Impact of P&D Incentive Program on the Performance and Technological Efforts of Brazilian Industrial Firms

This study assesses the impact of the National Technological Development Support Program (ADTEN) on the technical performance and strength of Brazilian industrial firms and unprecedented in its content and method. It shows that this R&D incentive program reaches a relatively limited number of firms, considering the magnitude of the Brazilian industrial sector. The program reaches only 0.07% of Brazilian industrial firms with over 10 employees, and the volume of resources that firms borrowed within the program's framework was only 1.6% and 3% of their R&D expenditures in 2000 and 2003, respectively. It was evidenced that ADTEN had a positive influence on companies' private R&D expenditures from 1996 to 2003.