From saying to doing, there is not much way. In many cases there is an abyss. For companies, investing in research is essential to differentiate themselves from the competition, lower costs and attract talent. But in Argentina, “Only 20% of executives believe their company today has the kind of culture necessary for innovationNotes a recent Accenture report.
In the 2022 World Innovation Ranking of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Argentina ranks 69th out of 132 nations. Switzerland, the United States and Sweden are the countries that invest the most in applied research, both public and private. “Avant-garde research”, in fact, was the axis of the talk organized by Clarioneconducted by the economics editors of this newspaper, Daniel Fernández Canedo and Luis Ceriotto.
The debate is part of “The World to Come”, a cycle that has the main support of OSDE, Telecom and DESA, in addition to the sponsorship of AFARTE and the support of Massalin Particulares. Andrea Costantini, Head of Scientific Relations of Philip Morris International, participated on this occasion; Ana Vainman, Executive Director of AFARTE; Pablo Vic, founder and CEO of Tlon Space; and the journalist Lalo Zanoni.
The area of research (R&D) is vital for big high-tech giants, such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft. “Philip Morris has invested $ 9 billion to develop smoke-free alternatives and stop selling cigarettes as soon as possible,” Costantini said.
The tobacco company spends 99% of its investment on improving so-called tobacco heaters, which are less harmful to health. It is estimated that There are 1,000 million smokers in the world, of which 7 million are Argentines. “With heated tobacco, 95% of the toxic substances are eliminated,” he stressed.
Innovation implies improvements in production processes but also new developments whose goal is to create new patents. This is something that tech companies carry in their DNA, as a new development could represent leadership or survival in one of the most dynamic and competitive businesses.
Vic comments that the aerospace industry “is an industry that is developing all over the world”, especially in the nanosatellite business. “Because they are low-cost, a company can build their own constellation of nanosatellites to build private communications networks. This is a very big change and Argentina must be part of it”, Said the entrepreneur.
The above WIPO ranking indicates that, globally, the private sector has not stopped investing despite the pandemic. The innovation areas of the companies increased their disbursements by 10% in the year 2021, which represents an increase of 3.3% compared to 2020. In the same report, indicates that the sectors with the greatest investments are those related to ICT hardware and electrical equipment, software services, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology; and also to the construction and generation of industrial metals.
According to the World Bank, investment in research and development reached 2.63% of world GDP in 2020. In Argentina it represents just 0.53% and more than two thirds are public resources. The leading countries are Israel (5.44%), South Korea (4.81%), the United States (3.45%), Japan (3.26%) and Germany (3.14%).
Zanoni underlines the importance of the State’s contribution to promote scientific and technological research. “As Israel did, it must create the conditions for private companies to invest,” he explains. “Argentina has talent, land, natural resources, we have the ability to adapt and innovate. The problem is that all of this has to be organized by politics“, list.
WIPO has identified two future investment waves that will be a trend among companies. First, they anticipated higher expenses for the further development of the digital age and supercomputing. But they also warned of the tendency to invest in deep and hard sciences, namely biotechnology, nanotechnology and the development of new materials.
There are auspicious data: the Research and Development Survey (ESID) of the Argentine business sector, prepared by the National Directorate of Scientific Information of the MINCyT, in Argentina investments in research and development are growing. Disbursements in this area increased by 75% between 2016 and 2020.
“All companies they spend part of their income to research and development to improve products and also production processes, to optimize them, to train staff. This translates into benefits, such as reduced energy consumption. Previously, air conditioners had a high graduation and now almost all of them are low-power, ”Vainman exemplifies.
In proportion, the experts underline the entrepreneurial vocation of the Argentines and their innovative capacity. They claim that 12 unicorns have emerged in the country so far, as the companies that manage to pass a valuation of $ 1,000 million are known. The best known are Mercado Libre, Globant, Despegar and OLX. Last year 6 startups joined this exclusive club, including Ualá and Tiendanube.
“The star of the aerospace industry is communication. The costs of these services have come down, ”says Vic, referring to microsatellites that weigh only 1 kilo and are put into orbit to offer data for precision seeding, for example.
Source: Clarin
