INNOVATION AND QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE BRAZILIAN ELECTRICITY SECTOR

摘要

Over the two last decades, the Brazilian electricity sector has been undergoing intense changes, triggered by technical and economic restructuring, privatization processes, and new regulation on concessions of energy services. Created in 2000, the current regulatory framework for enhancing R&D and innovation in the energy sector obligates all the concessionaires and authorized firms in this sector to invest in R&D activities and energy efficiency measures. These investments have been carried out by electricity firms and regulated by the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (ANEEL). Since then these firms have been defining R&D and innovation strategies to cope with this regulation, besides creating organizational structures and technology management processes and routines. In this context, the aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the role of quality infrastructure - metrology, standardization, technical regulation, and conformity assessment (MSTC) - in supporting technology management processes within the electricity sector in Brazil. Particularly, this work seeks to answer how electricity firms perceive the importance of innovation in their economic activities. The methodology comprises: (i) literature review on innovation systems and national infrastructural technologies as a basis for discussing the role of metrology, standardization, technical regulation, and conformity assessment in strengthening innovative capacity of electricity firms; (ii) documentary review covering public policies designed for restructuring the Brazilian electricity sector and strengthening innovative capabilities of its firms; (iii) definition of research scope, the analytical framework, and the primary data source - the Brazilian Innovation Survey (PINTEC), published by the Statistical Office (IBGE); (iv) data gathering and analysis; (v) discussion of main results and formulation of conclusions and suggestions. The main results can be summarized as follows: (i) identification of PINTEC items directly associated with infrastructural technologies; (ii) identification and analysis of electricity firms' perceptions about innovative activities; innovation impacts; sources of innovation; cooperation relationships for innovation; problems and obstacles for innovation; and (iii) discussion on perceptions of the electricity firms from the perspective of the role of quality infrastructure in supporting their innovation capacity. Essentially, the conclusion of this research is that quality infrastructure has been supporting all innovative activities in the electricity sector in Brazil. Metrology, standardization, technical regulation and conformity assessment (MSTC) activities are inherent elements of a sectoral scientific-technological system capable of promoting innovation, technology transfer, economic competitiveness, and sustainability of firms, in a broader perspective. Together with accreditation (which ensures that conformity assessment activities have been performed by competent bodies in accordance with appropriate standards and best practices), standardization and metrology bodies integrate a country's national quality infrastructure for support and enhance electricity firms' innovative capacities.