Inovelab

For countries seeking to build a dynamic, highly-competitive economy capable of sustainable, long-term growth, innovation—or the capacity to transform knowledge into new products and methods of production and service—has become the engine for national strategies of development. Seven of the world’s most notably innovative countries — United States, Canada, Ireland, France, United Kingdom, Finland and Japan — have recognized knowledge as a key element for improving productivity and competitiveness, as well as advancing social and economic development. Understanding how these countries have succeeded in applying policies, adapting institutions, and using economic incentives and instruments to construct knowledge-based economies was the purpose of an in-depth, ten-month research project, Mobilização Brasileira para a Inovação (Mobit – Brazilian Innovation Mobilization). Intended to translate statistics into discernable trends, identify patterns in the national innovation strategies of these seven countries, and establish guidelines of action for the Brazilian government, the Mobit project was the focus of a recent seminar coordinated by the Brazil Institute and Prospectiva International in conjunction with the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI).

Hosted and co-sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Studies (IEA) of the University of São Paulo on April 25, 2008, the conference featured a keynote address by the General Coordinator of the Mobit study and the Observatory for Innovation and Competitiveness, Glauco Arbix. A group of leading Brazilian researchers, economists, and public officials joined the discussion to debate the findings of the Mobit Final Report and analyze its implications for Brazil’s national innovation system. Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute, and César Ades, director of the IEA, provided introductory remarks. Participants noted that while Brazil’s innovation performance is fast improving—leading in deep-water oil exploration technology and in the production and use of renewable fuels—it is far from entering the ranks of top international innovators. This report synthesizes the findings of the Mobit study and the proceedings from the seminar.

Brazil has 1.3 million producers of milk and 80% work on manual milking. Aware of the need for these small and medium producers, Embrapa developed a manual milking kit. Defined as a social technology at the hands of small producers, the kit is composed of simple utensils associated to a book of instructions with guidance regarding maual milking. The project developed by Embrapa Dairy Cattle counted on partnership with the Ministry of Agrarian Development, Emater-MG, Embrapa Semiarid and Arthur Bernardes Foundation (Funarbe), connected to the Federal University of Viçosa.

According to Marne Moreira, joint head at the Embrapa Dairy Cattle, the work proves that it is possible to work on manual milking with the same quality and technical ability, or even better quality, than that obtained with mechanical milking. The bacterial count, one of the factors that determines the quality of the product, is usually very high in this kind of milking. This takes place due to incorrect procedures that cause deficient hygiene both on the cow's teats, on the hands of the milkers and on the equipment used.

To prove the viability of the kit, Embrapa Dairy Cattle researchers promoted tests starting in October 2006 considering seven states in almost all the Brazilian regions (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and South). Such studies show that more adequate use may reduce the bacterial count from between 40% to 85%. Examples of this are the figures collected among a group of farmers from Pernambuco: before the use of the kit, the bacterial count (samples tested 15 minutes after milking) was around 820,000 Colony Forming Units (CFU) per millilitre of milk. With the utensils recommended and the correct hygiene procedures the CFU level dropped to 133,000/ml in the same period after milking.

The producer sets up his kit according to the material he has on his property. The complete kit costs around R$ 150 (US$ 64). The success of the initiative was so great that the idea was exported to other tropical countries like Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. There is also a chance of it being taken to Angola and Uganda, in Africa, and India and Pakistan, in Asia.

"The kit adds value to the milk produced as it reduces the bacterial count. It is safer for the producer, for the industry and for the consumer," stated Moreira.
Farmer Liberalino de Castro Lopes has been using the kit for a year. On his property in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, he has 35 dairy cows. Daily production is 250 litres of milk and sales go to a local cheese factory.

