Brazil enters global ranking of innovation
Valor Econômico
In a small office of the Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurism and Technology (Cietec), CARE-Eletric, an incubated company created in 2007, developed a turbine for power generation that dramatically reduces the environmental problems caused by the installation of hydroelectric plants. The system is based on the principle of water wheels. The turbines are installed in specific points of the watercourse of a river and generate energy from the natural flow of the water, without the need of setting up dams, as in a conventional power plant. "It works like a water wheel, but under the water", explains the manager of the company, Edson Abuchaim.
CARE-Eletric is the first Brazilian company to appear in the "Technology Pioneers" ranking, elaborated by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The survey was made from the analysis of more than 300 innovation projects executed in the five continents. From all analyzed projects, 26 were selected in the categories of information technology, biotechnology and health, energy and environmental protection - in this last one, the Brazilian company ranked fourth place.
The offer of projects aimed at the development of green technologies has grown significantly in this edition of the survey, says the Director of Technology Pioneers, Rodolfo Lara. On the average of the last ten years, 62% of the projects presented were related to the area of information technology; another 22% were related to areas of healthcare and biotechnology and 16% of them to the segment of energy and environment. In the latest edition of the study, 38% of the submitted works were "green" technologies. The concern with the global warming has exerted a significant influence on the themes of the innovation researches, says Lara.
Lara mentions a global report of Ernst & Young on clean technology elaborated this year, in which more than 300 executives of companies with earnings above US$ 1 billion informed their companies are investing in the adoption of technologies that reduce the environmental damages. These executives have estimated the companies will spend at least US$ 10 million in 2010 in the adoption of clean technologies; 22% of the total has foreseen disbursements above US$ 100 million. Among the companies mentioned are BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Duke Energy, GE, and Cisco systems.
Another point highlighted by Lara in the survey was the increase of the participation of companies from developing countries. Last year, from 34 companies selected, 15 were American and there was only one representative from South America and one from India. This year, 18 projects were developed in the United States, one in Brazil, two in India and one in a partnership between South Africa and Kenya.