production activities. "These are traditional activities and when you add knowledge the results can be extraordinary. One example is cheese bread. The product was a tradition of families in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, but with the technology that made it possible to freeze the dough, some 500 companies arose and started selling the product throughout Brazil, and there are also exports to around 30 countries that generate revenues of US$ 30 million. The product now generates 40,000 jobs in the country," he said.
The CNI president stated that among the companies that invest in technology in Brazil are multinationals, like those in the automotive sector. He also recalled less visible initiatives that are taking place among smaller companies, mainly in the technology area.
Mirra stated that one of the sectors, for example, in which the country has been investing significantly in research and innovation, gaining market, mainly internationally, is microelectronics. The sector involves from equipment for the medical and hospital sector to computer screens and televisions.
According to the French Giget, recent figures show that there are 10 million researchers in the world, 15,000 scientific articles are published per day and every year US$ 1 trillion is invested in research and 800,000 patents are accepted.
The number of researchers should double in ten years and exceed 20 million, according to the specialist, who is the founder of the European Institute of Creative Strategies. The Indians and Chinese will be greatly responsible for this increase, stated Giget.
Last year, according to him, there were one million researchers in China. "Approximately 800,000 engineers graduated in China in 2006," said the Frenchman.
In ten years, according to him, China will invest more in research than the United States. Brazil is also going to grow, according to Giget, but slower than the Chinese. "Great researchers are noticing that Brazil is one of to the focuses of research and development," he said to those participating in the congress.
The Frenchman explained what innovation is and recalled that it is essential to fulfill the dreams of individuals. "Innovation is simplifying things for users," he defined.
According to him, there is a historic correlation between the advance of innovation and the expansion of riches in the world. "Part of these riches are going to become taxes, which will benefit everyone," said Giget. The Frenchman was one of the main speakers at the congress.
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