Maria Beatriz Machado Bonacelli

The Importance of Biodiversity E-infrastructures for Megadiverse Countries

Addressing the challenges of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development requires global cooperation, support structures, and new governance models to integrate diverse initiatives and achieve massive, open exchange of data, tools, and technology. The traditional paradigm of sharing scientific knowledge through publications is not sufficient to meet contemporary demands that require not only the results but also data, knowledge, and skills to analyze the data. E-infrastructures are key in facilitating access to data and providing the framework for collaboration. Here we discuss the importance of e-infrastructures of public interest and the lack of long-term funding policies. We present the example of Brazil’s speciesLink network, an e-infrastructure that provides free and open access to biodiversity primary data and associated tools. SpeciesLink currently integrates 382 datasets from 135 national institutions and 13 institutions from abroad, openly sharing ~7.4 million records, 94% of which are associated to voucher specimens. Just as important as the data is the network of data providers and users. In 2014, more than 95% of its users were from Brazil, demonstrating the importance of local e-infrastructures in enabling and promoting local use of biodiversity data and knowledge. From the outset, speciesLink has been sustained through project-based funding, normally public grants for 2–4-year periods. In between projects, there are short-term crises in trying to keep the system operational, a fact that has also been observed in global biodiversity portals, as well as in social and physical sciences platforms and even in computing services portals. In the last decade, the open access movement propelled the development of many web platforms for sharing data. Adequate policies unfortunately did not follow the same tempo, and now many initiatives may perish.

Evaluation of ST&I programs: a methodological approach to the Brazilian Small Business Program and some comparisons with the SBIR program

Evaluation of research results and impacts is a topic of growing interest to public and private organizations worldwide. Indeed, it can be said that evaluation initiatives are a top priority for many RD and b) to present an application of this methodology to a Brazilian public program that aims to foster the emergence of innovative small firms, and compare it with some findings for a similar US program. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Estudos prospectivos e a organização de sistemas de inovação no Brasil

Competitiveness in the knowledge society is more and more dependent on fostering innovative activities. The high degrees of incertitude and the increasing costs associated to technological development are challenging the present levels of investment in S,T&I. This article focuses on this theme specially on the necessity of developing anticipative capabilities in order to create a prospective culture in S,T&I organizations.

Oportunidades tecnológicas e estratégias concorrenciais de gestão ambiental: o uso sustentável da biodiversidade brasileira

Biodiversity has been considered a strategic element due to, among other reasons, its potential as a raw material provider to many industry sectors. Nevertheless, the increasing degradation of the environment threatens this potential and therefore the urgency in promoting sustainable development. Motivated by this context, many companies are adopting, as part of their competitive strategies, the sustainable use of biodiversity so as to take advantage of new technological opportunities open in the environmentally responsible products market. Thus, the purpose of the present paper is to analyze how some Brazilian companies are using the potential of biodiversity as part of their competitive strategies in order to create favorable market asymmetries. It also acknowledges the advantages and limitations concerning this strategy. To illustrate these opportunities, this work presents the case of four national companies which work in the Brazilian environmentally responsible products market, focusing on phytoterapics, cosmetics, natural extracts and forestry. This study has pointed out that incorporating sustainable development principles does not seem to be simply a temporary strategy, but a strong tendency especially to industry sectors highly dependent on biodiversity as a raw material. Other issues addressed include the relevance of innovation to the generation of new proceedings and technologies as well as the importance of the conformation of a solid institutional environment.

Institutions and Technological Learning: Public-Private Linkages in Agricultural Research in Brazil and Argentina

The article discusses the institutional arrangements and forms of organization of agricultural research in Brazil and Argentina. The analysis focuses on Embrapa in the Brazilian case and INTA in the Argentinian case. Emphasis is laid on the two institutions’ policies regarding intellectual property and technology transfer. The aim is to contribute to the debate about how to conceptualize the co-evolution of organizations considering the technical, scientific, legal, regulatory, economic and other contexts in which they operate, reinforcing the idea of learning and that economic institutions do not just evolve but co-evolve.

