Purpose

This study aims to measure the intensity of innovation in the Brazilian food sector and compares it to other manufacturing sectors in the country.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used economic and financial data provided by the annual survey of industry [Pesquisa Industrial Anual (PIAs), in Portuguese] and other supporting data provided by the survey of innovation [Pesquisa de Inovação (PINTEC), in Portuguese] and the classification of technology intensity (TI) proposed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The authors subsequently applied the Malmquist index in addition to the data envelopment analysis to measure innovation.

Findings

The results reveal that the Brazilian food sector is classified as a sector with low TI and investment in research and development (R&D), which represents one of the lowest rates when compared to other sectors. Thus, the Brazilian food sector is far from achieving its full potential. Nevertheless, the authors noticed that the sugar refinery industry showed an evolution in its technology frontier and presented a frequency of innovation similar to the average of high-tech industries.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the debate on innovation in the food sector, emphasizing the need to accomplish higher investments in R&D to increase the productivity of the sector.

中文翻译：

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衡量巴西食品行业的创新强度：DEA-Malmquist方法

目的

这项研究旨在衡量巴西食品行业的创新强度，并将其与巴西其他制造业部门进行比较。

设计/方法/方法

作者使用了由年度工业调查提供的经济和金融数据（葡萄牙语，Pesquisa Industrial Anual（PIA））和由创新调查提供的其他支持数据（葡萄牙语，Pesquisa deInovação（PINTEC））以及分类。经济合作与发展组织提出的技术强度（TI）。随后，除了数据包络分析之外，作者还应用了Malmquist指数来衡量创新。

发现

结果表明，巴西食品行业被归类为TI较低且研发投入（R＆D）的行业，与其他行业相比，这是最低的行业之一。因此，巴西粮食部门远未充分发挥其潜力。尽管如此，作者注意到，制糖业在其技术前沿方面显示出发展，并呈现出与高科技产业的平均水平相似的创新频率。

创意/价值

这项研究为有关食品部门创新的辩论做出了贡献，强调需要在研发方面进行更多投资以提高该部门的生产率。