Brazil's food technology: A pre-pandemic assessment to achieve zero hunger SDG2 goal, benchmarking against USA

Abstract

In pursuit of Sustainable Development Goal SDG2 (zero hunger) and considering Brazil's resurgence on the 2019-20 hunger map, this study scrutinizes food technology readiness levels (TRL) in Brazil, benchmarking them against the USA. The quantities of articles (TRL3), academic patents (TRL4), and non-academic patents (TRL5) within 45 food fields from 2000 to 2019 were analyzed. Brazil's TRL stands at TRL3-4 with a bottleneck at TRL5, while the USA has reached TRL4-5. Thus, patents' compound annual growth rate, specialization, concentration, diversification, inequality, revealed technologic advantage and distance were calculated, as well as their convergence/divergence over time were calculated. Brazilian academic food technologies grew at an order of magnitude above other sectors. Specialization is higher in the USA than in Brazil, with non-academic sectors displaying greater specialization and divergence, while academic sectors are converging. Brazil's competitive technologies focus on low-tech fields, like seafood, dairy, and preserves, primarily targeting the domestic market and leveraging biodiversity. Conversely, the USA excels in high-tech fields such as new plants, microorganisms and enzymes for food, and nutritional enhancements. These findings emphasize the necessity for strategic initiatives aimed at bridging the technological gap, aligning Brazil's non-academic food technology with SDG2, and effectively addressing food security challenges.