Innovation Agents
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A major part of the development of innovation in Brazil is carried out in the technology parks, with the support of governments, institutions of technical and higher education, and private enterprise. Other organizations focusing on industrial production and services also contribute to innovative actions throughout the country. Here are some successful initiatives.
Senai Institutes of Innovation (ISI)
The main objective of the Senai Institutes of Innovation is to increase the productivity and competitiveness of Brazilian industry, with the creation of agile, innovative, and tailor-made solutions for large, medium and small industries. The National Service of Industrial Apprenticeships (Senai) has 28 institutes, in 12 states. Its objective is the integrated development of products, processes, applied research, the solution of complex problems, and the anticipation of technological trends, thus contributing to increasing the productivity and competitiveness of Brazilian industry.
All of the processes for implementing, certifying, and evaluating the work of the Senai Institutes of Innovation (ISI) are accompanied by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the largest organization of applied research in the world and a cooperator with the German Center of Science and Innovation – São Paulo (DWIH São Paulo).
Senai is a private institution, run by the National Confederation of Industries (CNI), which carries out a broad range of professional training programs, seeking to eliminate the deficiencies of the Brazilian industrial labor force. It focuses on professional education, from the initial training phase to postgraduate study.
Brazilian Company for Industrial Research and Innovation (Embrapii)
The mission of the Brazilian Company for Industrial Research and Innovation (Embrapii) is to support public and private scientific and technological research institutions in selected areas of competence, so that they carry out projects for developing technological research for innovation, in cooperation with companies from the industrial sector. The organization focuses on company demands and its goal is to share the risk in the pre competitive phase of innovation. The objective is to stimulate industries based in Brazil to innovate more in order to boost their competitive strength in both the internal and international markets.
Embrapii is linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication (MCTIC), to the Ministry of Education (MEC) and, more recently, to the Ministry of Health, via management contracts. Check the Embrapii site for its areas of involvement and the accredited institutions.
Technology Parks and Incubators
According to the MCTI-InovaDataBR portal, in 2024 there were 61 technology parks in operation, 24 under construction and seven in planning. Their estimated turnover was around R$12.4 billion, generating 53,000 jobs. According to the website, 2,735 companies are located in these parks. For its part, the National Association of Entities Promoting Innovative Enterprises (Anprotec) points to the existence of 363 business incubators in Brazil.
Primatec was created out of the Inova Funding Authority for Studies and Projects (Finep) and is the first national fund dedicated to the segment of incubators and technology parks, covering the target sectors of information technology and communication (ITC), energy, sustainability, and creative economics.
The areas of involvement of the parks have a wide-ranging list of sectors. The areas most mentioned are information technology and communication, energy, biotechnology, health, and petroleum and natural gas. However, several other areas are also in the focus of the technology parks, such as the aeronautics and aerospace industry, agribusiness, and technologies emphasizing the environment.