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March 07, 2005
Smarts stay in the lab no more: Brazil's 2004 'Innovation Law'
It shouldn't take more than two glances for any Brunonian to understand the powerful economic rationale for Brown's new Life Sciences Building.. Along with additional biosciences professors, this $94 million dollar+ investment will almost certainly keep Brown at the forefront of fields where it has already gained renown -- perhaps most notably, Neuroscience; see, for example the central role played by Dr. Bear, Dr. Donahue, Dr. Conners, to name just three, in their respective subfields. Moreover, it will help secure Brown's ability to respond to scientific developments by targeting university resources against deserving research opportunities. Beyond academic prestige though, not to mention pure advancement of fields that have clear implications for human well-being, the life sciences investment is just that: an investment. From intellectual property licensing agreements and close ties with Brown-affiliated private ventures (for a very recent example, see Dr. Donahue's Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems Inc.), this thing will probably fund itself over time (admittedly, a long time).
I digress, for this is, after all, (supposed to be) a blog on "international relations." What prompted the above paragraph-long ramble on the NPV of the life sciences building was, in fact, a product of two things: (a) work-related research into innovation practices for highly-trained knowledge workers and, (b) attempted procrastination by looking at a recent supplementary report in Nature Biotechnology. on "Health Biotechnology Innovation in Developing Countries" (a list that included, somehow, South Korea -- but the other members seemed reasonable). What caught my eye was the report's discussion of legal and regulatory influences on Biotechnological innovation in Brazil. As far as I can remember, little notice was given in main media last December when President da Silva signed into a law a bill tellingly titled the "Innovation Law." At core, the bill aims to:
1. Encourage the public and private sectors to share staff, funding and facilities such as laboratories.
2. Allow funding by private companies to public institutions to carry out research on their behalf.
From either an economic growth, or business innovation perspective this only makes sense.
What's interesting here is that full details won't be released until April 2005; and Biotech private industry spokespeople -- both Brazilian and global -- seem to be withholding full judgement until the government provides its fine-print. Still, if the bill's bespoken goals are even marginally met, the country's ability to participate actively in Biotech (as well as other knowledge-intensive research fields) will likely increase. According to the WIPO, 70% of Brazilian R&D expenses are currently financed with public resources, and 80% of Brazilian researchers carry out their activities within public institutions (universities or research centers), concentrating on the production of scientific papers -- that is, not currently on life-improving or coffer- and pocket-lining products and services. Because this will be a change in line with da Silva's pro-technology, pro-public involvement in private innovation policies, once-fleshed, the bill seems likely to come as full as promised. Whether the result is increased focus on profitable scientific ventures (given market sizes and wealth: cardiovascular, endocrinological, or consumer health -- all top selling therapeutic areas in the US, Japan, and western Europe) or research on issues closer to home (HIVS/AIDS, Chagas, etc) of course, remains to be seen. From a pure growth or economic development standpoint, probably either route would be a good one.
Posted by Sam Hodges at 10:53 PM
