TWO PERSPECTIVES

Why is the cooperation for innovation between Brazil and Sweden so important?

Mauro Borges Lemos
President of Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI)

"Relations between Brazil and Sweden have a long history of friendship, mutual understanding and economic affinity. In 1984, the Agreement for Economic, Industrial and Technological Cooperation was signed due to the many economic and investment ties between the two countries. In 2009, in the context of Brazil's economic stability and Sweden's innovation culture, the Additional Protocol for Cooperation in Highly Innovative Industrial Technology was sign, building conditions for significant industrial cooperation. Those factors show how important and strategic Sweden's support is for Brazil's industrial development. Besides, both economies have promising correspondences. Sweden is known for the capacity of internationalization of its companies - an experience that interests Brazil greatly - and, as one of the leading European countries when it comes to innovation, it becomes a crucial partner. Sweden has a remarkable knowledge and successful experiences of coordinating government, companies and universities in joint projects of technological development and innovation. That, added to Brazil's scientific, technologic and economic capacity, makes the partnership profitable for both countries."

Ciro Vasquez
Manager of International Cooperation and Vinnova Networks

"Globalization demands us to adapt to the new world. That often brings new challenges, but, at the same time, it also brings new opportunities. More than 50% of Sweden's GDP come from exports, and it's been a long time since our companies stared to see the world as a target market. As a result, we can't do everything by ourselves - we need to establish partnerships. Brazil and Sweden are already partners today and we can still strengthen that, once our cultures - which include our business cultures - are not that different from each other and we both value long discussions before making a decision, always seeking an agreement. Even though Sweden's innovation is more focused in high technology, Brazil is also an increasingly important source of innovation. We have observed achievements in the fields of genetics, artificially colored cotton, in the development of new materials for the oil extraction industry, in new energy sources and in the large use of ethanol in the automotive industry. I strongly believe that we have many similarities that make working together a lot easier. All that will bring good results for both countries. We both will build advantages in high-technology and innovation by investing in long-term growth of a sustainable economy."

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SUITE

Exchange for innovation

Through the program Science without Borders, Brazil has a crucial tool to produce professionals capable of connecting academic and market knowledge in order to generate innovation

Created by the Brazilian government, the Science without Borders program brings a whole new range of opportunities for internationalization of science, technology and innovation through exchange of students, researchers and experts. The program's idea is to open places in foreign universities for Brazilians - and also host foreign researchers in Brazil. Between 2012 and 2017, 101,000 scholarships will be granted to program participants, which will be funded by the government (75,000) and the industry (26,000).

In this context, CISB sees an even greater opportunity: to strengthen the relationship between Brazilians and Swedes. For that, it focuses on a type of education that goes beyond the academy and becomes capable of creating innovation projects centered on priority fields established by CISB: urban development; transport and logistics; defense and security; and sustainable energy.

Carolina Andrade, CISB project funding coordinator, explains that the idea is to make sure scholarship recipients make the best out of this opportunity by bringing out the fact that they will be at the vanguard of the academic knowledge and industrial development. "What we want is that the researcher or student comes back with innovation projects to be implemented in Brazil. In addition to giving back the country the investment made with the scholarship, those professionals will be in the spotlight of the relationship between Brazil and Sweden", she said.

Saab already joined the program. In November 2011, it signed with CISB and CNPq (National Council of Technological and Scientific Development) an agreement for creation and co-funding of 100 scholarships in Sweden. They focus primarily in collaborative projects of R&D that could be applied in the market. From those scholarships, 45 will be awarded to Brazilian PhD students for one-year sandwich programs; and 20 for post-doctorate students engaged in projects of R&D in Swedish universities, or in companies members of CISB for at least two years. Besides, CISB members could receive up to 25 Brazilian researchers for one year through the Training Program for Experts Abroad - as well as visiting professors, that could also work in Swedish universities for three months per year, in a maximum period of three years total.

CISB's role in the Science without Borders program tends to expand with time. Thanks to CISB, five letters of intention have already been signed with Swedish universities: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology and Linkoping University and - members of CISB - SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden and Innventia. In addition to partnerships arranged directly with institutions, the program comprises agreements between the Brazilian government and other countries. The Swedish government will soon guarantee its participation too, thus broadening their exchange possibilities.

