Around 2 weeks ago the amount was US$ 10 billion over 5-7 years.
Now looks like more probably Us$ 5 billion...over 10 years.
Or more precisely Us$ 500 million yearly.

Such an amount doesnt even represent what a single medium size company spends...yearly.....IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES !!!!

Doubtful that such an amount will make a dent.....in the development or advance in Biotechnology !

Doubtful too that you have such a capacity, knowing that 10,5 % of your students get a university degree.

Could it eventually be the amount is that small due precisely due to your "shortage" of qualified and skilled researchers ????? Smile !!

Believing Brazil will become a world powerhouse in biotechnology by investing only US$ 500 millions annually...is simply full of AIR...with your government continuous promises and lies !

I´m surprised how you missed the point, ch.c. The President said, "We will produce cheaper medicines and vaccines, industrial enzymes..."

The key word is CHEAPER. If something can be made, someone else will make it cheaper. Why doesn´t anyone else comment on this? One of the things Brazil does best is making things cheaper, while still maintaining utility. Less thickness, less material, less stiches, less meat, less size, less labor, less packaging, less rebar, less, less, less. They are very good at it. Half the Brazilian population is so poor that they will invariably buy thinner, shorter, lighter, in short, cheaper. Because they have to.

If you can produce cheaper Biotechnology....why is Brazil begging, imploring, to have developed countries companies to lower the price of HIV drugs... ????????

And cheaper is easier said than done, simply because it all depends of the amount invested first for R&D and then the costs of production !!!!!! By definition in R&D you test first many different ideas and then only you may eventually have a new product.
I say eventually because you do first thousands and thousands of various tests, mixing, etc etc etc !!!!!!!
How many companies have spent billions, then believed to have a new product, but a product that was never recognized and authorized by the US or EU governments ?
This happens.....every month....at least ! Thus back to the laboratory !
The average R&D cost for a new Biotechnolgy product...is over US$ 1,2 billion.
Of course....NOT INCLUDING---the costs of failed products !!!!! And failed products are much higher than those finally accepted !!!!!
And for Biotechnology, the 2003 investments in EU was US$ 10 billion, including ALL EU countries, even Poland etc the new members !
No doubt that since that date the amount grew most probably by 50 % or so and probably more, knowing that 2003 was just the start of a new world economic growth cycle !

Also for your information The USA invested US$ 7 billion during the same year !

This gives you an indication of size, when compared with US$ 500 millions for 2008 in Brazil !


Thus, even if Brazilians are so much knowlegable in Biotech (quite a news), assuming you can discover new products 30 or 40 % cheaper, it remains that you will market around 1
product per year....by simple maths ! And if you read the article headline again, it says clearly, become a superpower, namely EXPORTING too !!!!!!

As another example, if you are so good, please name a Brazilian car manufacturer.....known of course.
Sure, you produce cars : foreign cars, with foreign R&D, foreign technology and foreign investments. Then of course.....the final production cost is lower....for you....by definition.
And if you are so good, why is there not yet a large Brazilian car brandname that uses local R&D, local technogly and local investments ??????? smile.
Just for your info I read a while ago that in Europe, 20 % of all R&D go to cars development !
It happens that a few years ago the EU total R&D was over 150 billions US$. Meaning that for cars alone, the yearly R&D was then around US$ 30 billion yearly !

Yessss..... I definitely keep my laugh and my doubts as to the Brazilian knowledge and skills. I know....I know....every Brazilian would bet that the Embraer E-170 and E-190 new planes are made of Brazilian technology and local money ! You too Ric ! Correct ?????

Sorry but it is NOT :
- " The 170/190 regional jet family is being developed through a partnership program which involves major aerospace contractors, with 16 risk-sharing partners and 22 main suppliers. Main system suppliers, Liebherr of Germany, Sonaca of Belgium and C&D of the USA, have set up subsidiary operations in Brazil to establish local production. "
- "The Japanese company Kawasaki supply the wing stubs, flaps and spoilers, control surfaces and leading and trailing edges."
- " Gamesa of Spain supplies the rear fuselage section and vertical and horizontal tail surfaces."
- " the tailcone is supplied by Hamilton Sundstrand."
- " The avionics suite is modular and lightweight and is based on a Honeywell Primus Epic Electronic Flight and Information System (EFIS) with five liquid crystal colour displays"
- "The Embraer 190 is fitted with two underwing-mounted GE 34-8E-10 turbofan engines, rated at 82.29kN"
- "The aircraft carries 13,000kg of fuel and is fitted with a Parker Hannifin fuel system.
- "The aircraft is equipped with a Hamilton Sundstrand auxiliary power unit and electrical system. "
- "The aircraft is fitted with Liebherr retractable tricycle type landing gear. Each unit is fitted with twin wheels"

