Brazil climbs to 54th place on innovation index amid waning investment
A survey by Brazil’s National Confederation of Industry (CNI) shows that, despite the country’s three-notch leap in the Global Innovation Index (GII) from 2021, investment in innovation is still on the wane. “Brazil’s stance is seven steps below the best mark achieved—47th place in 2011,” the text reads.
According to the study—the result of a partnership with the World Intellectual Property Organization—Brazil currently stands in 54th place on a ranking of 132 countries. The progress, the confederation stated, “does not mean the country is faring well on the innovation agenda, since investments in the area have been falling every year.”
The calculation of 2022’s index was based on the average of two sub-indexes. One of them gauges resources directed at innovation, bringing under scrutiny “elements in the economy that enable and facilitate the development of innovative activities.” It also encompasses institutions, human capital, research, infrastructure, market sophistication, and business sophistication.
The other sub-index refers to “innovation products” and looks into “the actual output of innovative activities within the economy.” This indicator is founded on two pillars, one on “knowledge and technology products” and the other surrounding “creative products.”
CNI
“Even though Brazil has slipped on the ‘innovation inputs’ ranking, having dropped two positions—from 56th in 2021 to 58th in 2022—the country climbed six levels on the ranking for innovation results (59th to 53rd), which explains the improvement on the overall list,” the confederation declared.
In the view of CNI Innovation director Gianna Sagazio, this means that, in terms of investment in innovation, Brazil is in a worse place. “However, it is as if the actors in Brazil’s ecosystem have done more with less and achieved better results in innovation, despite the drop in resources and investment.”
Sagazio explains that the improvement demonstrates that even amid “structural difficulties facing the innovation ecosystem in Brazil,” companies have done better than expected, which attests to the capacity of Brazilian businesses.
“If investment in innovation were perennial, which is not the case, Brazil could be a powerhouse in innovation,” he adds.
The ten highest-ranking countries in the index are Switzerland, the US, Sweden, the UK, the Netherlands, South Korea, Singapore, Germany, Finland, and Denmark.
