Systematic resource mobilization for innovation: evidence from FINEP in Brazil (2002-2023)

Abstract

This article examines long-term access to public innovation funding in Brazil by analysing how different organizational types mobilize FINEP-funded resources between 2002 and 2023. Drawing on a longitudinal dataset of 30,157 projects financed by Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP) within the broader framework of the Fundo Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (FNDCT), Brazil’s principal federal innovation funding mechanism, the study investigates how systematic resource mobilization for innovation varies across organizational types over time and across changing political and fiscal contexts. The study introduces the concept of Systematic Resource Mobilization for Innovation (SRM-I) to analyse the sustained capacity to access, absorb, and execute public innovation resources over time. To operationalize this concept, it develops a composite SRM Index based on project frequency, temporal continuity, and cumulative funding volume. The analysis compares organizational types in the FINEP database, including private firms, public agencies, universities, and university support foundations. Results show that support foundations affiliated with public universities exhibit significantly higher levels of continuity, scale, and persistence than other organizational types across successive government administrations, from the expansionary periods of the Lula and Dilma governments to the fiscally restrictive Temer administration and the market-oriented Bolsonaro period. Overall, the findings suggest that SRM-I reflects a path-dependent organizational capability shaped by execution modality and long-term embeddedness in the funding system. In this context, university support foundations emerge as key intermediary organizations for sustaining continuity in public innovation funding across political and fiscal cycles.