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PROFILE

CISB: international cooperation powered by challenges

Center was created to encourage mutual development and integration of Brazilian and Swedish innovation systems

After being observed that Brazil and Sweden had common challenges and matching economic interests, it was born in 2011 the Swedish-Brazilian Research and Innovation Centre - CISB -, an association centered in solution development based on technological innovation. After analyising the context and interests of each country, CISB came up with four common key-areas: transport and logistics, defense and security, sustainable energy and urban development.

Though founded by Saab, CISB is already supported by five other institutions: Scania, Stora Enso, Innvetia, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Fraunhofer-Chalmers Center. Scania has started its activities in Brazil in 1957. Nowadays, the company has more than 100 retailers in the country, one of the biggest networks in the world. When it comes to innovation, the company invests in development of engines powered by ethanol - there are already ongoing partnerships with Sao Paulo University and Vale Energia working on that.

Swedish-Finnish group Stora Enso, global leader of paper and cellulose production, is also engaged in Brazil-Sweden partnership for innovation. Stora Enso is considered the world's oldest public company and has approximately 30 thousand employees in more than 35 countries. In Latin America, the company produces cellulose (Bahia), editorial paper (Parana) and is building a new fabric in Uruguay. In Sweden and Finland, it works on research and innovation. With CISB, the company considers bringing R&D projects to Brazil.

Another participant is Innventia, an institution dedicated to the study of cellulose, paper, graphic media, packets and biorefinery. The organization's main goal is to use science and innovation to boost its partners businesses. Its great project in Brazil is the Polynol, which is being executed together with other large companies - and with Swedish and Brazilian universities. The venture requires a period of five to ten years for implementation and may generate important results in value-chain optimization.

Another research institute member of CISB is SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden. This organization is at the forefront when it comes to sustainable development. In Brazil, the company is interested in working with residue management together with local governments, since SP has technology on this field. SP may also work on biodiesel issues and seaweed as an energy source. It is also searching for partnerships on the development of technologies to prevent ethanol burning - which doesn't produce flames and can trigger highly dangerous fires.

It's also important to mention the Fraunhofer-Chalmers Center (FCC), a result of a cooperation agreement between the German institute Fraunhofer and Swedish university Chalmers, which works with research in industrial math. This organization sees mathematics as a technology tool that can benefit both industry and trade. In Brazil, FCC intends to develop collaborative projects with research centers and industry partners, especially in the medical and automobile sectors.

Journey

Over 2011, CISB has structured itself: it built a management team, brought members together, invested in planning and defined strategies. At the first members meeting, that took place in November, the organization's main actors have gathered to discuss main subject areas and progress in cooperation proposals. For 2012, CISB already sees the first results of those actions, with a wide range of projects that could be developed in the Science Without Borders program, the Security and Transport arenas and with the approval of the Microgrids project by Cemig. The next step is the creation of a facility for meetings and presentations of CISB's partners, which should take place once the CDC is created. In addition to its Brazilian team, CISB is also located inside the Lindholmen Science Park.

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ARTICLE

Mutiple strategies for innovation management

Innovation management point of views vary according to the institution's profile

Bruno Rondani, Executive director of CISB

To understand what innovation management is means dealing with multiplicity. The paths are many when the goal is to promote innovation and, generally, decisions are made based on the context and role of the organizations.  The dynamics of this process can be observed in many extents and in many different places, such as universities, companies, business incubators, technology parks, investments funds.

Institutions that allow other organizations to execute projects can carry out innovation management. A good example is the university experience. Inova-Unicamp, the innovation agency of Campinas University, focus on technology transfer to the market itself. That means the agency helps the knowledge generated inside the university to be materialized in the actual companies. With that in mind, the university offers courses and talks to students and teachers about the subject matter, encourages entrepreneurship practices and invests in communication to build motivation in all levels. Besides, innovation management professionals are responsible to run the developed patents. In the Unicamp case, there are 40 professionals working to facilitate projects of intellectual property and creation of collaborative laboratories between companies and university.

