ABSTRACT
The problems of technology policy in Brazil cannot be understood adequately without reference to the structures of the country’s overall political-administrative system:
— Firms, one of the main target groups of technology policy, do not respond solely, indeed often not even primarily, to instruments of technology policy; instead, they are receptive to the incentive structure shaped by the state (in particular economic and foreigntrade policy). What is meant here is not merely the framework conditions, which in the past were not very conducive to innovation, but also mechanisms such as the ad hoc introduction of taxes to close fiscal gaps, which often burden interfirm transactions, thus discouraging the formation of networks, or the likelihood of shocklike stabilization programs which discourage the formation of long-term strategies in firms and, as far as implementation is concerned, lead to an every-man-forhimself situation in which each firm seeks to shift the costs of adjustment to the next firm. This leads to an atmosphere of mutual distrust that likewise impedes the formation of interfirm networks.
