José Eduardo Cassiolato

Systems of Innovation and Development

This significant book demonstrates how the ‘systems of innovation’ approach can be utilised to understand the complex interactions between innovation and growth which, in turn, can enhance the prospects of developing nations. Systems of Innovation and Development confronts the challenges and opportunities of the knowledge era, focusing particularly on the new conditions for industrial and technological advancement.

Sistemas de inovação e desenvolvimento: as implicações de política

Abstract: Starting with a discussion about a co-evolution of conceptual and analytical ideas about theinnovation process and the design of industrial and technological policies in developed countries, thepaper argues that the misunderstanding of the specificities of the innovation process has led to thedesign and implementation of adequate policies to deal with the threats and opportunities faced by theBrazilian economy and society. Key words: Innovation. Development. Industrial and technological politics. J OSE E DUARDO C ASSIOLATO H ELENA M ARIA M ARTINS L ASTRES um periodo marcado pela crescente incorporacaode conhecimentos nas atividades produtivas, ainovacao passou a ser entendida como variavel SISTEMAS DE INOVACAO EDESENVOLVIMENTOas implicacoes de politica ainda mais estrategica para a competitividade de organiza-coes e paises. Estes tem enfrentado as mudancas deladecorrentes de forma diferenciada, tendo em vista suasespecificidades historicas e socioeconomicas e as possi-bilidades permitidas pela sua insercao geopolitica. Algunspaises tem obtido melhores resultados tanto em termos doaproveitamento das oportunidades apresentadas, comopela superacao das dificuldades inerentes ao processo detransformacao. Este trabalho argumenta que esses paisesconseguiram definir e implementar novas estrategias ca-pazes de reforcar e ampliar suas politicas cientificas,tecnologicas e industriais. Essas politicas realcam amobilizacao dos processos de aquisicao e uso de conhe-cimentos e de capacitacoes produtivas e inovativas comoparte integrante fundamental de suas estrategias de desen-volvimento. Tal mobilizacao e estruturada a partir do con-ceito de “sistemas de inovacao”.Na segunda metade dos anos 90, a palavra magica“inovacao” chegou ao Brasil, mas parece ainda nao ter sidoassimilada e talvez sequer bem compreendida. De fato, elatem sido incluida na agenda das politicas industriais etecnologicas. Porem, nao se percebem resultados maisconcretos das politicas implementadas, e o desempenhoinovativo da economia brasileira continua modesto. Namaioria das vezes, o padrao de inovacao que ocorre naeconomia brasileira ainda e defensivo e adaptativo. Aexcecao se encontra em segmentos da agroindustria(devido ao papel da Embrapa e as especificidades doprocesso de geracao e difusao de inovacoes na agricultura),em algumas atividades historicamente percebidas comoestrategicas e naquelas em que o papel do Estado foi

LOCAL SYSTEMS OF INNOVATION IN MERCOSUR COUNTRIES

This paper discusses two related issues. One refers to the use of the notion of systems of innovation in environments characterized by relatively poor domestic innovation processes and relatively high levels of diversity. The other relates to the analysis of the empirical results of an on-going research (involving a network of researchers in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay) investigating how the macroeconomic transformations of the 1990s have affected the evolutionary trajectory of local productive arrangements, especially in what refers to their capacity to generate, absorb and diffuse innovations.

Systems of innovation for development in the knowledge era: an introduction

At the turn of the millennium, as radical transformations affect the ways we produce, reproduce and organize our very existence, the challenges to social and economic development seem, at times, overwhelming. What is the nature of these transformations? What are the interests and forces orienting them? What are the impacts of these transformations on the productive and innovative capacities of developing countries? How can they best face these challenges? What are the policy implications? The aim of this book is to address these questions. In what has come to be known as the ‘Knowledge Era’, the economy is relying on knowledge-based activities much more than ever before. There are at least three, interrelated, main arguments for this: (i) the proportion of labour that handles tangible goods has become smaller than the proportion engaged in the production, distribution and processing of knowledge; (ii) the share of codified knowledge and information in the value of many products and services is significantly increasing; (iii) knowledge-intensive activities are rapidly growing. Obviously, information and knowledge have always been important in human history. But today’s knowledge is more and more codified and the resulting information is more and more incorporated into goods and services. The development and diffusion of a new techno-economic paradigm, centred on information and communications technologies (ICT), have accelerated and deepened both the codification of knowledge and the spread of information. The extent, the velocity and the intensity of these changes have provoked, on one hand, an unbridled and uncritical enthusiasm with the multiple possibilities apparently available to all and, on the other, considerable perplexity as to how this transition actually affects

