Brazilian Science and Technology
Although it is not always the first aspect of Brazil thought of, the country has certainly made a name for itself in the arena of international science and technology.
In the first decades of the nineteenth century, Brazilian science effectively came into being. The Portuguese royal family came to Brazil in 1808 to escape the threat of the Napoleonic invasion. At that time, the territory of Brazil was nothing more than a colony, and had no universities and very few cultural and scientific organizations.
Today, however, Brazil has a very well developed and organized industry of science and technology. Most basic research is carried in public universities, institutes, and research centers, as well as a few private institutions like non-profit non-governmental organizations. Since the 1990s, governmental regulations and incentives have helped research to grow in private universities and companies as well. Interestingly enough, over ninety percent of the funding for basic research comes from governmental sources.
There is also a great deal of applied research, technology and engineering done in universities and research centers. This system is quite different than the systems in places in countries like the United States, Germany, South Korea, and Japan. The main reasons for these differences are the fact that few Brazilian companies are wealthy enough to have their own research and development institutions, so why develop products by outsourcing from other companies. Also, the high-technology private sector in Brazil is dominated by large multinational companies who have research and development departments overseas and so do not invest in their Brazilian branches.
However, much is being done to reverse this trend. Companies like Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and IBM have been establishing large research and development centers in Brazil, beginning in the 1970s. Some of the incentive factors behind these moves are the lower costs and high sophistication and skills of the Brazilian workforce. Also, in the 1980s, Brazil pursued a protectionism policy in computing. This was to encourage growth in Brazilian companies. There are also plans to make cheap internet access widely available in the country, but these plans have not been realized.
The main sources of funding for Brazilian research come from government sources, like some of the many state organizations that were created in the 1950s to promote and fund research and development. There is also indirect funding through public and private universities that have their own internal agencies, foundation and funds set apart for the use of their faculty and students in research and development. Funding can also come through public companies, industrial, commercial and services private companies for their own research and development centers, national private and non-profit organizations via statutory mechanisms or donations, and other nations or international organizations and multilateral institutions.
It is this abundant access to funding that has made the massive growth of research and development in science and technology possible in Brazil. For a country that was once severely lacking in scientific institutions and progress, Brazil has come a long way in terms of science and technology.