University entrepreneurship in Brazil. Panorama of the technological innovation centers of universities
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/WJEMSD-10-2018-0091 |
| Date | 05 July 2019 |
| Published date | 05 July 2019 |
| Pages | 149-158 |
| Author | Humberto Rodrigues Marques,Thays Aparecida de Oliveira,Daniela Meirelles Andrade,Andre Luiz Zambalde |
| Subject Matter | Strategy |
University entrepreneurship
in Brazil
Panorama of the technological innovation
centers of universities
Humberto Rodrigues Marques, Thays Aparecida de Oliveira,
Daniela Meirelles Andrade and Andre Luiz Zambalde
Departamento de Administração e Economia, Universidade Federal de Lavras,
Lavras, Brazil
Abstract
Purpose –Universities, as providers of knowledge and technology, have a key role in society based on
knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to identify and describethe technological innovation centers (TICs) of
the federal universities of Minas Gerais, Brazil, verifying if federal institutions of higher education in the state
are meeting the attributions outlined in the Innovation Act.
Design/methodology/approach –In order to achieve the proposed objective, each one of the public and
federal universities in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, was outlined as analysis units. The data sources used
for this study are intrinsically secondary and were collected from the websites and TICs of each university.
Findings –As a result, it was found that all universities have TICs, and are inserted into the State
Intellectual Property Network. Those aspects show that the universities have been searching for structure
themselves by the new entrepreneurial mission of today’s educational institutions.
Originality/value –As noted in the literature, more research is needed to examine the efficiency and
professionalism of TICs in the entrepreneurial activity of universities because the institutionalization of TICs
is still recent and many TICs are currently in an improvement phase of their activities.
Keywords Innovation, Brazil, Entrepreneurial university, Technological innovation centres,
Minas Gerais state
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The constant changes occurring in the global socio-economic system confirmed that
organizations have been seeking for new institutional forms as a way to stay active and
competitive (Morschel et al., 2013). This new context started interfering with a variety of
actors, such as governments, regulators, private companies, investors and other
stakeholders such as universities (Paloma Sánchez and Elena, 2006). Therefore, an
important agent capable of transforming the scientific capital produced by their research in
technological innovation was identified in universities, since these institutions have key
elements of this process, such as trained personnel, specialized laboratories and
partnerships with public and private organizations.
Therefore, the university has begun to contribute to industrial progress, so that the
dissemination of knowledge generated in universities to society can occur in several ways,
including the hiring of professors and students by industries, providing consulting, publications
and presentations of academic papers, the development of technology-based companies,
licensing of patents, among others (Grimaldi et al., 2011; Berbegal-Mirabent et al., 2015).
Therefore, in the literature of entrepreneurial university or academic entrepreneurship,
the objective is the commercialization of new technologies developed by academic
researchers (Grimaldi et al., 2011). The main premise involving this new context of the
universities is that the large amount of scientific literature produced by educational
institutions may have commercial applications that are able to generate returns for the
universities (Wood, 2011).
World Journal of
Entrepreneurship, Management
and Sustainable Development
Vol. 15 No. 2, 2019
pp. 149-158
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2042-5961
DOI10.1108/WJEMSD-10-2018-0091
Received 15 October 2018
Revised 9 December 2018
Accepted 25 December 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-5961.htm
149
University
entrepreneurship
in Brazil
To continue reading
Request your trial