Ciência e inovação

Abstract

Necessity exerted a selection pressure on the human species, who learned to research, to accumulate knowledge and to innovate. Such strategy was key to human evolution; and science and innovation are the two complemetary sides
of the same coin. In Brazil, after the predatory phase of the colonial rule had ended, such strategy of accumulating knowledge as a premise of innovation can be noticed in the post-Second World War period, when investments were made in science and technology to ensure sovereignty as well as social and economic development. The model adopted then was that of creating a solid training program both in the country and abroad, along with a support program for scientific research. Thus, at their early phase those programs sought to promote the generation of knowledge, which eventually would lead to its
use in innovation. Despite the lack of consensus in relation to the indicators used to measure and compare our level of scientific and technological development, the results indicate that we have achieved a respectable stature – both qualitative and quantitative-wise – of generating knowledge needed for us to take a leap forward in terms of innovation, in a context of a modern society seeking social and economic devopment on sustainable bases.