Technology Appropriation and Technology Transfer in the Brazilian Mining Sector
Economic Research Working Paper No. 53
Author: Ana Claudia Nonato da Silva Loureiro
Author: Domenica Blundi
Author: Felipe Veiga Lopes
Author: Gustavo Travassos Pereira da Silva
Author: Marina Filgueiras Jorge
Author: Sergio Medeiros Paulino de Carvalho
Author: Vitoria Orind
Publication year: 2019
License: 
DOI: English
This paper focuses on the competitive dynamics, strategic challenges, technological needs and institutional innovation-promoting arrangements in Brazil’s mining sector in order to identify the ways in which mining firms and mining equipment, technology and services suppliers (METS) handle innovation appropriation and technology transfer in the country. As the main sample consisted of resident and non-resident companies, the key technological areas of mining-related patenting in Brazil and the main patent stakeholders have been identified. The analysis of technology transfer among firms and to other mining industry stakeholders, mainly universities, drew on import contracts and highlighted the role played by foreign METS. A case study of Vale S.A., Brazil’s largest mining enterprise, has been included, with emphasis on Vale’s strategies to mitigate external challenges and to meet technological needs through innovation.
