Innovation and Intellectual Property in Brazil in the Times of Covid-19

Abstract

The year 2020 will be marked in the history of Humanity as the “year of the Corona virus” or “the year of Covid-19”. And the subsequent years will probably carry with them the effects of what we experienced this year. Whether such effects will improve us as a civilization, only the future will tell! However, everything we are going through inevitably causes many issues that were once forgotten or relegated by Brazilian society to emerge with great emphasis. In this pandemic context of generalized crisis, the importance of education, science, innovation and the technical capacity that nations have to offer quick and efficient solutions to the problems that affect them is notorious. It is now evident that our historic lack of investment in education and science is taking its toll: uneducated people without good education systems find it extremely difficult to understand basic concepts of hygiene, epidemiology, statistics and mathematics. And this is all revealed in the number of cases and deaths from Covid-19.
Otherwise – and now I come to the topic of this editorial – who do we turn to in the search for vaccines and medicines that can deal with the pandemic that affects the whole world? Inevitably the hopes of all those with common sense and minimally aware of the scale of the problem fall on Science and scientists. At times like these, the responsible public agents seek to base their administrative decisions on technical data and with scientific basis. Laboratories and technology companies around the world do their best to find the long-awaited solutions. And whoever has a history, who has a tradition of technological development and innovation, comes out ahead. But what about Brazil in this scenario? I particularly understand that we have here a paradox or perhaps even a small contradiction on which I do not intend to go into detail: despite the scant investments and the historical devaluation that science suffers in Brazil, we do a lot! We have competent, committed and qualified scientists; and we have an accumulation of cutting-edge research that, despite seeming little when compared to the United States, China, Japan and Germany, for example, show that we do have great scientific, technological development and innovation potential.
In fact, we still have a lot to evolve to change the level with regard to innovation and technological development. Brazil is crawling on these issues and, in addition, the few public actions (since public policies do not have them) focus preponderantly on the “number” and not on the “quality” of production. However, thanks to the individual efforts of some institutions (universities, federal institutes and research centers), Brazil has gradually managed to improve its indicators of patents deposited and innovative projects developed. Little yet, it's true! But it is necessary that we recognize the existence of a trend towards projects focused on innovation and on solving society's problems. In addition - and it was about time - Brazilian researchers have realized the importance of protecting the knowledge generated through the filing of patents.
Having said that, there are also two reflections that I think are relevant here, mainly because it is an editorial for a magazine in the area of ​​innovation. The first one is about the need to produce technologies whose application effectively meets the demands of Brazilian society. This is perhaps the main criticism (self-criticism!) we should make: what are our patents for (and for whom)? Are they useful? Will they have application? The second reflection that is also necessary is about the technology transfer strategies that institutions have: there is little point in finding an innovative solution to a problem if we do not build mechanisms for the transfer of this technology to those who need the solution. I understand that without these two issues properly addressed, the protection of knowledge is nothing more than a mere indicator or a few lines in our curricula. Finally, we need to emphasize the need to have a national innovation system, which needs to contemplate the existence of public policies, regulations and legislation focused on the subject and that also brings together all the actors involved in the processes of innovation and technological development, such as governments and its bodies, universities, federal institutes, research centers and also companies that are willing to be part of this system. Since 2016, we have in Brazil the “new Legal Framework for Science, Technology and Innovation”, a set of important rules that undoubtedly brought advances, but which was born timid and frustrated some expectations, as it still lacks complementary regulations and greater ownership by the institutions. Despite this, I end with what I said earlier: a lot is done in Brazil, even with so little! And this edition of the magazine “Cadernos de Prospecção” proves this, bringing 21 qualified articles - by 73 authors, 23 organizations and 11 Brazilian states - that discuss indicators of innovation, copyright, technology transfer, technological prospecting, legislation, among other topics. relevant. Good reading!