Partnerships between researchers and companies generate knowledge

The most valued research areas for companies in Brazil are engineering, computer science, agronomy and basic chemistry, according to a study.

By Flávia Gouveia

Agência FAPESP – A symbiotic relationship characterizes the partnerships between companies and research institutions in Brazil, having a positive impact on the economy as a whole. Universities and research institutes are important for research and development (R&D) activities in companies, just as the technological challenges of production drive scientific knowledge.

This is one of the findings of studies conducted under the auspices of the Thematic Project “Interactions between universities/research institutions and industrial firms in Brazil,” developed between 2007 and 2012 with FAPESP funding and under the coordination of Professor Wilson Suzigan of Universidade Estadual de Campinas’s (Unicamp) Scientific and Technological Policy Institute.

“These are bi-directional knowledge flows that deserve special attention in public policy so as to promote the articulated advance of research institutions and the production sector and to establish consistent connections between science and technology,” said Suzigan.

Identifying how these relationships between companies and research institutions in Brazil are developed and investigating the important exchanges between knowledge areas and diverse sectors are among the main motivators of the project, which investigated three basic relationship interfaces: theoretical-conceptual, historical and thematic. 

With the involvement of researchers and students from several institutions throughout the country, the project sought to create a broad map of the partnerships that exist, combining information provided by scientists and companies, in addition to the results of case studies conducted in several parts of Brazil.

The study also integrated a set of international studies within the context of the project “Interactions between Universities and Firms: searching for paths to support the changing role of universities in Latin America” funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada, which included 12 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

“We sought to replicate the experiment conducted in the 1980s and 1990s by Carnegie Mellon University and Yale University in the United States to study the topic through research utilizing questionnaires,” explained Suzigan.

According to Suzigan, the Brazilian study had to overcome some obstacles to access official microdata and adapt methodological procedures to scale up the national project to an international project.

“We worked exclusively with information found in the CNPq [National Council of Scientific and Technological Development] Research Group Directory, both with regard to research groups that interacted with companies and companies identified by the groups as interacting,” he said. 

According to Suzigan, this limitation requires attention when interpreting the results but does not impede a comparison of data of the same nature regarding other companies. The survey conducted with companies from 27 different economic sectors identified 1,687 companies that interact with researchers from the CNPq Research Group. Some 20% of these responded to the study questionnaire, a percentage similar to the response rate in other countries.

The Brazilian situation

Studies conducted under the auspices of the Thematic Project revealed that the historical context of Brazil’s economic and social development determines the standards for interaction between companies and research institutions.

“Our National Innovation System might be at the intermediate level, with research and learning institutions in place, but is still incapable of mobilizing a contingent of scientists comparable to those in developed countries,” explained Suzigan.

Research institutions and universities were created late, with some encountering limitations and adverse conditions with respect to income distribution and generalization of learning. The industrialization of Brazil also occurred late, with a prolonged period of commercial protectionism, which shifted the focus of construction and development of scientific and technological capacity or channels of interaction between scientific organizations and companies in favor of quickly developing cutting-edge technologies.

“Despite this past, there are solid points of interaction between companies and research institutions, uniting the dimensions of science and technology,” notes Suzigan.

The case studies indicate that the scientific areas that currently have the greatest impact in Brazil have solid historical roots, with systematic and prolonged efforts having been undertaken. These areas include medicine/health, agriculture and mining, materials,and metallurgical and aeronautical engineering.

“The successful cases studies of interactions between universities/research institutes and companies indicate the presence of learning processes and scientific and technological capacity building involving universities, research institutes, government and producers,” said Suzigan.

Furthermore, each region has very different standards of interactions, reflecting delays related to the creation of institutions and local development. With respect to resources for science and technology, the state of São Paulo is the unmistakable nationwide leader according to the study. “The study examined the presence of groups of companies that interact [with institutions] in the main fields of knowledge,” said Suzigan.

In the Northeast, the interactions are seemingly less intense, owing in part to the late development of the scientific and technological base and industrialization of the region’s economy.

Comparing the Brazilian profile of interaction between research groups and companies with those in Argentina and Mexico reveals that there are more frequent and dense relationships in Brazil. For Suzigan, this is a reflection of a more diversified industrial structure. “On the other hand, the comparison with the United States puts Brazil in an unfavorable light,” he said.

More valued knowledge 

According to project’s researchers, one surprising result is the discovery that in Brazil, the interactions of medium-to-low technology industries with research institutions are relatively strong compared to those that involve high- and medium-to-high technology industries.

For Professor Eduardo da Motta e Albuquerque of the Department of Economic Sciences at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) and coordinator of regional studies for the Thematic Project in Minas Gerais, this set-up is the result of an industrial system based on the innovation of procedures.

“We do not generate that many product innovations. The demands of companies focus on incremental innovations and adaptation of technologies. If public policies intend to change this scenario, it will be necessary to promote productive and scientific activities in high-tech areas, modifying the industrial structure,” he said.

Throughout the Thematic Project, the resultant actions, events and reports helped consolidate the perception of the importance of the topic in academia, funding agencies, public policy management institutions and companies.

To date, the project has yielded many results: 35 seminars, 76 academic studies (post-doctoral monographs) and more than 40 published articles, dozens of presentations at national and international events and two books. One book has already been published (Suzigan W.; Albuquerque E.; Cario S. – organizers– Em Busca da Inovação: interação universidade-empresa no Brasil. Belo Horizonte: Editora Autêntica, 2011 – In pursuit of Innovation: university-company interaction in Brazil). The other book is in the revision stages: the preface is by Professor Richard Nelson, of Columbia University, one of the leading researchers worldwide on innovation processes and company-university interactions.

“This book, which is about to be published, systemizes and articulates the information collected throughout the project regarding companies and research institutions. In it, we present the main conclusions and a landmark synthesis table, which details the two sides of the partnership: economic sectors that interact with scientists, and the knowledge areas that are relevant for innovative activity at companies,” commented Suzigan.