With the arrival of the 21st century, a new
era both in global technology industry and economic growth model began. Developed
countries left the second industrial revolution behind and started focusing on
the new generation of technologies: information technology, nanotechnology,
internet, biotechnology. We are led to think that developing countries are
still not capable of supporting this kind of industry, for requiring huge
investments in R&D departments and qualified teams (without mentioning
investments in infrastructure, energy and transportation). But there are some
countries that are showing the world that this change is happening in the
medical device sector.
It is known
that United States is the biggest global importer in this sector and verifying
its top 5 importers partners of “Instruments, appliances for medical, etc
science, nes” (UN Comtrade HS901890), one will find that two of them in the last four years are
developing countries: Costa Rica and Dominican Republic.
The exports of HS901890 from Costa Rica to the USA sum
twice the exports from Canada and Japan to the USA combined and it is higher
than the export from Ireland (another top 5 import partner of the USA) to the
USA. In the “Case of Costa Rica – Facts and Implications for Trade Policy”,
presented by the Minister of Foreign Trade from Costa Rica in the WTO public
forum, September 19, 2011, we can verify Costa Rica’s evolution on the
structure of industrial exports since 1994 until 2010 and it shows
that it is possible for countries in development to improve its industries,
technologies and R&D departments. In 2010, Costa Rica’s top 10 export
products included microchips, medical prosthesis, pharmaceutical, computer
parts and transfusion equipment. In 2003, Costa Rica was consolidated as one of
the main Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) locations in Latin America and in
2010, the first high-tech exporter in the continent.
The recipe of this success is simple and well known:
political and economy stability (hence, FDI attraction), solid export platform,
investments in human resource base (education, language skills), good
geographic location (in the middle of America and close to the USA market). But
according to the CIA – World Factbook of 2012, there are still things remaining
to be improved like bureaucracy and legal uncertainties.
For the studies of international trade, however,
exports are considered as belonged to the country of origin. But if we make a
deeper analysis, we will see that, in the case of Costa Rica, the majority of
the medical device companies are multinationals with international resources
and not a national initiative. Nevertheless, even if the main investments are
from abroad and there has to be royalties and profit transmission, Costa Rica
is responsible for the attractiveness of foreign direct investments. If this
country wouldn’t have created reliable conditions for multinationals, they
wouldn’t have been established in its territory. With the construction of this
scenario, Costa Rica is earning international visibility and confidence, which
are responsible for the creation of jobs and national development.
In the case of Brazil, country where Biokyra is
established, the production in this area is still shy.
The Brazilian
capacity utilization is insufficient to supply its demand. One of the reasons
why this happens is the size of the market. Brazil is the 5th biggest country
in population and it has a public health care that attends everyone. Apart of
its demand and needs, the national production and offer are still taking their
first steps. Considering that the USA is the biggest export and import player
in this sector, Brazil is its 11th biggest export partner, but only its 32nd
import partner (based on HS901890, UN Comtrade). The reasons why Brazilian
medical device industry is falling behind other developing countries industries
are the same reasons for the entire Brazilian industrial complex. Basic
investments needs in energy, infrastructure, transportation, and logistics are
still an obstacle for Brazilian development. Bureaucracy, slowness in legal
procedures, high taxes and low-qualified labor represent some other
difficulties faced by entrepreneurs, export/import and logistics professionals.
As one shall see in the graphic, the deficit between
imports and exports is still huge. In 2010, while Brazilians were exporting
U$600 million, they were importing more than U$3 billion of this kind of
medical device. In the graphic, based on HS901890, we can see clearly the
difference between imports and exports. Nevertheless, there are
governmental programs and financial aid to promote any kind of export in
Brazil. In the case of medical devices, the program is called “Brazilian Health
Devices”, which is supported by ABIMO
(Brazilian Association of Medical Devices and Equipment), in association with Apex-Brasil (Brazilian Agency of Export
and Investments Promotion). It brings together 140 enterprises of this sector
and it has helped increase international sales in 260%. Stimulus to get the FDA
certificate, internationalization program, strategic planning and international
trade missions are examples of actions that “Brazilian Health Devices”
provides. Even if there are still many obstacles to be overcome, Brazilian governmental
is trying to make Brazil a great nation for R&D and technologies
investments.
