“How can the financial support granted to technology companies contribute to knowledge-based economic development?”, Jamile Sabatini, Director of Innovation and Development at ABES, developed a study with ABES member companies and developed her doctorate on the promotion of technology-based companies to leverage knowledge-based development. To understand more about their studies, we did an interview with Jamile Sabatini to discuss how companies have used to foster innovation.
In the survey you conducted with ABES member companies in 2016, what data did you find regarding the understanding of how companies in the software sector have sought to foster innovation? What are the biggest challenges for companies?
A very important challenge is to obtain more attractive rates for companies to be more competitive. The rates that commercial banks are adopting are incompatible with international markets.
Companies should seek financing from development banks, whose mission is to contribute to economic development. Companies are still unaware of these funding sources.
Then, you researched about the contribution of fostering to economic development, analyzing Brazil and Australia, and you found that the lack of knowledge about fostering innovation is one of the similarities between Brazilian and Australian entrepreneurs. Can you point out the main similarities and differences between the development scenario of these two countries?
The flagship in Australia in the way of fostering innovation is through tax subsidies, this type of incentive is a global trend, as it is considered more democratic, less bureaucratic and the word of the citizen is extremely important. The entrepreneur declares himself to be an innovator. In Australia, there is no development bank, there are lines to encourage innovation with a focus on tax reductions. Brazil has a vast way of supporting innovation, including economic subsidies, a program rarely seen in OECD member countries. Brazil has the forms and legislation to support innovation, but today it is being ineffective, there is a lack of resources.
What are the most used instruments in these two countries?
As I mentioned before, in Australia the most used instrument is the tax incentive, called R&D Incentives. In Brazil, the most successful and most popular program is the BNDES card, a simple way of promoting companies, both in purchase and sale.
It was also pointed out in the survey that the most popular programs are the long-term ones, with no name change. Entrepreneurs stop using a line when they change their name, even though they need the feature. This topic is very relevant, as an existing line is not effective for political reasons of name change. This problem was noticed in Brazil and Australia.
In your research, you mentioned the importance of adding promotion as another important pillar for promoting economic development, in addition to the four pillars: knowledge, competitiveness, creativity and innovation, pointed out by researcher Dr. Tan Yigitcanlar. In your opinion, which pillars are still more fragile in Brazil that could help overcome its social and economic development problems?
My thesis pointed out that for there to be economic development based on knowledge, the cycle must be; knowledge, creativity, promotion, innovation, competitiveness.
When you have the knowledge it is possible to create, from this creation of an idea/product it is necessary for the entrepreneur to be encouraged so that the product/service can go to the market and then generate an innovation. Innovations gain and open new markets and become more competitive, thus generating the knowledge-based development cycle.
What is your vision for the future of fostering innovation in Brazil?
Public policies and incentive programs must be long-term, perennial, predictable, simple and objective, the entrepreneur has a lot of legal uncertainty.
Tax incentives need to be simpler and more agile so that more companies can use them and benefit from them. Few companies use these incentives today due to legal uncertainty.
Brazil needs to increase incentives for research and development, today we are suffering cuts in these areas. The country invests less than 1% of its GDP in research and development. This type of investment generates development, brings work with high added value.
We need to review real guarantees, facilitate access to credit, decentralize development through regional partners, give more credibility to regional agents of innovation, who know companies, entrepreneurs and their products.
National agents must also work together, in a more articulated and complementary way, in the case of BNDES, Finep, CNPq, demonstrating all products. The entrepreneur will be able to better visualize where he fits in. The research showed that there is a lack of knowledge on the part of entrepreneurs regarding the lines of promotion.
That is, Brazil already has something very important, its raw material, creative people who undertake and pursue their dreams, we need to open the space for these entrepreneurs to be more competitive. Today, there is already a movement and an important innovation ecosystem in the country, but it is important that they are fostered.
The full survey can be accessed via the link: http://btd.egc.ufsc.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Jamile-Sabatini-Marques.pdf
Jamile Sabatini Marques is director of Innovation and Promotion of ABES – Brazilian Association of Software Companies and President of the Chamber of Technology and Innovation of FECOMÉRCIO – Federation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism of Santa Catarina. PhD from the Engineering and Knowledge Management Program at UFSC. Master in Innovation Management from École de Mines de St-Étienne (France), specialist in business management from Univali and graduated in Business Administration with Qualification in Foreign Trade from the Ibero-American Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences.