There are other possible scenarios, though. In technology parks, for instance, new models come up. It's the case of Porto Digital, based in Recife for the past 11 years, which focus on Information Technology. Their goal is to find in the market demands and opportunities, and to build facilitators that allow innovation to emerge. The process starts with the identification of the field's needs, performed by the park's companies or through requested analysis made by consulters. After that, the team - consisting of 32 professionals that vary from students to doctors - designs projects and identifies the most adequate way to fund them. And then, at last, they can see the delivery of the results. Technology park professionals also provide support to companies' project managers and watch closely the plan's implementation.

In the industry, innovation management assumes other features. At Braskem, main producer of thermoplastic resins of the Americas and largest producer of biopolymers in the world, there are many business units that act independently, but without losing sight of the company's fundamental goals. As Braskem's innovation is aimed on client relationship management, the demands rise from business units and, to a large extent, are where they are studied. The team dedicated to innovation includes about 300 associates distributed in several areas and, among them, 50 are innovation managers. This group works on intellectual property and technology prospection in the market and the academy. It's also comprised of directors and managers that coordinate innovation in a decentralized manner.  With their experience in business units, they define strategies that make new ideas go through a whole pipeline before they reach the market as actual innovations.

The three examples show that innovation management can take up different paths, which reveals its complex character. Each organization acts according to its aptitudes and its social function. It's precisely with the integration between projects developed individually that innovation actually happens, hence the need to invest in open innovation and cooperation programs.

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BRAZILIAN NEWS

Finep amassed R$ 9 billion in investments in 2011

The President of FINEP, Glauco Arbix in 5 years, Finep should become a development agency with the status of financial institutions and asset management

Brazilian research agency Finep (Funding for Project and Study) ended 2011 with a balance sheet of R$ 9 billion in project investments - and, of those, almost R$ 3 billion were contracted. The total spent resources reached R$ 1,87 billion, which represents 56% more when compared to investments made in 2010. In addition, last year's balance sheet showed a reduction of almost two thirds on the average time spent on project analysis. At the end of the year, the Treasury approved the transfer of almost R$ 2 billion from BNDES/PSI (National Development Bank/Investment Support Program) to Finep, which expects to receive another R$3 billion in 2010. Prospects are that the balance might exceed R$10 billion in the year to come. According to Glauco Arbix, Finep's president, the agency is currently preparing itself to meet the demands of the big companies. That involves the release of a new permanent credit program, which aims to change the practice of supporting projects individually to a constant credit release. That will help large companies to maintain their investments in R&D. The goal is that more companies increase their investments in innovation and competitiveness, especially in the context of the international financial crisis.

O Estado de São Paulo
http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/impresso,finep-cria-credito-permanente-para-grandes-empresas-,820792,0.html

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SWEDISH NEWS

Swedish tops ICT ranking

For the second year in a row, Sweden tops the ranking of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), published by the World Economic Forum and Insead through the World Report on Information Technology. With the theme "Transformations 2.0", the document highlights the influence of ICTs in economic and social growth and competitiveness. According to the report, Sweden offers one of the best environments for innovation. From the 138 economies analyzed, it provides the best accessibility to new technologies, with more than 90% of Sweden's population using the Internet on a regular basis. Also according to the document, "in Sweden, more than anywhere else, ICT improves access to basic services and boosts new organizational models, as well as new business models, products and services".

Swedish Wire e Fórum Econômico Mundial
http://www.swedishwire.com/economy/12479-sweden-tops-global-ict-ranking http://www.weforum.org/reports/global-information-technology-report-2010-2011-0

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PARTNER NEWS

SP and Innventia members pay a visit to Brazil

In mid-February, Brazil will receive two important Swedish parties: Innventia and SP. Innventia brings project manager Niklas Berglin and senior researcher Anna von Schenck, aiming to discuss R&D projects in the biorefinery field with current partners and potential clients. Besides, Innventia representatives will meet at the CISB's headquarters at São Bernardo do Campo for the Polynol project planning - which contemplates the cooperation between several organizations from the polymer and renewable fuels supply chain. SP's visit, represented by its sales manager Zeljko Ladestam and other four experts, is focused on identifying common challenges in the fields of biofuels, residue management and fire fighting technology. The main goal is to define two or three challenges for then develop projects over the year of 2012. Among the organizations that will be visited by SP are Petrobras; Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; Sao Paulo University; Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory; Agronomy Institute of Campinas; Sea Institute Admiral Paulo Moreira; and Scania Brazil. CISB is supporting those visits by facilitating meetings and identifying opportunities.

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