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Brazil Centers of Excellence
Centers of Excellence
Scientist Jacques Marcovitch conducted a detailed 1992 study, entitled
Centers of Excellence in PeD in Brazil , on a small group of high-quality
research centers in an attempt to identify the reasons for their
success. They were Petrobrás's Cenpes, in Rio
de Janeiro; the Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the Federal
University of Santa Catarina, in Florianópolis; the Heart
Institute (Instituto do Coração) at USP; the Butantan
Institute, belonging to São
Paulo State's SCTDE; IMPA (Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics),
associated with the CNPq, in Rio de Janeiro; the research center
of Light Metal, Inc. (Metal Leve S.A.), a leading Brazilian manufacturer
of car and airplane components; the research center of Rhodia-Poulenc,
a French chemical industrial group, in Paulínia, São
Paulo; and the soybean research program at the Federal University of Viçosa, Minas
Gerais.
Despite their different contexts and purposes, all these centers
of excellence--government institutes, university research centers,
and research and development units in private and public corporations--shared
a common set of features. First, they benefited from their external
environment, including the availability of financial support, different
types of incentives, market niches, or well-identified local opportunities.
A well-established and competent leadership identified these opportunities
and put them to proper use. Second, they made world-class contributions
in their fields of knowledge. This was true even for IMPA, which
works in the most abstract fields of mathematics but still has an
important impact on the teaching of mathematics at all levels in
Brazilian education. Third, the leaderships of these centers shared
an entrepreneurial spirit. The most outstanding researchers or institution-builders
all shared the ability to identify successful goals for their institution,
to garner resources, and to identify talent. Fourth, the leaders
of these institutions had an ability to find a proper organizational
model. According to Marcovitch, these entrepreneurs found innovative
mechanisms that freed them from bureaucratic labyrinths, and they
adopted institutional frameworks that supported the achievement
of their goals. Constant organizational adaptations, specialized,
task-oriented units, efficient decision making, and consensus among
the leaders and the researchers were key features of success.
These conditions of success also help to explain why the centers
of excellence are the exception rather than the rule among Brazilian
research institutions. Most research centers in universities and
government institutions follow civil service rules, which favor
fixed procedures and conformity rather than entrepreneurship and
managerial flexibility. Protected until recently by strong trade
barriers or state monopolies, Brazilian companies did not make efficiency
and innovation their priorities, and either did not invest in research
and development or did not use products derived from their research
and development units. If Brazilian science is to play a significant
role in the country's future, Brazil's institutions need an environment
of entrepreneurship, quality, and institutional flexibility that
is typical of its centers of excellence. Only then can these centers
become the rule rather than the exception.
Data as of April 1997
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