Universities: Innovation advances, but no link with the market – 12/19/2023 – Education

Brazilian federal universities have not stood still in recent years in relation to scientific production that generates patents, even with systematic budget reductions in recent years. But there are still important obstacles to the innovation cycle — the biggest of which is the connection with the productive sector, which, in turn, has low levels of innovation.

The scenario is scrutinized in an audit report by the CGU (Comptroller General of the Union) on the innovation ecosystem of the 69 federal universities. Obtained by Sheetthe document points out regulatory limitations, legal uncertainty on the part of researchers, restrictions on institutional capacity and resources and challenges in the innovation culture of universities.

“From the professors’ point of view, there is a lack of understanding among researchers about the specific demands of the productive sector and society, a fact that also occurs in the opposite direction”, says the report.

In Brazil, scientific production, the initial step towards innovations with potential economic and social impact, is highly dependent on public universities. Around 95% of relevant scientific publications are made in federal institutions, according to the 2022 Leiden Ranking, which maps this information.

The data analyzed does not include the most recent period, marked by the pandemic. From 2010 to 2020, universities recorded an increase of around 400% in the production of intellectual property. The generation of patents by universities reached 1,788 deposits in 2020 — this number was 445 in 2010 and, in 2000, there were only 53 registrations.

There is, therefore, progress in this regard, even in the face of a decrease in resources allocated to institutions and the research funding system. University budgets have been cut in the last decade, as have funding agencies’ budgets.

Technology transfer indicators, on the other hand, are poor. In addition to showing a downward trend over the last ten years, the average of total transfers per production of intellectual property is 3.49%.

There is inequality in the system. Only 20% of federal universities accounted for around 60% of the properties generated. Only 29 of the 69 institutions carried out technology transfer.

One of the forms of this technology transfer, which results, for example, in new products and solutions, is the creation of companies associated with researchers, called spin-offs. Only six institutions account for 74% of spin-offs created between universities and companies, according to the CGU, and 51 never generated spin-offs.

CGU’s work included analysis and cross-referencing of data in addition to consultations with managers from 69 universities and around 1,400 researchers. In evaluating this ecosystem of innovations, the Comptroller’s report works with the so-called triple helix, a model that identifies the potential, based on international experiences, of the interaction between academia, companies and government.

These interactions and relationships “favor the formation of a dynamic environment in which cross-knowledge gives rise to hybrid organizations”, such as spin-offs and partnerships.

For around 2 in 10 researchers, there are difficulties related to bureaucracy in contracting projects and establishing partnerships, as well as in carrying out these projects in institutions. In 77% of universities, the time for project approval was considered by the managers themselves as subject to reduction.

Professor and researcher Paulo Barone, who was previously Secretary of Higher Education at MEC, says that the report shows that the problem with innovation related to universities, research institutes and other institutions involved is that there is no clear strategy for this system.

“There is no clear direction, nor the conditions, such as funding, continued, as it is very interrupted,” he says, currently at the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology, a research unit of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation .

The Lula (PT) government resumed expanding the items in this year’s budget, but the institutions demand payment of resources this year and an increase for next year.

The president of Andifes (National Association of Directors of Federal Higher Education Institutions), Márcia Abrahão, cites several challenging factors, ranging from the lack of knowledge of the mechanisms of legal frameworks to the lack of specialized technical personnel to work in the relationship with the market . This makes it difficult to consolidate NITs (Technological Innovation Centers), advisory and guidance organizations in the procedures for the protection of intellectual property.

“Academic researchers lack awareness of the importance of protecting intellectual property and creating companies with their students [as spin-offs] to bring products and services resulting from research to society, generating jobs, income and economic and social development”, she says.

The business and industrial sector in Brazil is not prodigal in the area of ​​innovation. Data on the rate of innovation implementation in industries in Brazil from Pintec (Industrial Research on Technological Innovation) reveal a scenario of stagnation in the last 20 years. These rates of companies that implemented innovation range between 31% and 38%, a level far from developed countries.

Brazil ranks 78th among the 132 countries evaluated in terms of university-industry collaboration for Research and Development, according to information from the Global Innovation Index, 2022, an annual ranking of countries based on their capacity and success in innovation led by the World Property Organization Intellectual.

“Countries that have developed socially and economically, such as France, China and South Korea, have a strong presence of researchers in companies”, says the CGU minister, Vinícius Marques de Carvalho, who highlights that Brazil has this potential. “These are paths that also depend on the resumption of public investment in universities and research, which has been so severely impacted in recent years in Brazil.”

The audit makes a series of recommendations. Among the findings cited are the need to improve the governance of the National Science, Technology and Innovation System, in particular the integration of science, technology and innovation, higher education and industrial policies.

When asked, the MEC says that, among the actions to deal with the issue, is the “construction of a transversal agenda with governmental and non-governmental partners, which includes review of regulations, alignment of objectives, fundraising and search for investments”.

The ministry says it has carried out dialogue to create an ecosystem in institutions, including with international organizations. “One of the main partnerships is the one made with AGU, to increase legal certainty and uniform interpretation of current regulations”, says the ministry.