CHALLENGE

The need for an economy that values the existing forest and encourages the participation of the local population is an essential premise for the conservation of the Amazon. Among the challenges for the bioeconomy to promote sustainable and inclusive development in the Amazon, are the creation of value close to the forest and the diversification of demand. To expand local processing and mainly diversify products, it is necessary to innovate in both processes and products, not only at the base but principally in the more advanced stages of the value chain. The greater the scale of innovation throughout the value chain – attained by diversifying final consumer products, their ingredients and raw materials – the greater the potential for gain in the scale of value for the bioeconomy, thus, proportionately increasing its positive impact on forest conservation and local communities. For this to take place on the scale of a territory that occupies half of Brazil, it is necessary to create a more vibrant innovation and business environment in the region, as well as financial mechanisms that enhance the value chains involved. It was in this context that the project was developed, aimed at modeling an innovation ecosystem for the Amazon focused on stimulating businesses of impact or the creation of shared value.

DEVELOPMENT

Since the end of 2018, CERTI Foundation and the CERTI Amazon Institute, with the support of international financers and local partners, mapped the potential of the innovation ecosystem in the Brazilian states that comprise the Amazon region. The objective was to achieve its potential through the creation of innovative solutions that generate economic value for the protected forest. Using the CERTI Foundation’s delta of opportunities methodology – which includes analysis of vocations (the main installed production competencies), potential (existing scientific and technological expertise) and trends (the main trends and potential scenarios) – an opportunity map was created by municipality for the region known as the Legal Amazon. As for the mapping of actors and mechanisms already in the Amazon innovation ecosystem, the development approach was founded on the basic model of the Florianópolis innovation ecosystem (Figure 1). This was developed by the CERTI Foundation and adapted to the reality of the Amazon, the reality of the vocational chains of value, the reality of the profile of bioeconomy companies and entrepreneurs and for the modeling of impact businesses.

RESULT

As a result of the project, the following were mapped:

• 1,947 lines of research with potential to create value for the forest – considering only science and technology institutions in the Amazon.
• Between 2016 and 2019 some 360 young innovative Amazonian ventures were mapped. Of these, 140 were considered to have potential for creating value for the forest, with 46 directly using biodiversity or ecosystemic services as an input. Figure 3 shows the distribution of these ventures by sector.
• Around 50 incubators, accelerators and other similar mechanisms operating in the Amazon that could support innovative ventures of the forest bioeconomy to get beyond the “Death Valley of Innovation”.
• Some 328 Brazilian and foreign companies of an industrial nature reported using supplies from the Amazon forest. Figure 4 shows the distribution of these companies (potential B2B clients) by sector.
• Around 140 potential instruments and mechanisms for financing entrepreneurship of impact for forest conservation.
• The results obtained from this project, conducted from 2018 to 2019, served as a basis for the initiative under development called the Amazon Journey [“Jornada Amazônia”], whose goal is to implement various integrated activities in the context of the Amazon Ecosystem of Innovation of Impact.