In 1990, Brazil implemented a radical change in its development policy - from import substitution towards a competitive pattern of industrial development.
Traditional technology policy initiatives have had a limited impact in terms of creating a national system of innovation that stimulates industrial competitiveness. A new approach has to be pursued, based on the new technology policy paradigm that emerges in the industrialized world; keywords are path dependency, differentiated instruments, and new, network-based patterns of governance. Politicians are facing the difficult but not impossible task of coping with this challenge. Industry is facing a fierce pressure to adjust. New management concepts help in mastering this challenge.
This volume investigates the reasons for the limited effectiveness of technology policy in the inward-oriented industrialization model of the past. It looks at the political structures that compromise the transition to the development model, and the restructuring effort within Brazilian industrial firms.