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The U.S. State Department released the following article on the 2nd U.S.-Brazil Innovation Summit, held at Georgetown University, September 20-21. 

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U.S., Brazil Stress Innovation as Way to Compete Globally
Eric Green
Special Correspondent, America.gov

Washington — The United States, recognizing Brazil’s emergence as a world power, is deepening its relationship with the South American nation through the joint development of new products and services that will create jobs while protecting Earth’s natural resources.

To further that goal, some 400 U.S. and Brazilian leaders from government, business and academia met at the 2nd U.S.-Brazil Innovation Summit September 20–21 at Georgetown University in Washington to boost binational cooperation in such areas as developing biofuels and other environmentally friendly, or “green,” technology. The event was organized by the Washington-based Council on Competitiveness, the Brazilian Competitiveness Movement and the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development, and follows the first U.S.-Brazil Innovation Summit in Brasilia, Brazil, in 2007.

Thomas Shannon, U.S. ambassador to Brazil and a featured speaker at the Georgetown event, said that if used properly, “innovation can push our two economies and societies forward in a really dramatic way.”

Shannon pointed to a “transformation” in the U.S.-Brazil relationship, which is being driven “by transformation in Brazil” through that country’s economic growth and achievements in energy security. Shannon pointed to instances where Brazil has taken an increasingly prominent role on the global stage, such as its helping in the international effort to restore security in Haiti or its innovation in producing ethanol to replace gasoline in powering automobiles, thereby reducing the dependence on foreign oil. He mentioned the status Brazil gained by winning intense international competitions to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

The United States and Brazil need to understand “this changing situation and be able to respond to it in a creative and imaginative way that enhances both of our countries. For me, this is one of the exciting aspects of working on the U.S.-Brazil relationship right now,” Shannon said.

The Georgetown event, Shannon said, creates “learning laboratories and other points of engagement” to share ideas on innovation. Leaders from both countries met to discuss intellectual property, technology transfer, entrepreneurship, commercialization, and work force and economic development.

NEED FOR U.S.-BRAZIL COOPERATION

Deborah Wince-Smith, president of the Council on Competitiveness, said the meeting identified opportunities in the public and private sectors for “game-changing innovations and new technologies that will enable us to meet the growing demand for energy and food and to stay competitive in the global marketplace.”

Wince-Smith — who said she believes that nations must answer to pressures to become globally competitive — said that by engaging “innovators from the region’s two most dynamic economies, the United States and Brazil are building partnerships that will ensure shared prosperity in the 21st century.”

With growing competition from Asia and elsewhere, she said, the United States and Brazil “have a strong incentive to work together.”

OBAMA MAKING INNOVATION A PRIORITY

President Obama made innovation a priority in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, as pointed out by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, who spoke at the meeting. Steinberg said that while Obama’s commitment to innovation begins “at home,” the United States must combine its diplomacy and development efforts to encourage innovation abroad.

Steinberg said the United States and Brazil share a mutual commitment to innovation, which will allow for an expansion in the countries’ trade. Brazil is the United States’ second-largest trading partner in Latin America, after Mexico.

A U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue meeting, scheduled for September 22 in Washington, he said, would examine new bilateral cooperation on green technology, “intelligent” transportation standards and customs modernization. The dialogue follows previous meetings held between science and technology representatives from the two countries to mark 15 years of bilateral cooperation in those fields.

Another speaker at Georgetown, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro, outlined several areas where the United States wants to work more closely with Brazil — information technology, intellectual property and promoting open markets for trade and investment. These areas will be particularly important, she said, as Brazil undertakes the responsibility of hosting the World Cup and the Olympics.

Mauro Vieira, Brazil’s ambassador to the United States, said he expects opportunities to result from the Georgetown event, including job creation in the business and technology sectors in both the United States and Brazil.