# Sweet dreams? Testing prognostics and reinterpreting sugarcane ethanol biofuel in Brazil

## TL;DR

This paper examines the development and impact of sugarcane ethanol biofuel in Brazil through a socio-technical lens.

## Contribution

The novelty lies in the retrospective analysis of prior prognostications about sugarcane ethanol innovations in Brazil.

## Key findings

- The study confirms trends in Brazil's sugarcane ethanol biofuel discourse through a responsible research and innovation perspective.
- It highlights the value of revisiting past predictions with new factual evidence in Science and Technology Studies.

## Abstract

We present a framework regarding analysis of, and engagement with, socio-technical innovations and power/knowledge trajectories for sugarcane ethanol biofuel in Brazil, testing post hoc our prognostics against recent factual evidence. This assessment offers evidence regarding the value of such analysis, given the relative rarity of research that revisits anticipated changes in Science and Technology Studies. Contending that learning and improving our forms of engaged analysis demands such retrospective assessment, we report results of a 2014/2015 study on sugarcane ethanol biofuel and automobility in Brazil. In this study, we analyze the discourse of a “responsible research and innovation” (RRI) perspective and confirm particular trends in Brazil.