Industrial innovation in Brazil and cannabis exports in Portugal

In Brazil, there is a growing call to rethink innovation policies to support the reorganization of the national manufacturing industry. Data indicates an alarming decline in the manufacturing sector's share of the GDP. According to PINTEC (IBGE) data, the innovation rate among companies fell from 36% between 2012-2014 to 33.6% during 2015-2017, while total resources applied to innovation decreased by 17.4%. Furthermore, innovation effort as a percentage of net sales dropped from 2.54% to 1.95% in that same period.

In Portugal, the medicinal cannabis sector has seen massive export growth. Official reports from Infarmed show that Portugal exported nearly 80 tons of medicinal cannabis in 2025, a 156% increase from the previous year and eight times the volume recorded in 2022. By 2024, Portugal was ranked as the second-largest exporter of medicinal cannabis globally, trailing only Canada. Despite this industrial growth, there remains a lack of serious economic debate regarding the regulation and domestic management of the industry.