"We always milked manually and took great care with things like washing the cow's teats with chlorinated water and rinsing them off. The kit, apart from being more hygienic, is faster and more practical. With the lower volume of bacteria I can make 20 centavos (US$ 0,11) more per litre of milk," celebrates the farmer. As he is a member of the board at the Rural Union of Juiz de Fora, Lopes is always present at the meetings, talks and field trips in the city. After that, he puts into practice what he learnt with the technicians.

The landscape for innovation in Brazil is changing fast. Research budgets are rising. Brazilian scientists and innovators are at the forefront of developments from biofuels to genomics and software. And Brazil is now the fifteenth largest producer of scientific publications, up eight places in under a decade.
This report argues that Brazil is a ‘natural knowledge-economy’ where the intertwining of knowledge, skills and innovation with environmental and other natural assets holds the key to competitive advantage.
But in Europe, Brazil’s innovation capabilities are even less well understood than those of its ‘BRIC’ counterparts, China and India. This report assesses the prospects for science and technology-based innovation in Brazil over the next ten years. And it suggests how the UK and Europe can scale up collaboration with its new centres of excellence.
This report forms part of The Atlas of Ideas, a research programme on the new geography of science and innovation (http://www.atlasofideas.org/). The project was conducted in partnership with the Centro de Gestão e Estudos Estratégicos (CGEE) in Brazil, and was generously funded by a consortium of partners listed on the inside cover.

Authors: Kirsten Bound
Publication Date: 8th July 2008
ISBN: 9781906693008
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Mar 6th 2008 SÃO PAULO
From The Economist print edition

SETTLE down at one of São Paulo's sushi bars and before long you will overhear a discussion about a start-up business making energy from obscure weeds, or some other bright idea for relieving members of the country's growing middle class of their disposable income. A field study of this kind displays a strong sample bias, but the point is clear: Brazil does not lack go-getters. Yet according to a more thorough survey backed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a sister organisation of the World Bank, Brazilian entrepreneurs are a strikingly different breed to their peers in Russia and China.

Overall, some 82% of entrepreneurs in all three countries came from families with at least one other entrepreneur. They also tended to be taller than the average. But there the similarities end. In particular, Brazilian entrepreneurs seem to have a much lower appetite for risk.

The researchers measured this by offering interviewees hypothetical bets of varying risk and reward, and offering a choice between cash now or more money at a later date. The entrepreneurs in the sample were no more risk-taking than other Brazilians, and were also more likely to retire if offered a windfall than their peers elsewhere.

Perhaps this lack of staying power is because there are many more pleasant things to do in Brazil than work. But why should Brazilians be so risk-averse? Simeon Djankov, one of the study's authors, hypothesises that in real life Brazilian entrepreneurs run bigger risks than those elsewhere. Starting a business takes 152 days and requires 18 different procedures, according to the IFC's annual worldwide “Doing Business” study. It takes 2,600 hours for a medium-sized business to keep up with its taxes each year. The same hypothetical business would pay 69% of its second-year profits in tax, if it played by the rules and did not receive special tax breaks.

Brazilian entrepreneurs show an unsurprising willingness to bend the law. “Essentially what determines good entrepreneurship in Brazil is the ability to navigate around the bureaucracy,” suggests Mr Djankov. Eduardo Giannetti da Fonseca, an economist, concurs: “If Bill Gates had started Microsoft in a garage in Brazil, it would still be in the garage.” Harder to explain than why Brazil's entrepreneurs are as they are is why they exist at all.

A Technology Center focused on the pipeline area, with full scale facilities intended for the research and development of new technologies, tests of products, equipment and systems used in the pipeline network and in the area staff qualification.

CTDUT is open to the participation of companies, research institutions, universities and organizations of the civil society with concerns in the pipeline sector and in the environment preservation.

The CTDUT project emerged from the strategic necessity of developing technology in the pipeline area, aiming to provide more competitiveness to the pipeline conveyance sector industry established in the Country. It is an investment that shall allow the Country to have the largest shared Technological Center in Latin America, besides being the only one in the world having a full scale built pipeline that is intended for research, tests and personnel qualification.