This post is a summary of two articles. The first was published in 2019 at https://www.viima.com/blog/importance-of-innovation. The second with the title above was published in 2020 at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/innovation-brazil-looking-beyond-surface-roberto-dos-reis-alvarez
Innovation, by definition, is the introduction of something new. Without innovation, there is not anything new, there will be no progress. Innovation really is the core reason for modern existence. Although innovation can have some undesirable consequences, change is inevitable and in most cases, innovation create positive change. Innovation is important to the advancement of society as it solves social problems and enhances society's capacity to act. It is responsible for resolving problems in a sustainable and efficient way, usually with new tech. These new tech, products and services simultaneously meet a social need and lead to improved capabilities and better use of assets and resources. In general, the result of innovation should always be improvement. From the society's perspective, the fundamental outcomes of innovation are economic growth, increased well-being and communication, educational accessibility and environmental sustainability. Technological innovation is considered as a major source of economic growth. If we look at the transformation of the U.S. once an agrarian economy in the mid-19th century to an industrial economy by the First World War, we can see that agricultural innovations and inventions were actually one of the largest factors that helped bring about the Industrial Revolution. Technological advancement and increased productivity means major changes for careers today as well. According to the new W.E.F. report, nearly 133 million new jobs may be created by 2022 while 75 million jobs are displaced by A.I. automation and robotics. The main purpose of innovation is to improve people's lives. When it comes to managing a business, innovation is the key for making any kind of progress. Small improvements eventually lead to bigger and better ideas that may one day become revolutionary. In the meantime, however, you are responsible for finding ways to make improvements in your own sphere of influence. Our suggestion is to simultaneously work on developing your personal skills and business related aspects. Innovation and Brazil are two words that rarely appear together in global news. The country is hardly known for companies that were born there and reached global markets. Nevertheless, the startup scene is rapidly growing in the country, giving rise to new and exciting opportunitiesand gaining global visibility. To the surprise of many, such opportunities can even include deep tech and hardware businesses. Foreign trade accounted for about 29% of Brazil's GDP in 2019, a low level for countries in a similar stage of development and the global trade landscape. The global average is 60% and the other BRIC countries have aproximately 35%-49% of their GDPs associated to foreign trade. But this is not the only metric to show that the Brazilian economy is poorly connected to the world. It is estimated that 500 companies, less than 0,01% of the total, have operations outside of Brazil. Countries that are poorly connected to the world are constrained by the lack of global business capabilities available for local companies, do not frequently oxygenate their economies with new ideas and concepts, have limited opportunities to scale businesses up globally, and lag behind in monetizing investments in science and technology. The environment in which one is inserted can make a big difference for success in entrepreneuship, business, career, life, etc. Despite all challenges, Brazil managed to develop relevant science capabilities over the years, has a relatively sphisticated economy, and a dynamic(but high-friction) business environment. In recent years, despite challenging economic conditions, Brazil has witnessed a startup boom, with local startups raising a record of $3.5 bi in 2020. Global venture capital are increasingly present in Latin America and especially in Brazil. A country like Brazil is full of inefficiencies in the economy, in logistics, banking, retail, mobility, supply chains in general and education. And is behind advanced economies in adopting new digital business models. Thus, it presents many opportunities for entrepreneurs. The country is also a major food producer, and agrotech startups are on the spot. A novel feature of the current startup boom is that companies are issuing stocks and causing a change in a market dominated by industries. In 2020 alone, the Brazilian stock exchange saw the number of tech companies listed grow from 4 to 12. Nevertheless, Brazil still has a long way to go. While the main finance, media and business hubs have been São Paulo and Rio, a recent wave of cities across the nation are establishing their own thriving digital innovation ecosystems. Some of these new hubs include Florianópolis (reputed to have the most dense startup ecosystem in the country). In April 2019, I mentioned during a lecture on innovation trends in Brasilia that, between 2013 and 2019, almost 500 eletric vehicle companies had been started up in China. I knew the reality is very different in Brazil and asked the audience, "How many eletric vehicle companies are there in Brazil? Brazilians are known for being highly active across an array of social media. It is no surprise that we can find lots of Brazilians startups working on mobile applications, online marketing, e-commerce, demand aggregators and other pure digital models. Nevertheless, most startups are not involved with hardware and their origins can't be directly traced to science and research. In comparison to the average purely digital startup, deep tech and science-based startup are more likely to come up with solutions that are new to the world. Brazil is overwhelmed by a variety of challenges, but there are positive signs coming from Brazil about an emerging 'new economy'. The Brazilian business present in the largest number of countries in the world is Stefanini, an IT services and software company. Brazil underperforms in education when compared to OECD countries, but EdTech is gaining momentum and Descomplica just raised the largest investment ever in Latin America for an EdTech company, in a round that combined several local and global venture capital funds. Eventually and hopefully, the asymmetries between Brazil and the world will be reduced, at least in part. When that happens, the possibilities to create value via global connections will be diminished. That will be good for Brazil and local entrepreneurs. the time to leverage the asymmetries is now.
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