Recent cuts in the 2018 budget allocated for the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications (MCTI) have caused great turmoil in academia and the science industry. Translated in 19% less funds than 2017, the amount available to finance costs and investments is short of almost BRL 5 billion.
The consequences are catastrophic for Brazil’s research infrastructure, as well as for business industries that considerably invest in innovation. Large public research and innovation centers in Brazil are drifting away, without funds to pay for grants to researchers, whilst the availability of investments for innovation purposes are also scarce.
While developed countries invest circa 3% to 4% of their GNP in R&D, Brazil has been cutting down investments every year, having reached all-time lows in which less than 1% of its budget is allocated to such ends.
The sad depletion of one of the leading and internationally acclaimed research centers has opened doors to a new reality in Brazil: partnerships between academia and private enterprise.
Though such practice is not exactly novelty, well-structured partnerships between companies and academia are capable of catering to the most diverse social needs. Developed nations have long resorted to such model to work on solutions; in Brazil, however, the generation of academic knowledge and the corporate world seldom overlap.
According to Professor Wagner Cotroni Valenti, Head of the UNESP Innovation Agency (AUIN), the agency’s greatest challenge is to develop entrepreneurial thinking among students and professors, thus showing that UNESP’s generation of knowledge can in fact return to society in applicable ways, ensuring patents and licenses for intellectual production. “Our role is to transform the University’s knowledge into innovation; in other words, into products and processes that improve people’s quality of life”, Valenti argues. Hence, royalties arising from such licenses could partially address the scarce resources available to invest in innovation.
According to Moacyr Bighetti, CEO of Kaivo Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em Saúde, most studies and scientific discoveries have never hit the market and or been made available for consumption – not even abroad. “This is so because once the studies are completed, there is a huge gap between results obtained from research and a product that is ready to be offered for sale”, Bighetti adds.
The expression “valley of death” is largely used in the US to describe the period between testing the idea and starting scale production in innovation. It refers to the phase in which innovation is likely to die for lack of resources and specific market knowledge. “This phase may last for years, in many cases, requiring more funds than the scientific development of the innovation itself. Investments may total tens of millions of reais”, says Kaivo’s CEO.
Any innovation requires a second round of investment and logistics in order to hit the market, which involves building plants, filing for patents and other intellectual property rights, records and registrations, obtaining consent from regulatory agencies and licensing, in addition to several other documents and strategic actions to position the brand and establish relationships with the target audience.
“Research centers do not have funds and technical knowledge to put such actions into practice – they create knowledge and we are the bridge connecting academia to the corporate world, ensuring the necessary support for innovation to finally reach the market, transforming such technologies into product”, Bighetti claims.
AUIN believes that bringing the university closer to companies is a promising model that has increased its strength in Brazil. For instance, it is worth mentioning the successful partnership of the Center for the Study of Poisons and Venomous Animals (CEVAP) of UNESP Botucatu, which signed a contract with a company to take one of its researches to the market.
Thanks to the use of rattlesnake poison, UNESP researchers obtained an active biopolymer, which was successfully used to stop bleeding and to regenerate tissues, close wounds in general and poisonous ulcers, and as adhesive for skin, nerves and gums, as in bone grafting and stem cell therapy, to be used both for humans and animals.
Professor Valenti claims that the idea is “to identify and encourage University interventions that have licensing potential, and which may be purchased by companies willing to pay royalties for the use of the idea”.
UNESP licensed the innovation to Kaivo Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em Saúde, which will take the new therapy to the market. “Thanks to the business model, Brazil will not lose its competitive edge in relation to the competition in other countries, and will also generate revenue for the country. It is our obligation to value our scientific knowledge and make it come true”, says Kaivo’s CEO.
By: Andréa Guardabassi / Source: