IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v108y2017icp70-77.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perspectives for the Brazilian bioethanol sector: The innovation driver

Author

Listed:
  • Salles-Filho, Sergio Luiz Monteiro
  • Castro, Paula Felício Drummond de
  • Bin, Adriana
  • Edquist, Charles
  • Ferro, Ana Flávia Portilho
  • Corder, Solange

Abstract

This article addresses the future of Brazil's bioethanol sector, focusing on its capabilities to innovate, its efforts toward producing cellulosic ethanol, and on recently implemented policies. Contrary to what has been argued in the literature, Brazil may not be prepared to face the technological and market challenges now emerging in the biofuels domain worldwide. Important productive investments were made by oil, energy, and chemical companies in bioethanol production in Brazil in the first decade of the 2000s; however, that sector has not shown levels of investment in innovation—either for first- or second-generation bioethanol—compatible with the challenges of making bioethanol a global commodity. Even considering recent policies in Brazil toward cellulosic bioethanol, the results achieved have been far from sustainable. This situation is partially due to uncertainties surrounding biofuels worldwide and partially due to contradictory policies toward liquid fuels in Brazil. The Brazilian government has simultaneously promoted both fossil fuels and renewables, thereby creating ambiguity among decision makers. These and other findings were drawn from an in-depth survey on innovation in the bioethanol sector in Brazil conducted in 2014 among 35 productive units affiliated to 58 industrial groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Salles-Filho, Sergio Luiz Monteiro & Castro, Paula Felício Drummond de & Bin, Adriana & Edquist, Charles & Ferro, Ana Flávia Portilho & Corder, Solange, 2017. "Perspectives for the Brazilian bioethanol sector: The innovation driver," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 70-77.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:108:y:2017:i:c:p:70-77
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.05.037
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030142151730321X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.05.037?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Malerba, Franco, 2002. "Sectoral systems of innovation and production," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 247-264, February.
    2. Pavitt, Keith, 1984. "Sectoral patterns of technical change: Towards a taxonomy and a theory," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 343-373, December.
    3. Furtado, André Tosi & Scandiffio, Mirna Ivonne Gaya & Cortez, Luis Augusto Barbosa, 2011. "The Brazilian sugarcane innovation system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 156-166, January.
    4. Franco Malerbo & Sunil Mani, 2009. "Sectoral systems of innovation and production in developing countries: an introduction," Chapters, in: Franco Malerba & Sunil Mani (ed.), Sectoral Systems of Innovation and Production in Developing Countries, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Hira, Anil & de Oliveira, Luiz Guilherme, 2009. "No substitute for oil? How Brazil developed its ethanol industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2450-2456, June.
    6. de Oliveira Bordonal, Ricardo & Lal, Rattan & Alves Aguiar, Daniel & de Figueiredo, Eduardo Barretto & Ito Perillo, Luciano & Adami, Marcos & Theodor Rudorff, Bernardo Friedrich & La Scala, Newton, 2015. "Greenhouse gas balance from cultivation and direct land use change of recently established sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) plantation in south-central Brazil," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 547-556.
    7. Carriquiry, Miguel A. & Du, Xiaodong & Timilsina, Govinda R., 2011. "Second generation biofuels: Economics and policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 4222-4234, July.
    8. Cerqueira Leite, Rogério Cezar de & Verde Leal, Manoel Regis Lima & Barbosa Cortez, Luís Augusto & Griffin, W. Michael & Gaya Scandiffio, Mirna Ivonne, 2009. "Can Brazil replace 5% of the 2025 gasoline world demand with ethanol?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 655-661.
    9. repec:idb:brikps:81680 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Figueiredo, Paulo N. & Larsen, Henrik & Hansen, Ulrich E., 2020. "The role of interactive learning in innovation capability building in multinational subsidiaries: A micro-level study of biotechnology in Brazil," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(6).
    2. Palacios-Bereche, M.C. & Palacios-Bereche, R. & Ensinas, A.V. & Gallego, A. Garrido & Modesto, Marcelo & Nebra, S.A., 2022. "Brazilian sugar cane industry – A survey on future improvements in the process energy management," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    3. Palazzi, Rafael Baptista & Meira, Erick & Klotzle, Marcelo Cabus, 2022. "The sugar-ethanol-oil nexus in Brazil: Exploring the pass-through of international commodity prices to national fuel prices," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    4. Abdol Majid Saadat Nezhad & Tahmoures Sohrabi & Nasrollah Shadnoosh & Abbas Toloie Eshlaghy, 2017. "A New Approach to Challenges of Venture Capital in Financing the Industrial Clusters through Cooperative Models and Venture Funds in Iran," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(6), pages 111-119.
