Between 2012 and 2014, 36.0% of the 132,529 Brazilian companies with 10 or more employed persons had some type of innovation in products or processes, with a rate that nears that of the preceding triennium (35.7%).

That is shown by the Survey of Innovation (Pintec) 2014, which also highlights how the percentage of innovative companies receiving government benefits increased from 2009-2011 (34.2%) to 2012-2014 (40.0%). Among these incentive programs is the public purchase of innovative products, highlighted in the questionnaire for the first time, an incentive to 2.0% of the innovative companies.

Pintec also shows that, in 2014, companies invested R$ 81.5 billion in innovative activities, accounting for 2.54% of the net sales revenue. In industry, this figure was 2.12%, the lowest level recorded in this survey. From the total expenditure made by innovative companies, R$ 24.7 billion were spent on internal research and development activities (R&D), and reached 0.77% of the annual net revenue.

Among the changes in Pintec 2014 is the analysis of the number of women researchers in the internal R&D activities of companies. The index was 20.85% and the main activity in terms of participation was Manufacturing of pharmaceutical products (75.3%).

The complete Pintec publication is available here.

More than 47 Thousand companies promoted innovation between 2012 and 2014

In the period 2012-2014, 47, 693 of the companies with 10 or more persons employed implemented new processes or introduced new or significantly improved products. The overall innovation rate was 36.0%, 0.3 percentage points above what was observed in the triennium 2009-2011 (35.7%), which points to a condition of stability.

Industry contributed positively to this result, mainly mining and quarrying companies, which had 42.0% of innovative units, versus 18.9% in the previous edition. In manufacturing industry, this percentage increased from 35.9% (2011) to 36.3% (2014). In the industry overall, there was change from 35.6% (2011) to 36.4% (2014). Among electricity and gas companies, 29.2% were innovative; among services ones, 32.4%. In the previous period the rates were 44.1% and 36.8%, respectively.

In Pintec 2014, there was a predominance of innovative companies in terms of process only, both in industry (18.2%), na in the sector of electricity and gas (22.1%). In services, there was a predominance both in products and in process (15.9%).

Investments in internal R&D activities represented 0.77% of the revenue of companies

From the total R$ 81.5 billion invested by companies in innovative activities in 2014, 30.3% (R$ 24.7 billlion) fwere spent in internal R&D activities. The total outlay of innovative companies represented 2.5% of the net sales revenue in the year, since internal R&D activities represented 0.77%.

In industrual companies, the percentage of outlay in the total innovative companies in relation to the net sales revenue changed from 2.37% in 2011 to 2.12% in 2014, the lowest level recorded in the series of this survey, reasonably diferente from that level recorded in 2008 (2.54%). In service companies, this ratio changed from 4.96% of the revenue in 2011 to 7.81% in 2014, na increase significantly influenced by telecommunicaton services, the value of which rose from 3.66%, in 2011, to 9.99%, in 2014. In electricity and gás companies, this ratio changed from 1.28% of the total revenue in 2011 to 0.57% in 2014.

Acquisition of machinery and equipment was considered the most important activity in the promotion of industrial innovation

In industry, the acquisition of machinery and equipment was considered by 73.8% of the innovative companies the most relevant activity to promote innovation. In the following positions come training (61.7%) and software acquisition (31.7%). In terms of selected services, the order was training (67.5%), acquisition of machinery and equipment (60.8%) and software acquisition (52.6%). The foreign acquisition of R&D was considered less important for both industry(5.4%) and services (5.3%).

In the sector of electricity and gas, the external acquisition of R&D, foreign acquisition of research and development was the most relevant activity for 76.3% of the innovative companies, versus 30.9% in the previous period. The activities related to training (71.8%) and software acqusition (62.3%) are presented in the sequence.

Number of workers in R&D activities increases, but with a change from full to partial dedication

According to Pintec 2014, approximately 110 thousand persons with full dedication were employed in innovative companies with outlay in internal R&D activities, being 76.2 thousand in industry, 33.2 Thousand in companies of related services and 531 in electricity and gás companies. Versus the previous edition, there was increase of 6.5% in the total employed persons, being 6.9% in industry, 6.5% in services and decrease of 29.0% in electricity and gas companies.

About 63.4% of the persons employed in R$D activities in innovative companies were researchers; 28.0%, technicians, and 8.6% auxiliaries. In comparison with the 20111 figures, there was a decrease in the participation of researchers (65.3%)and increase in the proportion of technicians (26.4%) and auxiliaries (8.4%).

Among those who worked in R&D activities, 71.5% had higher education, where 61.4% had na undergraduate degree and 10.2% a graduate one. That represents na increase in relation to 2011, when participation figures were 69.2% among persons with a higher education degree, being 58.5% for undergraduate certificates and 10.7% with graduate ones.

Also observed in 2014, was the migration of workers from full to partial dedication to industrial activities, a movement observed since 2008. The exclusive participation of employed persons was 76.3% in 2008,with a change to 65.1% in 2011 ad reaching 61.4% in 2014.

Only one out of every five researchers are women

In 2014, from the total 94,277 researchers of internal R&D activities of innovative companies in Brazil. only 19,660 were women (20.85%).The highest participation was recorded in industry (22%), followed by selected services (18.2%) and electricity and gas companies (16.1%).

