On July 2, the Valor Econômico newspaper held the 5th edition of the Valor Innovation Brazil Awards, which ranked the 150 most innovative companies in the country. At the awards ceremony, Brazil's 10 most innovative companies and the leaders in individual sectors, divided into 23 categories, were announced. Braskem ranked 3rd among the most innovative companies in the Oil & Gas and Petrochemicals industry and 23rd in the overall ranking.

The companies were evaluated on five major criteria: intention to innovate, which involves strategy and business vision, culture and values; efforts to drive innovation, represented by resources, processes and structures; results obtained - general and specific; number of patents published in the Brazilian Intellectual Property Institute (INPI) in 2018; and, lastly, market evaluation.

This year, the category leaders unanimously demonstrated the sector's concern for sustainability. More than merely innovating on more efficient processes and operations, the top innovators in this group focused their efforts on the field of sustainability. In the case of Braskem, concern for the environment is constant and one of the featured projects was renewable resins. "We are the world's largest producers. We have a long history with green polyethylene, a 100% domestic technology", said Gilfranque Leite, Director of Innovation & Technology. Green PE was born at the ITC in Triunfo and has been the origin of other materials, such as Green EVA, which is used to produce sneakers - you can learn more here. The product is environmentally sustainable and has applications in virtually the entire manufacturing industry.

Another major effort in the field of renewables is a partnership with the Danish company Haldor Topsoe. Together, the companies seek a pioneering method to produce monoethylene glycol (MEG) from sugar, which reduces the initial investment in production and, consequently, makes the process more competitive. Learn more about this partnership here.

The survey, carried out by Strategy& together with Valor, evaluates, in a consistent and systematic manner, the innovation practices of companies operating in diverse economic activities across Brazil. 

Learn more at www.strategyand.pwc.com/br/inovacao-brasil.