My sources ? Here it is :
www.aerospace-technology.com/projects/embraer_190

Yesssss the planes have been effectively developed by Embraer and are produced (assembled) by Embraer.....BUT USING MOSTLY FOREIGN TECHNOLOGY, FOREIGN PARTS AND FOREIGN INVESTMENTS !!!!!!!!!!!

YESSSSSS QUITE LAUGHABLE FOR ME.....NOT SO FOR YOU BRAZILIANS WHO CONTINUE TO SWALLOW WHAT YOUR CHEATERS AND LIARS IN YOUR GOVERNMENTS TELL YOU !!!!!!!

And like every Brazilian, you Ric, Brazilian or not, probably also believes that the flex fuel engine was a Brazilian invention ! Correct ?

Therefore why has the Brazilian Minisiter for Science and Technology awarded Bosch, a
German company, its innovation price ???????? Laugh....laugh....laugh

"Brazilian Ministry for Science and Technology has awarded Bosch its innovation prize for the Flex-Fuel engine management system. The “Technological Innovation Finep Award” was presented in the country’s capital, Brasilia.
The award-winning Flex Fuel technology developed by Bosch permits vehicles to be fueled by gasoline, by alcohol, or by any mixture of the two fuels.
Two types of fuel, based on ethanol manufactured from locally grown sugar cane, are popular in Brazil: gasoline containing 22 percent alcohol, and nearly pure alcohol (i.e., even more ethanol than in E85). The highly concentrated alcohol is more economical than the ethanol-gasoline mixture. With the Bosch Flex Fuel system, the motorist can fill up flexibly with either fuel.

We are particularly pleased by the award, because it acknowledges our strategy of developing clean, resource-conserving technologies for every region in the world.

—Dr. Bernd Bohr, Chairman of the Bosch Automotive Group

The first mass-produced car incorporating the new Bosch engine management system was the VW Fox Total Flex, introduced in Brazil in 2003. In 2005, no less than 10 new vehicle models fitted with the Bosch system went into series production. In 2005, total sales of newly licensed vehicles capable of using either alcohol or gasoline as fuel amounted to more than one million vehicles in Brazil—a market share of more than 70%"

Are Not Fairy Tales made for kids and for Brazilians ready to swallow whatever their government tell them ?????????

Simple demonstration of how Brazilians are so much knowlegable......in technology....as You Ric....suggested in your above comments !!!!!!

-)

At times, you are right. Brazilians can effectively do something cheaper !

Please read the following carefully, even the SP metro boss agrees...with you :

"The boss of the underground network in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo has resigned after last month's station collapse which killed seven people.
The state governor's office said Luiz Carlos David had asked to step down and his request had been accepted.

Work has been suspended on a new metro line for the city after the accident at one of the construction sites in the district of Pinheiros.

A landslide caused a 30m (100ft) deep hole to open up, swallowing a minibus.

In his letter of resignation, Mr David described the metro system as "a symbol of the efficiency of public administration" which had "great challenges ahead of it".

"For personal reasons, I ask to be relieved of my post irrevocably," he said.

Mr David's resignation came after it emerged that studies carried out by the underground network itself had cast doubt on the quality of the concrete used in the construction works, Brazilian media reported.

Laugh....laugh...laugh !!!!!!

This said, have you seen the hole.....even in a photo ? Impressive.....really incredible.
Or said otherwise : Typically Brazilian Technological Prowess !!!!!!

Have a look of that HUGE HOLE :
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6386835.stm

What about the Gurgel, the C-14, the Interlagos, the Corcel, the M/B powered Bandeirante, the Urutu, the Agrale, the Troller? What about the Fissore, the Santa Matilde, the Lafer, the Pumas?

And what about the planes, the wonderful Uirapuru, the Ipanema, the Paulistinha? What about the new stealth fighter that is absolutely invisible, like the Philadelphia experiment?

Agrale, Amazonoas, Kasinski

Read Amazonas.......