The Financier of Studies and Projects (Finep), an innovation agency linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), and the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan) launched this Tuesday (10) Finep for Brazil, series of meetings that will cover 100 capitals and interior cities in all regions of the country, from today (10) until April 10.
The launch of the program, at Casa Firjan, in Rio de Janeiro, marks the beginning of face-to-face meetings aimed at publicizing the lender’s credit lines, economic subsidies and other support instruments for companies, cooperatives and scientific and technological institutions to reduce regional inequalities.
Finep presented the 13 public call notices that total R$3.3 billion in non-refundable resources allocated to projects aligned with the New Industry Brazil (NIB).
These are resources that will not need to be returned to the granting institutions, available to companies of all sizes.
“The objective is to promote national reindustrialization with a focus on sustainability, technological autonomy and reduced external dependence, generating jobs and income for the country”, explains the agency.
The strategic sectors covered include agro-industrial chains, health, infrastructure, digital transformation, energy transition and national defense. The financeable items are personnel expenses, consultancy services, equipment and consumables, among others.
The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Luciana Santos, said that the big challenge is credit for the industry, still often concentrated in the state of São Paulo.
“This program aims to encourage mainly technology-based companies to seek resources for innovation. Science has to get off the ground. We will not be able to be the autonomous nation we desire without science and technology. We cannot be the eternal country of commodities.”
According to the president of Finep, Luiz Antônio Elias, the ability to integrate skills and respond to real market demands is fundamental to transforming knowledge into innovation and competitiveness.
“When the public sector and the productive sector come together and act in a coordinated manner, innovation stops being an exception and becomes a strategy. There is no truly independent nation that does not prioritize knowledge. The United States and China increasingly respond to robust investment processes in research and development.”
Strategic partner of the initiative, the The Firjan Senai Sesi system aims to transform development instruments into concrete projects for technological development, industrial competitiveness and economic growth.
For the president of Firjan, Luiz Césio Caetano, the announcement of economic subsidies and lines of development under special conditions are relevant, because they face one of the main bottlenecks in Brazilian industry: low investment in innovation.
“Today, Brazil invests just 1.2% of GDP in research and development, well below countries like South Korea, Japan, Germany and the United States.”
