13273600002

							                                    Final Technical Report


               Project: National Innovation Systems of BRICS Countries


1. Synthesis


The world is experiencing significant transformations in its geopolitical and economic
constitution. The processes of transformation have accelerated over the last decades. A
significant part of the growth potential of the world economy nowadays and for the coming
decades resides mostly in some fast developing countries. Brazil, Russia, India, China and
South Africa (BRICS) have displayed such potential for dynamic change. In a historic rupture
with past patterns of development, the BRICS counties are now playing a major role in
alleviating the current global crisis whilst revealing new and alternative progressive paradigms.

Much beyond the emphasis given by international agencies to the identification of investment
possibilities in the BRICS production structures or to the prospects presented by their consumer
markets, our perspective in analyzing BRICS along this project was inspired by their significant
development opportunities, as well as their several common characteristics and challenges, and
the learning potential they offer for other developing countries. Identifying and analysing these
opportunities and challenges will help to uncover alternative pathways towards fulfilling their
socio-political-economic development potential within the constraints of sustainability.

The central focus of the project is the national innovation system (NIS) of the five BRICS. The
emphasis on the study of innovation systems of BRICS results from the recognition that
understanding the particular dynamics which connects the knowledge base with innovation and
economic performance in each of the five BRICS countries is, today, a precondition for better
appreciating the direction that the world economy will be following (Lundvall, 2009).

Besides analysing the broad characteristics and dynamics of the NIS in Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa, five key components of their innovation systems were studied in
greater detail throughout the project. Analyses on the role played by the State, the financing,
the direct investment and the small and medium enterprises were provided, besides approaching
a particularly relevant – though still not extensively studied – aspect of the BRICS: the
challenge of inequality and its interrelations with the national systems of innovation (NSIs) of
these countries.

The research endeavour of the project has gathered universities and research centres from all
the BRICS, as well as policymakers invited to discuss the outcomes. The research development
and the comparative analysis of its results intended to bring to light the challenges and

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             Av. Pasteur 250 – Sala 104 e 107 - Urca - Rio de Janeiro/RJ - CEP 22290-240
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opportunities of BRICS’ national innovation systems from the points of view of these same
countries. Part of the effort undertaken was addressed to the construction of a shared
methodology aimed at advancing the comprehension of the specificities of innovation systems
in each country. This was done, in view of the need for improvements in the analytical
framework used for the analysis of the national innovation systems located in countries outside
the restrict sphere of developed countries.

Special attention was paid to the political implications. However, instead of searching for
generalizable policy recommendations, it was sought to identify and analyze bottlenecks that
are common to the BRICS, their complementarities and competition areas, as well as other
aspects of major importance for supporting decision makers and that are able to incite reflection
about the subject of innovation and development in other less developed countries.

It is worth to mention that the research consolidated along this project is rooted in a larger
research effort on BRICS national innovation systems being developed in the sphere of the
Global Research Network for Learning, Innovation and Competence Building Systems-
Globelics (www.globelics.org) and the Research Network on Local Production and Innovation
Systems-RedeSist, at the Economic Institute of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
(www.redesist.ie.ufrj.br). Globelics is an international academic network which uses the
concept of innovation systems (IS) as an analytical tool aimed at the comprehension of the
driving forces that push economic development. It aims to advance the use of IS perspective on
a world basis. Established in 2002 and inspired by renowned scholars from the field of
economics of innovation as Christopher Freeman (1987) and Bengt-Äke Lundvall (1992), the
Globelics network has, among others, the purpose of encouraging knowledge exchange
between less developed countries, thus fostering mutual learning across innovation research
groups in Latin America, Africa and Asia. With this, it is sought to strengthen an original and
more autonomous approach to understanding the development processes in developing
countries.

The project objectives, activities, outcomes and outputs are detailed in the following topics.


2. Research problem and project objectives:

As previously mentioned, the main focus of the project is the national innovation system (NIS)
of BRICS. The notion of innovation system has in its centre the production, S&T and education
sub-systems; but includes also the financial subsystem, the investment patterns, the legal and
political frameworks as well as other spheres connected to the national and international,
contexts where knowledge are generated, used and diffused. In this effort it was necessary to
develop conceptual and methodological frameworks capable of depicting their different private,
public and governmental dimensions and that allow the comparison of the NIS of the five
countries, pointing out convergences, divergences and synergies. Another priority issue was
policy implications resulting from the research findings.

                                                                                                 5
             Av. Pasteur 250 – Sala 104 e 107 - Urca - Rio de Janeiro/RJ - CEP 22290-240
                          Tel 55-21-3873.5279 / 5278 - Fax 55-21-2541 8148
                                     Site : www.redesist.ie.ufrj.br
The main objectives of the project were:
   §   To stimulate interactions and the exchange of experiences between researchers and
       policy-makers interested in innovation in BRICS aiming at creating capabilities and
       finding joint workable solutions;
   §   To characterize the structure of BRICS´ national innovation systems, their recent
       evolution and perspectives;
   §   To compare the five countries innovation systems, identifying differences and
       similarities, common bottlenecks and complementarities;
   §   To develop and use concepts and information capable of representing the Innovation
       Systems of BRICS;
   §   To discuss policy implications and put forward policy recommendations, extracting
       lessons that can be useful not only for these countries but also for other developing
       countries.
Its specific objectives were:
   §   To increase the interaction of innovation researchers and government officers of BRICS
       through meetings and other forms of articulation (seminars, web page, etc).
   §   To increase the knowledge about the NISs of BRICS through
           o the development of adequate concepts and methodologies;
           o the analysis of selected BRICS innovation systems –sectoral and horizontal
             themes that affect innovation in these countries;
   §   To increase the capability both of researchers – in special graduate students - and
       government officers of BRICS through research on innovation systems, discussions,
       innovation panels and other forms of articulation;
   §   To diffuse the knowledge generated through the publication of a book, setting up a web
       page and participation in meetings and panels.

The basic rationale for the project and the research problems hasn´t changed since the beginning of
the project. The emergence of the international crisis in 2008 just reinforced the relevance of
BRICS countries and the importance of better understanding their NIS dynamic. The same can be
stated for the general and specific objectives of the project that remained the same. It can be said
that the overall project objectives were met. Project dissemination surpassed the goals defined at the
beginning of the project as it will be detailed in the following topics.

However, some adjustments were needed especially regarding project rescheduling and budget
reallocation. As a consequence both budget reallocations and project termination date

                                                                                                    6
             Av. Pasteur 250 – Sala 104 e 107 - Urca - Rio de Janeiro/RJ - CEP 22290-240
                          Tel 55-21-3873.5279 / 5278 - Fax 55-21-2541 8148
                                      Site : www.redesist.ie.ufrj.br