International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development - Volume 2, Issue 3, 2004

A triple helix culture of university–industry–government relations is emerging in Brazil with localities and regions encouraging the national level to act and vice versa. The papers in this special issue identify evidence of the emergence of a triple helix phenomenon in the course of Brazil's transition from the traditional top-down, government-controlled system of innovation to the non-linear and interactive approach underlying sectoral and national innovation systems.

Over the past few years, new demands have been made on universities in Brazil to review, inter alia, the roles they play in scientific and technological production systems, in teaching, and in qualifying people for professional work. In this new environment, there has been a growing recognition of the need for a greater connection of the university system with the productive sector. This article, based on a survey of the relevant literature and analyses of interviews made with educators from three well-known Brazilian teaching and research institutions, seeks to identify the characteristics of interactions between universities and the productive sector and the tendencies underlying the university–industry relationship in Brazil. The results obtained show that Brazilian universities and research centres are strongly involved in the processes of seeking partners in the productive sector. They also suggest the need for a policy to reduce conflicts that emerge from interactions between universities and firms in the productive sector.

This paper focuses on the ‘HomeBrokers’ project developed by the Porto Alegre Technopole in Brazil. This project operated from May 1998 to December 1999 in a pilot phase. Its service addressed the socio-economic significance of small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), which largely thrive on traditional technologies, and the need to promote the innovation culture among such enterprises. A major challenge in this respect has been bridging the traditional gap between the researchers/academics and the small- and medium-size entrepreneurs. In developing countries like Brazil, creating a good environment for innovation to occur across the economic spectrum and for a robust and sustainable industrial base to emerge would call for policy provision aimed at fostering the transformation of traditional sector activities, especially the SMEs, by enabling them to interact with and learn from high-technology-based enterprises. This is important as SMEs contribute significantly to regional employment.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been attracting increasing attention from analysts of contemporary capitalism as their role changed with the crisis of ‘fordism’. In the new techno-economic paradigm, SMEs that are clustered in a region and are inserted in market niches have more chances to meet the requirements of globalization. However, most institutions and policy instruments that operate industrial and technology policy are still formatted to meet the requirements of the ‘fordist’ economy. Therefore, policy-makers today face the challenge to design effective industrial and technology policies to support SMEs. The aim of this paper is to discuss possibilities of alternative industrial and technology policies directed at SMEs that are located in industrial districts or clusters, so that these firms may assert their role in the economic development of Brazil.

This paper examines the extent to which government initiatives in Brazil have been successful in promoting innovative activities in biotechnology both in academia and industry, and also in setting the foundation for the development of the Brazilian Biotechnology Innovation Network (BBINet). The federal government’s role in carrying out these tasks is, however, shown to have been somewhat ambivalent. On the one hand, the government appears to have been reluctant and even wanting in its pursuit of science and technology policy. This is mainly reflected in the instability of government funding for innovation, which is claimed to have contributed to the weakness of the innovation network. In addition, policy has not been operating as a system geared to maximizing the benefits of synergy and the release of Brazil's innovative potential. On the other hand, government policies have been crucial for the emergence and growth of the BBINet. The existence of some programmes and some ‘islands of efficiency’ show that it is possible to establish efficient networks of innovation. Given this evident potential and recent changes in the perception of Brazil's innovation potential in government and academic circles, there are grounds for hope. Realization of this hope is, however, contingent upon the provision of policy stability in lieu of the institutional ‘roller-coaster’ that has been at the heart of Brazil's science policy. It would also depend on the extent of the scope for exploiting synergies between different policy domains that affect innovation.

This page shows a reference list of all the articles that have appeared in this volume of the journal.