ENRICH / CEBRABIC


Website: http://brazil.enrichcentres.eu/home

ENRICH in Brazil (formerly known as CEBRABIC) is the Brazilian pilot centre of the European Network of Research and Innovation Centres and Hubs, with other pilot centres located in China and the USA. With partners from Brazil and eight European countries (Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Hungary, Austria, Spain, and Turkey), the consortium’s goal is strengthening cooperation in research, innovation, and business between Brazil and Europe by exchanging innovative practices, experience, and knowledge between all parts involved. ENRICH in Brazil was inaugurated in November 2017, and in its first year, the focus has been mainly concentrated in defining its business model structuring and setting priorities, as well as defining its mission, vision, and objectives. Specifying these in a clear and well-structured way is fundamental to build a robust business and achieve with excellence the objectives proposed:

Our Mission

To encourage and facilitate the cooperation in research, technology and entrepreneurship between Europe and Brazil by supporting and empowering all innovation actors (public & private) along the innovation (value) chain.

Our Vision

To become a main hub and contact point for European and Brazilian Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) actors aiming at bilateral cooperation, as soon as 2021.

Our Strategic Objectives

To promote excellence in Business, Research, and Innovation (B&R&I); to create a win-win situation for Brazilian and Europeans in the area of Science, Technology, and Innovation; to connect European researchers & entrepreneurs in the Brazilian market; to connect Brazilian researchers & entrepreneurs in the European market; to offer Services to Brazilian and European clients; to integrate existing European and Brazilian initiatives, projects, and networks.

CATCHAIN

Website: https://www.catchain.eu/wps/wcm/connect/Site/CatChain/Home

CatChain is a project built on a multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral exchange program focused on unravelling the process of Catching-up from different sectoral perspectives both at country and firm level. It analyses the role of business models in entering, learning and upgrading the Global Value Chain, aiming at recognising the determinants and challenges faced by Small and Medium Enterprises in being part of a globalised economy. The outcome of the project will be the definition of policy tools and frameworks to support effective policy-making actions in the implementation of Research and Innovation Smart Specialisation Strategy, with respect to the new agenda of Europe 2020, with a focus on low-income EU countries.

Objectives

Bridging catching-up approach with the GVCs literature, the project will able to give robust scientific answers as to whether a country should enter the global market by sponsoring one large national firm or with a set of small and dynamic entrepreneurial ventures. Particular attention will be payed to the role that entry, learning, and upgrading strategies interconnected with different Business Models play in fostering the process of catching-up.

Specifically, the main aims of the project are:

  • identifying if and how a country should focus on developing domestic trade networks before entering into the more competitive GVCs or whether it should improve its infrastructures in regional value chains implementing the research and innovation Smart Specialisation Strategy;
  • studying the emerging Business Models underpinning the successful entry, learning, and upgrading in GVCs, after the investigation and valuation of case studies in different sectors and countries;
  • analysing how the fourth industrial revolution will change global value chains in different areas of the world;
  • identifying the most effective way of engaging with global value chain in terms of building effective national innovation systems and identify the right policies in order to respond to the rising of the fourth industrial revolution;
  • isolating the conditions that define the preferable entry strategy and recognizing the policy framework that facilitates entries and supports SMEs in developing a profitable business strategy.

Through the creation of an international group of researchers and a new bottom-up approach to research with a strong experimental orientation, the project will:

  • improve knowledge in the field of INTRAGLOBEMIT by exploring new points of intersection between different fields of expertise;
  • enhance cooperation among leading Research Institute, Universities, Policy Actors and Institutions through the international mobility of researchers;
  • encourage an exchange of best practice between Third Countries and EU countries;
  • analyse existing policy actions, their strengths and limits, particularly within emerging economies;
  • disseminate the intermediate and final research results through activities such as meetings, workshops and symposia.