Technology and innovation are key to increasing a country's productivity, competitiveness and economic growth. The assessment was unanimous among businesspeople and authorities in attendance this afternoon (31) at the Brasil Investment Forum 2017. “We have huge prospects because we still have a lot to do," Finep president Marcos Cintra said at the event, adding that although the Brazilian government makes significant investments in research and development, the same is not true for the private sector, which spends little.

According to Cintra, Brazil invested 1.27% of its GDP in research and development in 2014 - the highest rate among Latin American countries and also the highest of all emerging economies except China. He pointed out that two-thirds of this figure came from the government, while the remainder was supplied by private enterprise.

“The government is already at the limit of its efforts. Why are we failing in making the private sector follow the public?”

The president of the Institute for Industrial Development Studies (Iedi), Pedro Wongtschowski, argued that investment in innovation is limited by the low profitability of companies and their lack of equity. He added that public investment has also fallen since 2013, this year accounting for 40% of what the government spent five years ago.

“The crisis is demanding gigantic sacrifices," Cintra replied. “But this will be overcome by the measures the government is taking to clean up public accounts.”

Natura's co-founder, Pedro Passos, said that Brazil is preparing to take one of its most important leaps: inclusion in the world economy. “But to do it, Brazil needs to open its economy and establish internal competition," he said, explaining that this is the path to overcome the technological gap.

“Growth will no longer come from the supply of labour, but from innovation," Passos added.