Evaluation As A Mean To Communicate Society Of The Benefits Of Investing In Big Science In A Developing Country : The Brazilian Sirius Project

This study reports an impact evaluation carried out for a large-scale research infrastructure, the Brazilian Sirius Synchrotron Light Source, one of two fourth-generation synchrotron light sources in the world. We focus on the economic impacts and spillovers resulting from highly qualified procurements presented to different types of suppliers who participated in the design and construction process, entirely from scratch, of this Big Science facility. The research question refers to the extent to which local procurement for developing scientific infrastructure is able to leverage innovative capacity and competitiveness among companies of different sectors and sizes (from large established companies to startups), national and multinational.Sirius’ infrastructure was inaugurated in 2019 and aims at the development of strategic scientific research and finding solutions to global problems in areas such as health, agriculture, energy, and the environment. A literature review of evaluations of similar large-scale infrastructure impacts, as for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, highlights that constructing these facilities implies close collaboration between laboratories and companies, which may generate economic spillovers and enhance firms' productivity through public procurement. The acquired benefits can be transferred upstream and downstream to other companies that are part of the supply network.This study assesses whether becoming a supplier to the Sirius venture has improved the performance of companies in terms of creating new capabilities, new business models and what has been the cost/benefit of participating. We identified 24 companies with which there was collaborative technological development related to the demands of building and operating Sirius. Interviews were conducted with 14 companies, which represents 98% of the global value contracted for partner companies. We also interviewed the Sirius team for the construction and application of the methodology.First, we present a case description of the firms through in-deep interviews and secondary data analyses. This step was followed by a cost/benefit analysis and a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). This way, we mixed qualitative and quantitative techniques to get sound information about the impacts of the Sirius Project over suppliers.Becoming a partner of the Sirius Project resulted in many tangible and intangible benefits to firms of different sizes and natures and generated spillovers along the supply chain. This improvement was connected to investments and hiring of personnel, most of them related to R&D and creative activities, thus increasing firm’s capability to innovate. In some cases, the relationship with Sirius staff was the main reason for companies to establish a formal R&D department within their organizational structures. Product differentiation and diversification, as well as the creation of new business models, have been identified. Firms also reported positive gains in intangible assets. Moreover, some firms also attributed the establishment of an innovation culture to their direct involvement with the project.The analytical exercise of evaluating the impacts of the Sirius project can also advance the discussion in recent literature on the relevance of investing in sophisticated advanced scientific facilities to induce positive economic effects in less developed countries. This is especially relevant when misinformation and regular attacks on science have become commonplace in some countries. In this sense, evaluation methods that address spillover and other immediate impacts of investing in big science projects helps to create valuable evidence for advocacy, demonstrating effects of investing in STI and how to improve them systematically.Evaluation, in this case, is a clear way to generate reliable information about the benefits of investing in science, contributing to overcome the increasing political resistance of our days. Based on this background, our proposal intends to contribute to the theme 3 (of content shift), by helping to answer the main question of this theme, which is ‘how can evaluations prioritize the main challenges of our times’