"We are on hold", says the president of the Science and Technology Committee in the Federal Chamber, deputy Corauci Sobrinho (PFL-SP). According to him, the vote on the provisional measures that lock down the agenda should be completed within a month, but the priority that will be given to the reforms represents a complicating factor. “This will still take a long time,” he comments. After passing through the Justice Commission, the reforms will go to a special commission, which will have 40 days to analyze them. Only then will the matter go to the plenary.

“We have to work on a new urgent request,” says Corauci. According to him, this can be done by a group of deputies, a bench leader or by the president of the Chamber. "In my opinion, the urgent request is pertinent because it is a priority for the country", states the leader of the S&T Commission. According to him, practically all 51 parliamentarians who make up the Commission are in favor of the measure.

The project, authored by the FHC government, creates incentives for investment in Research and Development (R&D) and makes the mobility of researchers who wish to work in the private sector without leaving the university more flexible. Despite being considered one of the most important steps in recent years in national S&T policy, some observers think that certain points of the Innovation Law should be further debated by the academic community.

"Even if the proposal did not face being blocked from the agenda in Congress, the text should be better discussed to adjust some points", argues Sandra Brisolla, professor at the Department of Scientific and Technological Policy at the Institute of Geosciences at Unicamp. "I have nothing against it. the Innovation Law, but I think adjustments are necessary so as not to harm the university", he says.

For Sandra, a mechanism would be needed to ensure that the temporary departure of a researcher to work in a company does not harm the courses or represent an excessive burden on other teachers. She notes that, even without the Innovation Law, Brazilian universities have registered, in recent years, an increase in the number of students and a drop in the number of professors. "This creates pressure in terms of teaching load, which has an impact on dedication to research."

In the professor's opinion, the Innovation Law is timely, but it cannot be seen as a "panacea" capable of promoting technological innovation from one moment to the next. "There also needs to be economic growth, because with a stagnant economy, innovation doesn't happen," she says. “Companies are stuck trying to survive,” she says. "Latin America has been in economic stagnation for more than 20 years and this is not an adequate breeding ground for developing innovation and promoting interaction between universities and companies", adds Sandra.

In the entrepreneur's opinion, it will not be possible to do much in terms of technological innovation this year. "This depends much more on the economic situation, but companies are on the defensive, with no margin for investment," he says. “Regrettably, we will continue exporting chicken and soybeans for a long time,” he comments.

Even so, Bernardini considers it necessary to maintain the demand in Brasília to unpack the Innovation Law and bring it to the plenary as quickly as possible. "The government says we need to be patient. We have been patient for 20 years. If we don't put pressure on, the Things continue as they are and they will continue to ask us to be patient", he concludes.