"Intersectoral Cooperation is Key to Promoting Innovation", Experts Point Out at FGV Event

"Innovation is a political, economic, and personal choice that society needs to make," declared the vice-president of Fundação Getulio Vargas, Marcos Cintra, during the opening of the event "Innovation for Competitiveness," which took place on March 27 at the Noble Hall of the São Paulo School of Business Administration (FGV EAESP). On this occasion, industry experts, companies, and startups gathered to discuss with researchers how to transform research into innovation. Among the debates, one conclusion was unanimous: the path to promoting innovation depends on intersectoral cooperation between academics and representatives of the government and industry.

According to the Web of Science platform, Brazil is the 13th country in terms of scientific article production worldwide, but according to the Global Innovation Index, Brazil ranks 50th in innovation. "This indicates that we are not making the right choices to develop our potential to solve the country's pressing problems using science and technology," declared Cintra.

The vice-president shared the opening table with the manager of Ecological Transition and Innovation at the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), Alessandro Rizzato; the director of Innovation and Institutional Relations at the Brazilian Company of Research and Industrial Innovation (Embrapii), Igor Nazareth; the director of FGV Ventures, Luciana Cualheta; and the vice-director of FGV EAESP, Tales Andreassi.

Intersectoral Cooperation to Promote Innovation

During the first round of presentations, Rizzato introduced one of CNI's main products currently: the Business Mobilization for Innovation (MEI). "We propose to unite the three main actors of the innovation ecosystem - industry, academia, and government - all with the same goal of industrial innovation in the country," he stated.

The manager of Ecological Transition and Innovation also highlighted that there is an online tool that disseminates all the innovation promotion tools available in the country. It is called MEI Tools, which provides information about calls for proposals, funding lines, programs, scholarships, partnerships, financial contributions, economic subsidies, project support, and much more.

Given the discrepancy between the position in the academic publication index and the implementation of innovation, the director of Innovation and Institutional Relations at Embrapii, Igor Nazareth, emphasized that Embrapii emerged precisely in this context, to address how to use scientific knowledge to generate innovative products and services for companies.

"We do this (transform scientific knowledge into innovation) through Embrapii's 93 units that operate in all sectors of the economy - such as chemistry, biotechnology, nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, among others - bringing the best of academia and making it available to companies," explained Nazareth.

According to the director, Embrapii is the materialization of the triple helix, bringing together government, academia, and companies, with a total of 15,564 collaborators developing projects to meet the demands of the Brazilian private sector.

"Any company, at any time, can approach an Embrapii unit and request an innovation. From this request, a project will be structured to present the company with the necessary investments and the appropriate steps for the development of this project," he detailed.

The director presented two projects that exemplify how academia can solve problems for Brazilian companies. The first is the project "Machine Learning Using Synthetic Images of Motor Vehicles," developed by the Federal University of Goiás (UFG) for the company Cilia Tecnologia, whose goal is to develop an AI methodology that estimates costs after car accidents, based on photos of vehicle damage, to calculate repair costs. Learn more about this innovation.

The other project is "GuarAI: Research and Development of a Visual Inspection System for Products Using AI and IoT." Developed at the Digital Metropolis unit of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) for the company Guararapes Confecções S/A, this project aims to develop an inspection system for textile companies, using AI and Internet of Things (IoT) techniques to detect flaws in rolls of fabrics, allowing companies to identify possible process failures and thus save time and production, avoiding rework. Learn more about this project.

Factors Preventing Brazil from Increasing Innovation Rates

The vice-director of FGV EAESP, Tales Andreassi, pointed out five reasons why Brazil is so uncompetitive in technological innovation and cannot reach the most developed countries in innovation.

"The first is the low investment in R&D; Brazil invests 1%, while the USA invests 3.5% and Korea 4.5%. The second point is that in Brazil, most investments come from the public sector, while in other countries they come from the private sector. The third point is the instability of public policies related to R&D; we had a significant budget cut in the science and technology area in the previous government. The fourth reason is the little support for digitalization and Industry 4.0, which causes a significant delay in the adoption of artificial intelligence, robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT)," he stated.

Additionally, the professor also indicated the critical points that need to be addressed for the country to reach a higher standard in innovation. According to Andreassi, low competitiveness due to high tax burden, poor infrastructure, and functional illiteracy are some crucial points that need to be worked on to increase innovation in the country.

FGV Ventures: FGV's Business Accelerator

The event also provided space for the director of FGV Ventures, Luciana Cualheta, to present about the Foundation's accelerator, which is the first university accelerator in the country. The program, which lasts for four months, is aimed at startups from all over Brazil, with the goal of training entrepreneurs through workshops and seminars conducted by FGV network professors. In total, 87 startups have gone through the program in 17 acceleration batches since 2016, totaling over R$600 million in valuation and R$150 million in investment.

To participate in the program, startups must have a validated MVP with real customers, meaning a functional first version of the product. "It is also necessary that the business values are socially and environmentally responsible, with diverse and complementary teams, thinking not only about financial gains but also about the externalities caused by the business," she presented. Learn more about FGV Ventures.

The event also featured technical panels on sustainability innovation, automotive sector innovation, and health innovation. Researchers from FGV and the University of New South Wales (UNSW); representatives from Braskem, the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), the Brazilian Association of Automotive Engineering (AEA); entrepreneurs from startups Carristas, WILU, and IWASTE; as well as representatives from the company Nintx, the Inova Unicamp accelerator, and the Sírio-Libanês Hospital participated in the debates.

You can watch the full debates through these links: morning session and afternoon session.