SUPPORT CAPACITY TO INNOVATION OF FEDERAL INSTITUTES AND FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES IN MINAS GERAIS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

ABSTRACT

The Theory of Triple Helix describes the innovation model based on the relation government-university-industry. In this context, the assignments of the Federal Institutes (IFs) and the Federal Universities (UFs) go beyond education and research, because they incorporate a responsibility to contribute to economic development through the creation of scientific and technological knowledge applied, contributing directly to innovation. In order to manage the intellectual property and innovation policy of these Institutions of Science and Technology (ICT), the Innovation Law created the Technological Innovation Centers (NITs) as an interface between ICTs and the productive environment. Therefore, this paper aim is to analyze comparatively support for innovation and technology transfer from IFs and UFs located in Minas Gerais. For this, the coordinators of the NITs of IFs and UFs in the state were interviewed. Also, were used secondary data sources, such as rules and regulations. Through the analysis, it was concluded that the ability to support innovation in both IFs as the UFs is still insufficient, which can be proven by the results of research and innovation of these ICTs. Due to the low maturity of IFs, their results are incipient and their difficulty to approach the productive sector, in the view of respondents, is higher in this environment than in the UFs. As the universities, their role is to increase the synergy with the other figures of the Triple Helix, in order to increase their results of innovation.

Keywords:
Innovation; Technological Innovation Centers; Institutions of Science and Technology