Support for technological innovation in the Brazilian machinery and equipment sector since the 2000s: Analysis based on the Innovation Survey (PINTEC)

This article analyses how technological innovation has evolved in the machinery and equipment sector in Brazil, comparing innovation by firms that benefited from government schemes to support innovation versus those that did not. The data used were from six editions of the Innovation Survey (PINTEC) and a special tabulation prepared by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The results indicate that the industrial and science, technology and innovation policies of the 2000s had positive effects in the sector: firms’ innovative activities were boosted by government support instruments and increased more than innovation by companies that did not receive this support. The systematized data also enable the identification of some failings in these sector support programmes.