Evaluation of the results and impacts of a social-oriented technology program in Brazil: the case of Prosab (a sanitation research program)

This paper presents and discuss the main results and impacts of Prosab (a sanitation research program) sponsored by Finep (Brazilian Federal Agency of Innovation). Prosab was mainly carried out by universities and its purpose was to fulfill technological demands related to the Brazilian sanitation services. This paper deals with two important factors: evaluating a technological program with a social purpose and creating a methodology that could capture the overwhelming aspects of the programs outcomes. The evaluation methodology is separated into two fronts: results evaluation, which tries to seize all the intermediate outputs of the program; and impact evaluation, which concerns the general outcomes of the program for Brazilian society. Results evaluation focused on those who carried out the research project, using them as reference units for analyses, while the focus of impact evaluation was on the whole set of actors related to the sanitation industry, including the research community, sanitation companies, public actors at local and federal level. The unit of analysis was the program itself. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

The Challenges of Teaching and Training in Intellectual Property

The article discusses the challenges of teaching Intellectual Property (IP) in the University of Campinas (Unicamp, Brazil), with reference to the data obtained from a large survey and analysis of the disciplines offered in the undergraduate, graduate and university extension courses, and interviews with professors responsible for these courses and disciplines. The results indicate that although Unicamp has a prominent role in promoting innovation, occupying the second position in the ranking of the largest depositors of patent applications in Brazil, the teaching of the subject in the institution still relies on individual initiatives of the professors themselves, being exclusively dependent on the interest and skills of these individuals rather than a more general orientation of the university. The discussion closes with some observations as to how education and training in IP could be improved, in an attempt to convert them into instruments conducive to the promotion of innovation within nations.

Biodiesel in Brazil: Agricultural R&D at Petrobras Biocombustível

The expansion of the use of biofuels is based on the implementation of public policies to support production, technological development and the market. In Brazil, the National Program for the Production and Use of Biodiesel (PNPB) seeks to articulate these incentives and attract private initiative in promoting sustainable production. Investigating the business actions for the development of new technologies in the face of public stimulation motivates this article that aims to analyze the Research and Development (R&D) strategies of Petrobras Biocombustivel in the production of biodiesel. The case study is based on the theoretical arguments of the Entrepreneur State and on a case study accompanied by a qualitative analysis. The results indicate that the formation of agricultural research networks favored the construction of knowledge, research infrastructures and training of people, but did not innovated the production of biodiesel.

Geração e Uso de Etanol Combustível: oportunidades e limites da tecnologia flex fuel

Este artigo explora o projeto da tecnologia flex-fuel, resgatando a historia do pioneirismo das pesquisas e do uso do etanol como combustivel desde os anos 1930, passando pelo Pro-alcool nos anos 1970 e chegando ao motor flex-fuel nos anos 2000. Destaca a instalacao da industria automobilistica nacional e o proprio projeto e desenvolvimento do motor de combustao interna no seculo XIX, utilizando os conceitos de trajetorias tecnologicas e coevolucao tecnica e institucional. Mesmo com o conhecimento e a experiencia na geracao e uso de combustivel alternativo e, recentemente, em tecnologias alternativas para motores, discute-se se o Brasil esta perdendo uma oportunidade para alcar o etanol e a tecnologia do motor flex-fuel como opcoes as trajetorias tecnologicas vigentes.

Avaliação de resultados e impactos da pesquisa e desenvolvimento: avanços e desafios metodológicos a partir de estudo de caso

This paper discusses efforts to improve and adapt a method of evaluation of results and impacts of research programs and its application to the PROSAB program (Basic Sanitation Research Program) sponsored by FINEP, Brazils federal agency for financing studies and projects. The PROSAB program is executed mainly by universities, although its purpose is to meet the technological needs of Brazilian society in the area of sanitation. The study concentrates on the discussion of the importance of evaluating research programs and on the creation of a methodology that can capture the inherent aspects resulting from those programs. The study was developed along two lines: evaluation of results, which concentrated on measuring the programs inputs and outputs; and evaluation of impacts, which was based on measurements of the intensity and importance of potential or perceived transformations in Brazilian society as a result of the program. The evaluation of results focused on the people executing the program (PROSAB researchers), and the unit of reference for the analysis was the research project. The evaluation of impacts encompassed the entire set of actors related to Brazils sanitation sector, comprising the research community, sanitation companies, public actors at local and federal levels, and the unit of analysis was the program itself.