The activities which concentrate the biggest percentage of women all came from manufacturing industry: Manufacture of pharmachemicals (75.3%), Manufactuee of soaps, detergents, cleaning products, cosmetics, perfumery and personal hygiene articles (66.2%) and Manufacture of pharmacutical products(60.2%). The lowest percentages were recorded by Manufacure of machinery and equipment for agriculture (3.7%) and Manufacture of truck cabs, and bodies, of tow trucks and engine reconditioning (5.9%), also part of manufaturing industry.

Percentage of main companies accounting for the development of product innovation decreases to 78.1%

There was decrease of the percentage of companies which are the main responsible for the development of product innovation from 2009-2011 (82.6%) to 2012-2014 (78.1%). In Pintec 2008, that figure had been 84.4%.

On the other hand, in all the major sectors, from 2011 to 2014, there was increase in the percentage of companies whose product innovation had, as main developers, other enterprises or institutes. In industry there was a change from 9.1% to 11.7%; in the sector of electricity and gas, from 9.2% to 20.9%; and in services, from 2.7% to 10.2%.

in relation to innovative processes, other companies or institutes feature as the main responsible ones in industry (674%), in the sector of electriicty and gas (65.3%) and in services (51.1%), reflecting, to a great extent, the contribution brought by the acquisition of technology incorporated in machinery, equipment and softwares produced by third parties. The conmany itself was appointed as the main developer in 25.5% of the cases in industry, in 42.5% and in services and in the sector of electricity and gas, in only 3.4%.

In industry, clients are a better source of information than suppliers

Digital networks remain as the mais source of information to promote innovation in industry (78.8%) and services (89.3%) and suppliers were a highlight in the sector of electricity and gas (83.9%).

In Pintec 2014, versus the 2011 edition, what calls attention is he fact that clients (73.3%) surpased suppliers (70.7%), as information providers, taking the second position in this group

Cooperation decreases again in industry

In industry, in 2014, 14.3% of the innovative companies cooperated with innovation of at least one of their partners (clients, suppliers, other companies, etc). In 2011, this indes had reached 15.9%, 5.8 percentage points more than in Pintec 2008 (10.1%).

Levels tend to be higher in the sector of electricity and gas: 55.0% of the total innovative companies cooprated, and in companies with 500 or emore employed persons, this figure reaches 95.0%.

Capacity of keeping companies in the market was the main impact of industrial innovation

In industry, in 2014, the main impact of innovation was relate to the capacity of maintaining the company on the market (81.5%), followed by innovations which improved the quality of goods and services (80.1%). The least relevant impacts were related to the environment, such as consumption of water (19.5%), of electricity (28.4%), of raw material (34.1%).

Improvement in the quality of goods and services accounted for the main impact on selected services (87.8%) and electricity and gas companies (75.5%).

Percentage of companies receiving government incentive to innovation increases

Between 2012 and 2014, 40.0% of the innovative companies had received some kind of government support to innovative activities, a bigger proportion than in the period 2009-2011 (34.2%). Among innovative industrial companies, this rate has recorded decrease since 2006-2008 (22.8%), and stayed at 34.6% in the period 2009-2011, reaching 40.4% in Pintec

The main mechanism adopted in the period 2012-2014 was the funding for the purchase of machinery and equipment, encompassing 29.9% of the innovative companies, 4.3 percentage points above what was recorded in the previous triennium. Fiscal incentive to R&D and technological innovation, stated in the Lei do Bem (Law no. 11.196, of 21.11.2005), reached 3.5% of the innovative companies between 2012 and 2014, versus 2.7% recorded between 2009 and 2011.

The public purchase of innovative products, a program highlighted in the survey questionnaire for the first time, brough incentive to 2.0% of the total innovative companies, and 1.4% of the industrial innovative companies.

In spite of the increase of innovative companies which used at least one instrument of government suppport, the main source of funding of innovative companies came from their own resources. For internal R&D activities, the percentage funded by the companies was 84.0% (87.0% in 2011), whereas the other activities (including acquisition of foreign R&D), 85.0% of the resources came from companies (78.0% in 2011).

Main obstacles to innovation were economic

In Pintec 2014, the high cost, as in all the previous editions, featured in the first position as na obstacle to innovation in industry (86.0%), followed by risks (82.1%) and by the scarcity of funding sources (68.8%). The lack of qualified personnel had been advancing in the ranking, even taking the second position, in 2011, as na obstacle to industry (72.5%). In 2014, this category was in the fourth position (66.1%). The high costs were also relevant obstacles in services (88.5%), whereas in the sector of electricity and gas, the first position was taken by risks (69.9%).

In the 2014 edition of Pintec, 17.0% of the innovative companies reported having used at least one of the straegic methods to protect innovation. The main one was industrial secrecy (10.7%), followed by the period of leadership ahead of competitors (6.5%) and the complexity of design (5.7%).

In 2014, out of the 47.7 thousad innovative companies in terms of product or process, 86.7% had implemented at least one type of organizational or marketing innovation, with 79.1% relative to organizational innovation and 62.3%, to marketing innovation. In comparison with the previous period (2009-2011), this proportion increased among all the activities. In tha period, the same percentages had been, respectively, 85.9%, 77.2% and 60,7%.

Pintec shows that 3.4% of the innovative companies (2,583 ones) engaged in biotechnology activities in 2014. For nanotechnology, this percentage was 1.8% (975 companies). This way, there has been, in ncomparison with the previous year (2011), na increase of 41.9% in the number of compnaies with biotechnology activities and a decrease of 13.8% in terms of nanotechnology.