    5. Lazaro, Lira Luz Benites & Giatti, Leandro Luiz & Bermann, Celio & Giarolla, Angelica & Ometto, Jean, 2021. "Policy and governance dynamics in the water-energy-food-land nexus of biofuels: Proposing a qualitative analysis model," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    6. Castañeda-Ayarza, Juan Arturo & Godoi, Beatriz Araújo, 2021. "Macro-environmental influence on the development of Brazilian fuel ethanol between 1975 and 2019," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Furtado, André Tosi & Scandiffio, Mirna Ivonne Gaya & Cortez, Luis Augusto Barbosa, 2011. "The Brazilian sugarcane innovation system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 156-166, January.
    2. Thomas Wolfgang Thurner & Stanislav Zaichenko, 2016. "Sectoral Differences In Technology Transfer," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(02), pages 1-24, February.
    3. Elías Humberto Peraza Castaneda & Guillermo Aleixandre Mendizábal, 2021. "Innovation Behavior of Salvadoran Food & Beverage Industry Firms," Revista Finanzas y Politica Economica, Universidad Católica de Colombia, vol. 13(2), pages 439-472, August.
    4. Klein, Malte & Sauer, Andreas, 2016. "Celebrating 30 years of innovation system research: What you need to know about innovation systems," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 17-2016, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    5. Baldwin, Carliss Y. & Bogers, Marcel L.A.M. & Kapoor, Rahul & West, Joel, 2024. "Focusing the ecosystem lens on innovation studies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(3).
    6. Rachel Levy & Pascale Roux & Sandrine Wolff, 2009. "An analysis of science–industry collaborative patterns in a large European University," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 1-23, February.
    7. Vanessa Oltra & Maïder Saint Jean, 2007. "Incrementalism of environmental innovations versus paradigmatic change: a comparative study of the automotive and chemical industries," Post-Print hal-00155039, HAL.
    8. Ajay Thutupalli & Michiko Iizuka, 2016. "Catching-up in agricultural innovation: the case of Bacillus thuringiensis cotton in India," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(6), pages 923-940.
    9. Rogge, Karoline S. & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2009. "The impact of the EU ETS on the sectoral innovation system for power generation technologies: findings for Germany," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S2/2009, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    10. Taalbi, Josef, 2017. "What drives innovation? Evidence from economic history," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1437-1453.
    11. Matteo Lucchese, 2011. "Innovation, demand and structural change in Europe," Working Papers 1109, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2011.
    12. Dario Guarascio & Mario Pianta & Francesco Bogliacino, 2017. "Export, R&D and New Products: A Model and a Test on European Industries," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & Uwe Cantner (ed.), Foundations of Economic Change, pages 393-432, Springer.
    13. Nobuya Fukugawa, 2016. "Knowledge creation and dissemination by Kosetsushi in sectoral innovation systems: insights from patent data," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(3), pages 2303-2327, December.
    14. Montresor, Sandro & Vezzani, Antonio, 2015. "The production function of top R&D investors: Accounting for size and sector heterogeneity with quantile estimations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 381-393.
    15. Attila Havas, 2016. "Social and Business Innovations: Are Common Measurement Approaches Possible?," Foresight-Russia Форсайт, CyberLeninka;Федеральное государственное автономное образовательное учреждение высшего образования «Национальный исследовательский университет «Высшая школа экономики», vol. 10(2 (eng)), pages 58-80.
    16. Isabel Freitas & Tommy Clausen & Roberto Fontana & Bart Verspagen, 2011. "Formal and informal external linkages and firms’ innovative strategies. A cross-country comparison," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 91-119, February.
    17. Fulvio Castellacci, 2007. "Technological regimes and sectoral differences in productivity growth ," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(6), pages 1105-1145, December.
    18. Andersen, Allan Dahl & Andersen, Per Dannemand, 2014. "Innovation system foresight," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 276-286.
    19. Epicoco, Marianna, 2016. "Patterns of innovation and organizational demography in emerging sustainable fields: An analysis of the chemical sector," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 427-441.
    20. Fassio Claudio, 2011. "Sectoral invariances or distance-from-the-frontier effect among European mid-low tech sectors," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201115, University of Turin.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:108:y:2017:i:c:p:70-77. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.