A recently released document by the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI) points to nanotechnology as a significant opportunity area for Brazil's industrial development in a market that could generate $1.5 trillion just in 2015. The study shows that the expected growth is not related to the production of basic nanomaterials, but to the ability of certain segments to transform them into high value-added products.
Although the scenario is promising and favorable for new investments, the costs for developing this technology are still very high. To combine efforts in advancing research in nanotechnology in the country and invest in innovation and cutting-edge technology, Natura has joined the Institute of Technological Research (IPT) in an unprecedented cooperation project that involves three more companies with the support of the Brazilian Company for Research and Industrial Innovation (Embrapii).
Natura and IPT already have a cooperation history of at least a decade, and Embrapii emerges as a facilitating actor in this new process. Or in the words of Leonardo Garnica, manager for innovation systems at Natura, “a bureaucratizer of the process.” Embrapii was the one who mobilized IPT to showcase its best capabilities, organize its top researchers, and make this available for interaction with the company. “IPT invited us to go there to hear about all the research lines they had. We started to survey the possible synergies we had on this technological theme. In a second moment, we participated in a meeting that involved senior managers. We returned to Natura and prioritized the topics that were most urgent and suitable for this type of cooperation. We then defined the project leaders for these initiatives and approved the projects within Natura,” he recalls.
The financing involves contributions from the three parties participating in the project: the company, Embrapii, and IPT. Among the significant advantages of this format is the possibility to work on more expensive projects, as the costs are shared. The common goal is for the product to be launched. According to Leonardo, “if the company presents the demand and there is no fruitful interaction, the institute begins to be charged because it is not being attractive to the industrial sector.” This ensures that the scientific institution works faster and serves the company in a way that differs from the standard service, and the logics become more aligned because everyone wants the product to be launched in the future.
Juliana Alencastre, also a scientific manager at Natura, emphasizes that “the government is very interested in boosting this nanotechnology theme in Brazil and bringing academia closer to industry. So through this program, it can accelerate this process. It is possible to speed up innovation due to the division of costs, accelerating research in nanotechnology in Brazil.”
In the established cooperation model, Natura participated in seminars for knowledge exchange with the other three companies - Grupo Boticário, Yamá, and TheraSkin - but confidentiality about the specifics of each company's research projects was maintained. “These seminars were very enriching, not only for us to receive knowledge about nanotechnology but also to have this interaction with the other companies,” evaluates Juliana Flor, scientific manager at Natura. She explains that on these occasions, IPT provided the companies with information about the theoretical part of nanotechnology.
For her, “Natura and IPT gain a lot from this type of partnership. The exchange of knowledge, interactions, and discussions about the project provide a learning environment for both parties, contributing to a better delivery.”
