Sérgio Robles Reis de Queiroz

Foreign direct investment and technological capabilities in Brazilian industry

The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to a further understanding of the implications of the growing presence of foreign affiliates for deepening technological capabilities (TCs) in Brazilian industry. It proposes a TC classification that emphasises the distinction between the use and generation of knowledge and presents a methodology for composing TC proxies by means of an innovation survey database. The findings suggest that both foreign and domestics firms have accumulated substantial capabilities for using existing technology, but only shallow capabilities for locally generating technologies. However, foreign affiliates score higher than their local counterparts in more complex capabilities, confirming their centrality in the Brazilian learning system. This gives ground for urging the elaboration of strategic foreign direct investment (FDI) policies that strengthen and deepen local TCs.

Empresas multinacionais e inovação tecnológica no Brasil

The article examines the technological efforts carried out _ presently and prospectively _ by multinational enterprises in Brazil. It argues that these enterprises are willing to increase their R&D activities abroad which may represent an opportunity to Brazil to develop its national system of innovation. However, the adoption of appropriate policies is an important condition to succeed in this endeavour.

The Role of National Policies on the Attraction and Promotion of MNEs' R&D Activities in Developing Countries

Abstract The technology internationalization process of multinational companies (MNCs) is characterized by the growing decentralization of this activity to other countries, including developing ones. Within this process, world competition for foreign direct investment (FDI) in research and development (R&D) has been increasing in the last few years. Consequently, to attract this kind of FDI national policies and their instruments have become ubiquitous. For a country to succeed in its quest for FDI, its policies need to be consistent and articulated encompassing measures that influence and promote all the determining factors of FDI in R&D, i.e. supply of qualified professionals, adequate infrastructure, favorable laws and regulations, etc. This means that a FDI policy cannot be restricted only to fiscal incentives and grants. The aim of this paper consists in identifying and analyzing Chinese, Indian and Brazilian policy measures, to offer a better understanding about how they affect the attraction and promotion of FDI in R&D, as well as their differences and similarities. The analysis shows that despite the flaws still presented in both Chinese and Indian economic and technological systems, they have been implementing a more articulated and consistent set of policies, thus attracting FDI in R&D from all over the world. However, Brazilian policies seem to be less articulated and still based on the concession of fiscal incentives to attract this kind of FDI.

Beyond Education: The Role of Research Universities in Innovation Ecosystems

Universities are increasingly perceived as agents involved in regional development. It is now recognized that academic contributions to the socioeconomic environment go well beyond scientific investigation and teaching activities, and incorporate market-oriented initiatives to the academic mission. However, these effects are geographically bounded. Given these conditions, this article aims at addressing universities’ impacts upon output vectors of localized innovation ecosystems. Using data from cities and microregions in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil observed throughout the period of 2002–2014, we address universities’ effects upon the local-level generation of patents and utility models, software production and emergence of knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship. Besides the scant available evidence on innovation ecosystems located outside developed economies, dealing with a developing country also means we are addressing an analytical unit in which universities play a critical role in terms of knowledge production and diffusion, a function of the weak competences of local firms. Findings support the hypothesis that major academic institutions lie at the heart of innovation ecosystems, but impacts are mostly local, happening more strongly at the level of cities. While the formation of human capital also contributes to innovative output, its impacts are of minor relevance as compared to higher education institutions that achieve excellence in research. This poses severe challenges for policymakers when targeting the formation and enhancement of initiatives to develop innovative ecosystems, particularly for peripheral areas. First, these regions are not likely to reap substantial benefits from proximity to successful hubs. Beyond that, creating local conditions is not as straightforward as sometimes announced in political discourse. In this regard, some fundamental vectors are not easily manipulated in the short-term and there seems to be fundamental importance attributed to long-term, evolutionary conditions. Such is the case for high-quality universities.

On the location of knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship in developing countries: lessons from São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract This article empirically appraises the geographical distribution of knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship (KIE) in the settings of an emerging economy. We start from the typical agglomeration approach and then introduce a set of variables related to local market conditions, distance from the economic hub, and knowledge & innovation system to explain KIE location and density on the basis of city-level data in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Findings indicate KIE concentration in and around a few urban areas, providing support to agglomeration economies concepts. There is strong evidence that the local presence of research-oriented universities, access to capital, and business concentration are correlated to KIE emergence and density. Results also indicate the moderating effect of agglomeration diseconomies mainly related to factors of rapid and anarchic expansion of urban centers and the consequences of extreme inequalities in income distribution. This challenges the usability of concepts of entrepreneurial ecosystems from advanced economies if not adapted to the realities of developing countries.

O papel mediador das capacidades absortivas sistêmicas: uma abordagem dos efeitos de investimentos estrangeiros diretos em sistemas de inovação de países em desenvolvimento

** Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas (SP), Brasil. E-mail: squeiroz@ige.unicamp.br AbstrAct There is a widespread belief that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) represents a strategic issue within developing countries’ innovation systems. This is a function of expectations that this particular kind of investment can cause positive shocks on host markets’ overall capabilities. Our argument, in consonance with dedicated literature, is that these contributions do not take place without “frictions”, and that there is a significant complementarity between FDI’s effects and the innovation policy framework (particularly those initiatives that influence the existent level of systemic absorptive capacities). Using panel data for developing countries we estimate production functions oriented towards assessing the evolution of National Innovation Systems. Our results suggest that FDI’s positive impacts are contingent upon absorptive capacity in developing countries’ innovation systems. Nonetheless, its contributions are not pervasive, being robustly related only to labor productivity gains.