The effects of the Brazilian liberalisation of the IT industry on technological capabilities of local firms

Abstract The development of technological capabilities was the cornerstone of the Brazilian policies for the information industries in Brazil during the 1980s. Liberalisation promoted since the early 1990s aimed at the fulfillment of the local demand with up‐dated products and services. This article examines the repercussions of these changes on local firms’ strategies towards technology and what have been the consequences on the industrial structure of the sector. The analysis suggests that ‘core competencies’ of local firms have been severely harmed and that foreign firms’ reactions to the policy changes have been less significant than what had been anticipated.

Local system of innovation under strain: the impacts of structural change in the telecommunications cluster of Campinas, Brazil

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Brazil set up an important telecommunications cluster in Campinas, a medium-sized city located 60 miles from Sao Paulo. Fostered by government policies, the cluster has evolved around a telecoms R&D Centre. Several small high-tech firms were established, grew, competed and cooperated with the local infrastructure and MNC subsidiaries. These, in turn, increased their local technological efforts and engaged in joint technological programs with local partners. However, structural reforms of the 1990s, including privatisation and liberalisation, have mostly aimed at maximising short-run financial benefits. As a consequence, technological strategy was put aside and the local system of innovation is starting to show signs of depression.

Articulação da indústria farmacêutica brasileira com o exterior: há evidências de especialização regressiva?

Based on an exploratory discussion, the aim of this article is to investigate whether there is evidence of regressive specialization in the foreign trade pattern of the Brazilian pharmaceutical industry since trade liberalization in the 1990s. A descriptive statistical analysis drew on data for foreign trade in pharmaceutical and organic chemical products, available in the Aliceweb system of the Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade, covering the periods 1989-1995 and 1996-2008. The results, especially concerning trends in Brazils trade with developed countries, suggest evidence of regressive specialization.

Desenvolvimento tecnológico por empresas estrangeiras no Brasil e na Coreia do Sul

The present article compares the technological performance of US enterprises in Brazil and South Korea. This analysis is based on the differences between the industrialization models adopted in those countries. While in Brazil industrialization was based on the attraction of multinational companies, South Korea historically based its development on the support of national companies and limited FDI until the 1990s. The article shows that the performance of foreign enterprises is technologically more intensive in South Korea compared to Brazil, and it offers an explanatory hypothesis to this phenomenon. Although a number of classical works compare the development models of Brazil and South Korea, this article innovates by focusing on the technological performance of foreign enterprises in those countries, a relatively unexplored subject in the literature.

Sistemas de inovação e arranjos produtivos locais: novas estratégias para promover a geração, aquisição e difusão de conhecimentos

O artigo analisa a memoria organizacional, ou melhor, a dimensao de memoria social que influencia a identidade organizacional, enquanto apoiando seu reconhecimento, em seu contexto, no presente e no futuro. A dialetica seletiva de memoria; a possibilidade de recordacoes e esquecimento; os interesses diferentes significados motrizes para o passado ou para o presente; a memoria que luta contra o esquecimento; as formas de como os grupos constroem sua memoria sao objeto de muitas pesquisas. Raramente, encontram-se estudos sobre memoria organizacional, especialmente aqueles que discutem os modos que sao usados para controle e sua dificil transmissao, incluindo suas consequencias para os empregados e a organizacao inteira. Entao, o objetivo deste papel e contribuir para melhorar os usos de tal conceito, enquanto considerando as muitos possibilidades que oferece.

Development and innovation: learning from the legacies of Freeman and Furtado

ABSTRACT Some ideas and policy proposals on development and innovation, disseminated in the second decade of the 2000s, reintroduce obsolete visions, which isolate economic phenomena from their territorial, historical and socio-political contexts. Hence, there is a need to recuperate Freeman’s and Furtado’s systemic and contextualized contributions to the understanding of these processes. Besides exploring these and other convergences in their approaches, the paper highlights their crucial insights about the usually ignored influence of power on these issues. We reaffirm that the combination of the two authors’ analytical and normative frameworks makes them even more useful to a wider set of cases and countries. We also argue that this effort can provide a novel and proper ground for comparative analyses, helping to foster development and further refinement of different frameworks, strengthening their role as a tool to understand and orient the processes of development and innovation.