The ranking of the 150 most innovative companies in Brazil, released by the Brazilian media outlet Valor Econômico, was announced last Tuesday (July 02) during an event in São Paulo. The full report was presented in the fifth edition of the “Valor Inovação Brasil” yearbook.
The survey was conducted by Strategy & Consulting and Valor, with the support of the National Association of Research and Development of Innovative Companies (ANPEI).
In the 2019 edition, 210 companies applied for participating in the ranking, 80% of them with revenues above BRL 1 billion. Besides the general analysis, the companies were also divided into 23 different sectors so as to attain a ranking for different segments.
The survey, which was made with the collaboration of Strategy & Consulting, National Association of Research and Development of Innovative Companies (ANPEI), and the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), taking into account the investments made in Brazil.
Consolidating all this data, the yearbook presents a robust sample of companies that invest constantly in research, development, and innovation activities in the country.
The standards of the “Valor Inovação Brasil”
The most innovative companies in the ranking are classified according to five main criteria: the intention to innovate, the effort to carry out innovation, results obtained, market evaluation, and publication of patents.
According to the media outlet, the methodology developed for the award is capable of distinguishing truly innovative companies from those that only follow the technological trends.
The result is a ranking formed by corporations that are constantly creating processes at the core of strategies, plans, and goals. The participating companies obtained net revenues of more than BRL 500 million and have at least 5% of private capital in their shareholding composition.
The results of companies
According to the report presented by Valor, the innovation strategy is referenced by 97% of companies as an essential factor for competitiveness and is classified as a priority in the managers’ agenda.
56% of companies have applied more resources in incremental innovations-a set of actions to improve existing goods, services, and processes-a decrease of 2% in relation to 2018. This difference had a direct impact on the development of new technologies-radical innovation (20% ); new business models (16%); and revolutionary projects (9%).
The study also highlighted the adoption of new formats and working methods. More than half (58%) of the 210 companies analyzed adopt advanced practices, including multidisciplinary teams, collaborative spaces, open innovation, internal discussion forums, and flexibility in schedules and workplaces.
The winners in the overall ranking
Symbol of innovation, Embraer was the big winner for the fourth consecutive time. In the year of its 50th anniversary, it continues to be always in evolution, with a record of success in research and development, focusing on new business and the sustainability of the company.
In recent years, according to Valor, Embraer has invested around 10% of its research, development and innovation revenues in an industry-recognized for long cycles, high technology employment, and intensive capital use.
MercadoLivre leading the category “Commerce”
The MercadoLivre, the winner among the commerce companies analyzed, stands out in the ranking. The Latin American retail giant is a company that does not stop. Among its most recent achievements is its capacity to raise $ 2 billion in the market to accelerate investments in freight (logistics) and financial services.
The company might invest BRL 3 billion in the Brazilian operation in 2019. This amount represents a 50% increase over the amount of 2018 which, in turn, had already doubled 2017.
Recently, last June, MercadoLivre surpassed Twitter at market value – according to the Mary Meeker Internet Trends 2019 sector report-putting Latin America for the first time in the ranking of the 30 largest and most valuable technology companies in the world on the Stock Exchange.
According to the report, the value of the Free Market reached 30 billion dollars in the first week of June, while Twitter was worth approximately 29 billion dollars. In the first half of this year, the value of MercadoLivre raised 113%.
Created in 1999 in Argentina, the company has more than 270 million users and 12 million sellers in 18 Latin American countries. Among the challenges of its operations, according to Reuters, is to improve the online shopping experience, bringing Latin America closer to the standards reached by more consolidated markets, such as China and the United States.
Inserted since its birth in the ecosystem of technological innovation, the company bets mainly on innovation in the areas of logistics and finance, working with free shipping and ensuring faster delivery times.
With a new and modern distribution and logistics center in Brazil, MercadoLivre started managing products from handling to delivery, doing so with efficiency and service level better than the average of the individual seller. All this investment, according to the company, will offer a better buying experience and, therefore, impact in better results and higher sales volumes. In order to promote this innovation movement, the company also has the MeLi Fund, a contribution fund for other companies in the same landscape.
