Next Tuesday (30), in Brasília, the 5th National Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation (CNCTI) will begin. Its goal is to develop a new national strategy for all areas of knowledge.
“President Lula gave us the task of studying the science, technology and innovation scenario to make a strategy proposal and contribute to an action plan,” explains physicist Sérgio Rezende, former minister of the department (2005-2010) and secretary-general of the conference.
One of the CNCTI’s main focuses is reindustrialization and support for innovation in companies. Since the early 1980s, the weight of the manufacturing industry in the Gross Domestic Product has decreased. Between 2010 and 2021, the sector’s share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell from 13.75% to 11.33%.
“A set of measures is needed, and what we hope is that gradually entrepreneurs, especially the younger ones, will see the results, believe and take action to help Brazil recover its industrial system, which once had a share of GDP twice as high as it currently does,” argues the CNCTI secretary general.
In Rezende’s assessment, Brazilian deindustrialization was accelerated by the rise of Chinese manufacturing. “With China’s large industrial production and the production of cheaper products,” he notes.
The phenomenon is affecting Brazil and other countries. Here and elsewhere, companies have replaced components they manufactured with imported parts. As this process has evolved, some companies are becoming less and less industrial and are increasingly becoming importers and redistributors of products to the network of customers they have formed.
But for Rezende, there is another phenomenon. “A second problem that has been haunting us for a long time is the very high interest rate, which has two effects. Companies rarely take out loans from private banks, not even for construction. Now, many entrepreneurs prefer not to do any of that. They choose to invest in the financial market,” he says.
High interest
Rezende is convinced of the need to lower interest rates to encourage more innovation and growth. “Both for companies to take out loans for expansion and for entrepreneurs to invest more in their companies,” he notes.
Brazil currently has the second highest real interest rate in the world. It is only below Russia – at war with Ukraine since February 2022 – and above other countries with a similar degree of development such as Mexico, South Africa and Colombia.
The proposals on reindustrialization and neo-industrialization to be discussed at the 5th National Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation began to be debated in 13 preparatory seminars organized by the Studies and Projects Financing Agency (Finep) between December of last year and March of this year.
These meetings are in addition to more than 200 local and sectoral meetings and conferences held as preparatory preludes to the CNCTI, which were completed by May. In addition to the theme of reindustrialization and support for innovation in companies, the conference will focus on “recovery, expansion and consolidation of the National Science, Technology and Innovation System”; “Science, Technology and Innovation for national strategic programs and projects”; and “Science, Technology and Innovation for social development.”
Since the mid-1990s, Brazil’s scientific production has been advancing year after year. However, between 2021 and 2022, the country reduced the number of published studies – from 80,499 articles published to 74,570 scientific texts, a drop of 7.4%.
The country is also suffering from a brain drain of people who go to work as researchers abroad and from the reduced number of PhD graduates – five times fewer PhDs than the average for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The 5th National Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation will be held at Espaço Brasil 21, in the Southern Hotel Sector of Brasília. The event can be followed virtually by Youtube. Interested parties can register to participate virtually, with the right to a certificate, in this link.
