Financiamento público da pesquisa em energias renováveis no Brasil: A contribuição dos Fundos Setoriais de Inovação Tecnológica

This article describes the characteristics of the Brazilian financial support for research on renewable energy within the Innovation Sector Funds, managed by the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (MCTI). The main objective of this paper is to identify the profile of this support and understanding what extent the funds respond to the challenges in renewable energy in an area that Brazil is a global exponent. We use MCTI database for the period 1999-2012, containing over 35,000 projects. The methodology is based on descriptive data, basic statistics and a brief comparison with the Germany's and the United States of America's systems of support to the research and innovation. The study identified 1,893 research projects in the renewable energy area. The results highlight the small funding and a wide range of topics with priority for biomass energy and laboratory infrastructure. The data also indicate a discontinuity in the trajectory of disbursements and show a sharp decline in new projects in 2011 and 2012.