Productive-Technological Capabilities, Development, and National Sovereignty

This chapter analyzes the industrial and technological capabilities of Brazil in the context of the social and economic losses caused by the COVID-19 global health crisis, and to what extent these capabilities highlight the need to rethink industrial and sciences, technology, and innovation (ST&I) policies in search of greater resilience to future crises, of an external insertion compatible with national sovereignty, and of better prospects for economic development. The evolution of Brazil's production-trade structure is explored, with emphasis on the health complex, followed by a discussion on the perspectives for economic development from the integration into global value chains and on the Brazilian technological and scientific capabilities in a comparative perspective. It concludes that the current crisis has exposed the ongoing process of weakening capabilities of Brazil and the urgency of intelligent and effective designs of industrial and ST&I policies, in a systemic, multidisciplinary, and multisectoral approach.