60ª Reunião Anual da SBPC

INTRODUÇÃO:

The purpose for this article is to present an evaluative tool with a view to the construction of instruments for the support of the decision-making process concerning the allocation of resources for research, development and innovation (henceforth “R&D and Innovation”) in the electrical energy sector. It proposes a computerized system for the management of a project portfolio which contains large amounts of information about R&D and Innovation projects financed by companies involved in the generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy in Brazil. This computerized system, called PRPED, permits the collection and analysis of this information with a view to evaluating the direction and progress of funds invested by Brazilian companies from 1998 to 2004.

METODOLOGIA:

In the execution of this work, the Decomposition Method was chosen to evaluate the tool and its results, given that resources for R&D and Innovation have been invested very broadly and applied on different planes: economic, social, environmental, and in the formation of technological competencies. This method subsumes different plans and seeks to integrate them into a multi-disciplinary (not linear) approach, and is essentially dynamic in its process of innovation. The decision to use the Decomposition Method is founded on the fact that it is appropriate for the identification of indicators which sum up the diversity of characteristics of the R&D Programs of the electrical companies and is able to combine deductive and inductive actions with a view to evaluating results and impacts in specific dimensions. In order to execute this evaluation, a decomposition of the formal objectives of the program and the collection of information concerning PRPED itself will be presented. From this were obtained the themes which characterize the program and which were tranformed into measureable indicators.

RESULTADOS:

There is development in the average cost and length of projects, showing change in profile over an extended period of time. These projects of R&D place more focus on methodology, software, and results. Also, there is a correlation between R&D and the development of technological competencies. These results show that technological challenges included in the data indicate the necessity for a greater depth in scientific basis. In the same way, the inverse is true. The closer that research institutions came to the vast work being effected in the academic field, the better they were able to attend to the needs of the companies. The allocation of personnel with advanced degrees in industry strongly contributes to the process of innovation and transfers the center of gravity of technological innovation from universities to companies. In this way, it is possible to infer that there is a tendency for knowledge to be converted into wealth through internal economic growth and through the increase of exports. From an environmental viewpoint, the results of PRPED indicate a reduction of losses in the electrical system of around four thousand megawatts. In this way, investment in R&D projects will help reduce social and environmental impacts, relating to the construction and maintenance of dams. At the same time, these R&D projects are able to contribute to the decrease of carbon thermoelectrial emissions produced by combustible fossil fuels.

CONCLUSÕES:

This article sought to present how a tool for the systemization of data, in this case, the PRPED, could contribute to the process of evaluation of the R&D program of ANEEL, and serve to support the decision-making process. The results presented demonstrate a tendency for the maturation of investments and the amplification of positive results. However, the full potential of this tool for the support of decision-making is still in process. Within a time frame of one to two years, this should be completed and incorporated with urgency as an aid in decision-making, in order to orient the allocation of resources for R&D in the electrical sector. In order for this to occur, not only does the tool itself need to go through a stage of re-evaluation in terms of content and format, by research coordinated by the GEOPI at Unicamp, but its method of analysis of results also needs to be improved, as mentioned at the beginning of this article.

Instituição de fomento: CPFL Paulista and CPFL Piratininga

Palavras-chave: Electrical energy, Research and Development evaluation, Technological innovation

E-mail para contato: fernandovmachado@yahoo.com.br