Datasheet for Brazil

Aggregated data

Among the 15 Newly Industrialised Countries (NIC) analysed,  Brazil is ranked No. 11 with regard to the General Innovation Index (GII) and No. 7 with regard to the Sustainability Index (SusI). Brazil is significantly specialising on sustainability technologies especially with regard to patents. Please view the methods sheet for more detailed information about the indicators and their calculation.
The world shares of Brazil in sustainability relevant publications, patents and exports are given in table 1.


Table 1: World shares of Brazil
literature patents exports
World shares2.42% 0.42% 1.30%

Indicators for general innovation capacity

Among the 15 Newly Industrialised Countries analysed,  Brazil is ranked at No. 14 for governance and entrepreneurship. With regard to openness, it is placed in the middle, and ranked No. 5 with regard to skilled labour.
With regard to the environmental and social aspects that enter the calculation of the SusI, Brazil ranks in the middle of the 15 NICs analyzed.


Indicators for technology specific absorptive capacity

 Brazil shows a very strong specialisation in the field of resources efficiency for both, exports and knowledge build-up. It is also specializing in the build-up of knowledge in the field of waste and energy efficiency. The negative knowledge but positive export specialisation in transportation can perhaps be explained with the importance of Foreign Direct Investment in this field. The world shares of Brazil in technology specific publications (WLS), patents (WPS) and exports (WTS) are given in table 2.


Table 2: World shares of Brazil for technology fields
Technology fields WLS WPS WTS
energy supply 1.42% 0.33% 0.34%
energy efficiency 1.52% 0.44% 0.81%
material efficiency 3.09% 1.36% 5.01%
transportation 1.22% 0.21% 2.00%
water 2.34% 0.50% 0.49%
waste 2.33% 0.34% 0.99%

Selected disaggregated results for technology specific indicators

Table 3 lists the results for the indicators of Brazil on an even more disaggregated level. The relevant indicators are the World Trade Share (WTS), Relative Trade Share (RTS), Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), Patent Share (PS) and the Revealed Patent Advantage (RPA). Especially the results for renewable raw materials and biofuels are striking.


Table 3: Disaggregated results of Brazil
Disaggregated Technology fields WTS RTS RCA PS RPA
Recycling 0.24% -92 -89 0.70% 75
Energy Efficient Appliances 0.45% -74 -80 0.24% -8
Energy Efficient Buildings 0.24% -92 -90 0.37% 32
Industrial Auxiliary Equipment 1.06% -9 -33 0.38% 36
Industrial Processes 1.44% 21 -67 0.74% 78
Renewable Energy Technologies 0.34% -84 -82 0.56% 64
Power Plant Technologies 0.35% -83 -77 0.23% -13
Renewable Raw Materials 7.51% 95 92 1.73% 95
Propulsion Technologies 1.53% 27 -9 0.46% 52
Biofuels 13.28% 98 97 1.34% 93
Automotive Engineering and Design 1.63% 32 77 0.24% -8
Sewage Disposal Technologies 0.36% -82 -85 0.50% 0.57
Water Supply Technologies 0.65% -53 -57 0.50% 56
Wind Turbines 0.03% -100 -100 0.43% 46
Photovoltaics 0.01% -100 -100 0.00% -100
Thermal Solar Power 0.08% -99 -17 0.44% 48
Carbon Capture and Storage 0.39% -80 -88 0.30% 14
Desalination 0.01% -100 -100 0.60% 68
Engines 1.92% 46 10 0.65% 72
Hybrid Vehicles 0.58% -61 -77 0.00% -100
Water Efficiency Technologies 0.49% -69 -59 0.58% 66