São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul are the most innovative economies in Brazil, according to the first edition of the Brazil Innovation and Development Index (IBID), released this Monday (5) by the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), an agency linked to the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services.
The IBID is measured on a scale ranging from 0 to 1. The index takes into account different aspects to identify national and regional leaders in innovation. The index is composed of 74 indicators, which are divided into seven pillars: institutions, human capital, infrastructure, economy, business, knowledge and technology, and creative economy. These pillars, in turn, are divided into 21 dimensions, such as credit, investments, education, regulatory environment, sustainability, knowledge creation, intangible assets, among others.
São Paulo is the national leader with an IBID of 0.891. In second place is the state of Santa Catarina, with an index of 0.415; followed by Paraná, with 0.406; Rio de Janeiro, with 0.402; and Rio Grande do Sul, with 0.401. The national average is 0.291.
First Brazilian index
The IBID was developed based on the methodology of the Global Innovation Index (GII) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). According to the INPI, the Brazilian index is the sixth national index created based on this methodology. Worldwide, only the European Union, China, India, Colombia and Vietnam have their own indexes.
The IGI has been published since 2007 and ranks 132 countries based on their strengths and challenges. In the most recent edition, in 2023, Brazil ranked 49th in the world and first in the regional ranking (Latin America and the Caribbean), rising five places compared to the previous year.
“Brazil is a country of continental dimensions and it has a profound diversity throughout its vast territory. And this diversity in Brazil is visible, it is portrayed by a set of economic, social, environmental, cultural and demographic indicators. And the objective of IBID in this context is precisely to fill an important gap in the national statistical system”, explains INPI’s chief economist, Rodrigo Ventura.
“In the field of innovation, there was a gap until today. An important gap in the national statistical system, that is, an indicator that would allow Brazil to have a picture of its reality in the field of innovation from a regional perspective, from a territorial perspective,” he reinforces.
Inequalities
You rankings produced from the IBID results highlight national inequalities and also diversities. While the Southeast and South regions concentrate innovation in the country, with states occupying seven of the top eight positions in the ranking In general, the North and Northeast regions are concentrated in the lower part of the ranking. The last 15 positions are occupied by states from both regions. The Center-West occupies an intermediate position in ranking general of IBID.
The data show, however, that considering the population’s income level – measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capitathat is, the sum of production and wealth produced in the state, divided by the number of inhabitants – economies in the Northeast show innovation performance above expectations.
In total, 14 of the 27 federative units recorded innovation results above what was expected for their level of economic development. They are the so-called IBID innovation exponents. Eight are northeastern states: Maranhão, Paraíba, Piauí, Ceará, Sergipe, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco and Bahia.
On the other hand, the study shows that 13 economies achieved results below expectations in innovation. This group includes Alagoas, Espírito Santo, in addition to the seven states of the Northern Region – Amapá, Acre, Roraima, Pará, Amazonas, Rondônia and Tocantins – the Federal District and the other states of the Central-West: Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Goiás.
Innovation
According to INPI, innovation is “a key element for economic progress and competitiveness of economies, regardless of their income level”, says the report.
The institute emphasizes that the definition of innovation has been expanded and is no longer restricted to research and development laboratories or published scientific articles. In this sense, it considers it essential that innovation occurs “in a socially inclusive, environmentally sustainable and territorially integrated manner,” the text says.
The results, according to Ventura, can highlight practices that can be replicated nationwide. “Each state presents different challenges and different potentialities, and this is the wealth of data and information provided by IBID. The different dynamics and profiles of local science, technology and innovation ecosystems,” he says, adding: “It reinforces and provides information and data on the challenges and potentialities of each state and each region. Not only the challenges and bottlenecks, but also which states stand out in certain areas and therefore probably have solutions or have followed paths that can be copied by their peers.”
