• Highlights

• In 2022, 34.4% of industrial companies with 100 or more employed persons invested in internal R&D activities, totaling R$36.9 billion in expenditure.
• In the sectors of computer equipment, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, the rate exceeds 60%.
• Mining and quarrying industries accounted for the highest percentage of investments in R&D (16.5%).
• A total of 86.3% of expenditure on internal R&D activities is concentrated in companies with 500 or more employed persons.
• In 2022, 39.8% of innovative companies intended to increase expenditure on internal R&D activities in 2023. For 2024, 50.8% expect to increase this expenditure in relation to 2023.
• In 2022, the innovation rate of companies was 68.1%. Of this total, 33.0% implemented new business processes and products simultaneously.
• The innovation rate is higher in large companies, reaching 77.0% in those with more than 500 employed persons.
• The machinery and equipment manufacturing sector leads, with an innovation rate of 89.3%, followed by computer, electronic and optical equipment (87.5%) and chemicals (84.7%), which in 2021 ranked the first position.
• In 2022, 15.8% of companies published a sustainability report; the index reaches 36.5% of companies with more than 500 employed persons.
• Among companies that published sustainability reports, 86.5% were innovative in 2022.

The sector of machinery and equipment leads the ranking of innovative companies - Photo: Freepik

In 2022, innovative industrial companies with 100 or more employed persons invested R$36.9 billion in internal R&D activities. Innovative companies in the manufacturing industry were responsible for 83.5% of this amount and those in the mining and quarrying industries, for 16.5%.

This is what the '2022 Semiannual Survey od Innovation: Basic Indicators' tells us. The experimental survey is carried out in partnership with the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development - ABDI and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ. The data will be presented today, March 20, at 10 am, at Espaço Data ABDI, in the city of Brasília-DF. The president of the IBGE, Marcio Pochmann, the president of ABDI, Ricardo Cappelli, as well as directors and technical teams from the institutions will be present. The event will be broadcast on the IBGE website.

The majority (86.3%) of the money invested in internal R&D activities was carried out by large companies, with 500 or more employed persons, while 7.8% came from innovative companies with 250 to 499 employed persons and 5.9%, from companies with 100 to 249 employed persons.

“It is worth highlighting that the activities with the highest proportions of innovative companies that spent money on internal R&D activities were the same ones that invested more proportionally in relation to the total number of companies: Manufacture of pharmaceuticals (92.9%), Manufacture of chemicals (74.1%) and Manufacture of computer equipment, electronic and optical products (68.8%)”, analyzes the manager of Thematic Surveys, Flávio José Marques Peixoto.

Regarding the distribution of investments in internal R&D activities, in addition to companies in the mining and quarrying industries (16.5%), the main activities that together represented more than half of expenditure in 2022 were: Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and bodies (13.0%), Manufacture of coke, petroleum products and biofuels (11.9%), Manufacture of food products (9.7%), Manufacture of pharmaceuticals (9.4%) and Manufacture of chemicals (8.9%).

34.4% of companies invested in R&D

Considering the group of innovative industrial companies, 34.4% invested in internal R&D activities. The sectors in which more than half of the companies invested in R&D activities were: Manufacture of pharmaceuticals (67.0%), Manufacture of chemicals (64.8%), Manufacture of computer equipment, electronic and optical products (60.2%), Manufacture of machinery and equipment (51.7%) and Manufacture of miscellaneous products (50.6%).

On the other hand, the sectors with the lowest proportion of companies that spent money on internal R&D activities were: Basic metals (17.1%), Manufacture of wearing apparel and accessories (12.7%) and Maintenance, repair and installation of machinery and equipment (10.6%).

Half of innovative companies intend to increase their investments in R&D in 2024

The expectation of 39.8% of innovative companies was to increase their expenditure on R&D in 2023 compared to 2022, while 56.4% wanted to maintain the amount and 3.9% intended to reduce the investment. For 2024, the expectation is even more optimistic: 50.8% of innovative companies intend to increase their investments in R&D in relation to 2023; 46.6% expect to maintain it and only 2.5% intend to reduce it.

In 2022, innovation rate remains stable and reaches almost 70%

PINTEC Semiannual also evaluated the rate of innovation in Brazil, investigating a sample of 1,530 medium and large companies – with more than 100 employed persons – from the manufacturing and mining and quarrying industries, out of a universe of 9,584 companies with this profile.

In 2022, the innovation rate in Brazil was 68.1%, a percentage relative to industrial companies with 100 or more employed persons that launched a product or implemented a new or substantially improved business process.

Larger companies, with 500 or more employees, are the most innovative, with a rate of 77.0%; those from 250 to 499 have a rate of 74.3%, and this rate drops to 62.8% in the range from 100 to 249.

