Brazil's federal EMBRAPII co-funds R&D between research institutes and firms, splitting risk three ways. A first evaluation of 179 funded firms found 68% led to innovations, 91% reported positive impact; by 2023 it backed 2,355 projects worth R$3.46bn across 1,610 firms.
68.2 %
Projects leading to innovations (first evaluation)
EMBRAPII, a federal social organisation founded in December 2013 and headquartered in Brasília, funds collaborative research projects between accredited technological-research institutes and industrial companies, targeting pre-competitive, close-to-market innovation.
Objectives
Share R&D risk roughly three ways between EMBRAPII, the company and the research unit to advance pre-competitive, close-to-market innovation across sectors including manufacturing, agribusiness and biotechnology.
Activities
EMBRAPII co-funds collaborative research projects between accredited technological-research institutes and industrial companies, splitting costs roughly three ways between EMBRAPII, the company, and the research unit.
Results
A first comprehensive independent evaluation surveying 179 EMBRAPII-funded companies found that 68.2% of projects led to innovations and 91% of firms reported positive impacts on product value, market access or internal capabilities — outperforming Brazil's national innovation survey baseline. By 2023, the model had cumulatively financed 2,355 projects with 1,610 client companies for R$3.46 billion invested since 2013, with a record R$677 million contracted across 431 companies in 2023 alone (17.6% growth over 2022).
Conclusions
The evidence so far is a self-reported outcomes survey plus programme administrative data rather than a counterfactual impact evaluation, so causal attribution to EMBRAPII funding versus other firm-level factors is not established.
Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M) — Costs are split roughly three ways between EMBRAPII, the company and the research unit; cumulative investment reached R$3.46 billion (2013–2023), with R$677 million contracted in 2023 alone.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Founded December 2013; operated continuously through 2023 (10 years), with contracted value growing 17.6% from 2022 to 2023.
Staffing & skills
Projects run jointly by accredited technological-research institutes and industrial companies, with EMBRAPII co-financing
Conditions for success
accredited research institutes with sufficient technical capacity
three-way cost-sharing discipline between EMBRAPII, the company and the research unit
Common failure modes
causal attribution to EMBRAPII funding versus other firm-level factors is not established, as no counterfactual evaluation has been conducted
sources describe no targeting of underrepresented entrepreneurs or regions
Commonly funded by
National / regional programmes
Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.
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Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
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