Building a Diverse Industry in Brazil

From 2009 through 2011, Brazil demonstrated growth in its normalized innovation scores (see graph, left). Although it did not score near the top of Scientific American Worldview’s overall innovation index, Brazil’s biotechnology industry shows considerable breadth. According to preliminary data in “Brazilian Biotech Mapping 2011,” from BrBiotec Brasil and Centro Brasileiro de Analise e Planejamento (CEBRAP), the nation’s leading biotechnology section, human health, accounts for 32 percent of its firms. Reagents and animal health represent another 16 and 15 percent, respectively. Brazil is becoming increasingly well known for its efforts in agrobiotech, and agriculture-related companies make up 11 percent of the country’s biotechnology industry. In addition, Brazilian biotechnology companies focused on the environment and bioenergy comprise 7 and 3 percent of the nation’s biotech firms, respectively. Other sectors (bioinformatics, molecular diagnostics and contract research organizations) account for 16 percent of the firms.

Not only does Brazil’s biotechnology industry reach across many disciplines, but it also stretches across much of the country’s eastern coast. In particular, many of Brazil’s biotechnology firms currently make their homes in the southeast, especially near São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. This map indicates that Brazil’s Intensity score, which is limited in our analysis due to unavailable data in many categories, could be much higher in the future. Furthermore, Brazil’s relatively strong rating of 4.66 in the “talent retention” measurement of the Education/Workforce category surpassed Canada, France, Germany, the U.K. and many other countries. Consequently, this nation is likely to keep many of the professionals that it trains in biotechnology. That, too, should bolster its overall innovation score in the future.