“In 2021, the rate was 70.5%. This small decline signals stability in innovation efforts. There is evidence that, in 2022, companies made less effort to innovate, which we can observe in other indicators. The percentage of companies that innovated in products and processes, the most complex practice, also fell, from 37.8% to 33.0%. On the other hand, there was an increase in the rates of companies that innovated only in products (from 12.7% to 14.2%) and only in processed (from 20.0% to 20.9%). These are more specific and less complex innovations”, analyzes the Thematic Survey Manager, Flávio José Marques Peixoto.

Machinery and equipment leads among innovative companies, with a rate of 89.3%

The Machinery and equipment manufacturing sector gained positions and leads the ranking of incidence of innovative companies, with an innovation rate of 89.3%, surpassing Chemicals, which led in 2021 with a rate of 87.0% and fell to third position with 84.7% in 2022. The IT and optical equipment sector occupies the second position, with 87.5%.

“Sectors such as Basic Metals (22nd) and Petroleum Refining and derivatives, coke and biofuels (23rd) lost positions, with rates of 49.9% and 42.9%, respectively. This shows that petroleum companies have become less innovative in 2022”, highlights Mr. Peixoto.

Only 5.5% of innovative products are new in the world

Considering the percentage of innovative companies in products (47.3%), the IT and optical equipment sector leads (77.7%), followed by Chemicals (75.4%) - which fell from first to second position - and by Machinery and equipment (73.3%).

Among industrial companies that innovated in products, the tendency is for innovation to be more incremental: 68.1% of products were new only for the company, an increase of 2.5 percentage points (pp) in relation to 2021; 26.4% were new for the national market (-2.5 pp) and only 5.5% were innovations for the international market, the same rate as the previous year.

“This may indicate that innovations are simpler. Companies may not have engaged as much in terms of disruptive efforts and are dedicating themselves more to incremental innovations or postponing the implementation of more robust innovations”, explains the survey manager.

More than half of companies innovated in business processes

The rate of innovation in business processes is 53.9%, a percentage that exceeds 60% among large companies (62.3%). Business processes related to work organization concentrate the highest percentage of innovation, but fell from 40.6% to 33.6%; followed by information processing and communication (from 32.5% to 31.6%); management practices or external relations (from 37.5% to 31.0%) and marketing (from 33.5% to 30.7%).

The innovation rate is below 30% in production of goods or provision of services (27.7%), accounting and administrative operations (21.4%) and logistics, delivery and distribution (18.4%).

“The most complex innovations require the integration of several areas. In 2022, only 11.8% of companies innovated in six or seven categories; 22.6% innovated in three or five; and 19.5%, innovated in one or two. There was an increase only among companies that innovated in one process. Companies that did not innovate in any processes reach 46.1%”, adds Mr. Peixoto.

The Machinery and equipment sector has the highest incidence of innovation in business processes (69.6%), followed by Electrical  machinery, apparatus and material (68.6%) and IT and optical equipment (67.9% ).

Economic instability, competition and scarcity of resources are obstacles for almost 50% of innovative companies

For 47.9% of companies there are still obstacles to innovation. For most of them, the main obstacle is economic instability (45.6%), followed by increased competition (43.5%) and limited internal resource capacity (41.3%).

Greatest demand for public support relates to financial resources

Of the total number of companies that implemented product and/or business process innovations, 39.0% used public support for their innovative activities. The most used support instruments were: tax incentive for R&D and technological innovation from the "Lei do Bem" (26.2%), tax incentive from the IT Law (6.3%) and non-refundable support (economic subsidy) for R&D and insertion of researchers (4.0%), financing for RD&I projects with or without partnerships with universities and research institutes (8.4%) and exclusive financing for the purchase of machines and equipment used to innovate (13.5%). The percentage of those who use public purchases is only 2.5%.

Companies that publish a sustainability report are more likely to innovate

In 2022, 15.8% of companies published a sustainability report; the index reaches 36.5% among companies with more than 500 employed persons. Among companies that published sustainability reports, 86.5% were innovative in 2022. The sectors of beverages (38.8%), tobacco products (36.4%) and chemicals (30.7%) published more reports.

“Normally, these are sectors subject to some environmental standard or legislation that brings the need for a more in-depth look at more sustainable practices. It is noteworthy that more than 80% are innovative companies”, reiterates Mr. Peixoto.

More about the survey

Of an experimental nature, the survey, carried out in partnership with the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development – ABDI and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ, investigated medium and large companies – over 100 employed persons – in the manufacturing and mining and quarrying. The objective is to depict innovation in Brazil, gathering information regarding business investment in Science, Technology and Innovation in the country.

The Semiannual PINTEC is annual (relative to the year prior to the collection), with two biannual investigations. In the first semester, rotating thematic indicators are investigated and, in the second, basic innovation and R&D indicators are addressed). The objective is to complement the traditional IBGE Survey of Innovation (PINTEC) – already with seven editions carried out broadly every three years, since 2000, and which will continue.