In the survey you conducted with ABES member companies in 2016, what data did you find regarding the understanding of how companies in the software sector have sought to foster innovation? What are the biggest challenges for companies?
A very important challenge is to obtain more attractive rates for companies to be more competitive. The rates that commercial banks are adopting are incompatible with international markets.
Companies should seek financing from development banks, whose mission is to contribute to economic development. Companies are still unaware of these funding sources.
Then, you researched about the contribution of fostering to economic development, analyzing Brazil and Australia, and you found that the lack of knowledge about fostering innovation is one of the similarities between Brazilian and Australian entrepreneurs. Can you point out the main similarities and differences between the development scenario of these two countries?
The flagship in Australia in the way of fostering innovation is through tax subsidies, this type of incentive is a global trend, as it is considered more democratic, less bureaucratic and the word of the citizen is extremely important. The entrepreneur declares himself to be an innovator. In Australia, there is no development bank, there are lines to encourage innovation with a focus on tax reductions. Brazil has a vast way of supporting innovation, including economic subsidies, a program rarely seen in OECD member countries. Brazil has the forms and legislation to support innovation, but today it is being ineffective, there is a lack of resources.
What are the most used instruments in these two countries?
As I mentioned before, in Australia the most used instrument is the tax incentive, called R&D Incentives. In Brazil, the most successful and most popular program is the BNDES card, a simple way of promoting companies, both in purchase and sale.
It was also pointed out in the survey that the most popular programs are the long-term ones, with no name change. Entrepreneurs stop using a line when they change their name, even though they need the feature. This topic is very relevant, as an existing line is not effective for political reasons of name change. This problem was noticed in Brazil and Australia.
In your research, you mentioned the importance of adding promotion as another important pillar for promoting economic development, in addition to the four pillars: knowledge, competitiveness, creativity and innovation, pointed out by researcher Dr. Tan Yigitcanlar. In your opinion, which pillars are still more fragile in Brazil that could help overcome its social and economic development problems?
My thesis pointed out that for there to be economic development based on knowledge, the cycle must be; knowledge, creativity, promotion, innovation, competitiveness.
When you have the knowledge it is possible to create, from this creation of an idea/product it is necessary for the entrepreneur to be encouraged so that the product/service can go to the market and then generate an innovation. Innovations gain and open new markets and become more competitive, thus generating the knowledge-based development cycle.
What is your vision for the future of fostering innovation in Brazil?
Public policies and incentive programs must be long-term, perennial, predictable, simple and objective, the entrepreneur has a lot of legal uncertainty.
Tax incentives need to be simpler and more agile so that more companies can use them and benefit from them. Few companies use these incentives today due to legal uncertainty.
Brazil needs to increase incentives for research and development, today we are suffering cuts in these areas. The country invests less than 1% of its GDP in research and development. This type of investment generates development, brings work with high added value.
We need to review real guarantees, facilitate access to credit, decentralize development through regional partners, give more credibility to regional agents of innovation, who know companies, entrepreneurs and their products.
National agents must also work together, in a more articulated and complementary way, in the case of BNDES, Finep, CNPq, demonstrating all products. The entrepreneur will be able to better visualize where he fits in. The research showed that there is a lack of knowledge on the part of entrepreneurs regarding the lines of promotion.
That is, Brazil already has something very important, its raw material, creative people who undertake and pursue their dreams, we need to open the space for these entrepreneurs to be more competitive. Today, there is already a movement and an important innovation ecosystem in the country, but it is important that they are fostered.
The full survey can be accessed via the link: http://btd.egc.ufsc.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Jamile-Sabatini-Marques.pdf
Jamile Sabatini Marques is director of Innovation and Promotion of ABES – Brazilian Association of Software Companies and President of the Chamber of Technology and Innovation of FECOMÉRCIO – Federation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism of Santa Catarina. PhD from the Engineering and Knowledge Management Program at UFSC. Master in Innovation Management from École de Mines de St-Étienne (France), specialist in business management from Univali and graduated in Business Administration with Qualification in Foreign Trade from the Ibero-American Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences.
Source: Inventta BGI
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