Brazilian companies go against the tide and start investing in research
Cátia Luz
A rock in Mars was named after one of the most famous landmarks of Rio de Janeiro, the Sugar Loaf. The suggestion, immediately accepted by the whole group of Nasa researchers, came from physicist Paulo Antônio de Souza Jr., environment analyst of Vale do Rio Doce and the only Brazilian to take part in the mission that is searching for water in the Red Planet. The physicist was "lended" to the American space agency due to a technology developed by Vale ¾ the spectrometer, a device that analyses the composition of ferrous minerals. The equipment wasn't new, but it was the size of a photocopying machine and used to take days to accomplish a single task. As the result of a joint work between Vale and Mainz University, in Germany, the device "shrinked" and is now the size of a computer mouse. Now it can also make analyses in three or for minutes using fewer and fewer amounts of material. "We set off first and have become a global reference", says Souza.
This history seems inconsistent with a country that, with low investments in research and technology, has fallen behind the most competitive economies. Brazil has the 15th biggest economy of the world, but has gone down eight positions and now is rated 65th in the global competitiveness ranking released by the World Economic Forum. But although the country's creativity is still incipient, several companies have managed to become islands of excellence and fight for the global market, sometimes successfully.
Generally speaking, the inventive companies come from areas in which Brazil already stands out, like mining, agriculture and oil. Embrapa and Petrobras as the well-known examples. However, with a little help from universities and institutes, exceptions are becoming the rule in sectors less explored. "The joint work between companies and universities, still rare in Brazil, is solving one of our greatest problems, that is, producing knowledge and being unable to make money with it", says Rafael Tello, who works for Seara Innovaton Center, a partnership between Seara and Dom Cabral Foundation. Brazillian researchers publish 1.6% of the academic essays of the world, but only 0.8% os the patents are registered for the country. The reduced number of researchers working for the private enterprise can partly explain that imbalance. Only two out of ten researchers are work at corporations. This ratio is eight out of ten in the developed countries.
In order to reduce the risk and save time, Braskem has decided to launch a partnership with Rio Grande do Sul Federal University. The petrochemical industry has just applied for a patent on the process of obtaining nanocomposites for the manufacturing of plastic resins. It is the first Latin American Company to do that. After years of research, Braskem promises to load the shelves with the first nanotechnological resin until June 2006. Nanotechnology is the science of studying and working with matter on an ultra-small scale. One nanometer is one-millionth of a millimeter. The product will be used in several industries, like automotive and packaging. The new technology will enable companies to work with fewer and better materials. As far as the automotive industry is concerned, this means lighter and more fuel-economic cars. As for the construction sector, non-inflammable and more resistant materials. "Nanotechnology is going to open a new frontier for the materials sector. That's why we are taking part in this global race", says Susana Liberman, from Braskem Innovation and Technology Center.
The risk of investing in research and technology is high. From each seven products conceived, four are developed, 1.5 is launched and only one is commercially successfull. However, inventiveness brings an extra reward. "Innovation yields higher profits. The rate of return is six times the investment made", informs Ronald Dauscha, president of Anpei, the association of inventive companies. With an eye on this return, Vale started researching the use of microorganisms in the manufacturing of metals. The challenge is to have a bacterium extract copper from chalcopyrite ¾ a rather poor but very common ore ¾ in an economic and efficient manner. "The first to achieve this goal in commercial scale will take advantage of copper good prices and move way ahead of the competition", says Geísa Pereira, who works at Vale's research center.
Biomm, a biotechnological firm, has been through that. Located in Belo Horizonte, it is one of the four companies in the world which managed to genetically modify a bacterium from the human intestinal flora and have it synthetize insulin. The research consumed ten years and 10 million dollars. Last year it was considered the most important health project in the country by Nature magazine. Biomm has obtained two dozen patents in the last five years and has many customers abroad.
In order to launch the perfume Malbec, the first one to use alcohol distilled from wine, O Boticário tested more than 200 versions. "We have recreated the perfume technology in an inexperienced country", says Miguel Krigsner, president of the company. Little more than a year after the launch and the patenting, the perfume sold 1 million units and turned into a sales phenomenon. Despite the risks involved, innovation pays.
Época Magazine - ed. 390
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