Redes sociais, sistemas locais de inovação e parques tecnológicos: identificando relações entre atores no município de Lavras-MG

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating, representing in graphs and analyzing the existence of a relationship between institutions in the productive sector, government agencies, educational and research institutions, regulators, implementers and funders of innovative activities in order to verify the existence, or not, of a Local Innovation System in Lavras-MG. The topics for the theoretical framework used to support this study are innovation and Local Innovation Systems (LIS), the integration of these systems on networks and the role of a technological park as a catalyst for a well-structured LIS. There is a literature review on innovation, innovation systems and their interaction on networks. The basics and some indicators of Social Network Analysis (SNA), a technique used to study relationships, contacts and processes between individuals and / or institutions have been explored. The role of technological parks has been contextualized as a stimulator for the creation of a LIS and some relevant empirical evidence for this study. The methods adopted were document analysis, literature research and case study. The data collection was done through 50 questionnaires applied in selected institutions for the documentary research phase, in order to try to understand the dynamics of the relationship network for innovation that has been developed around the enterprise of the Scientific and Technological Park of Lavras - LavrasTec. To identify the network structure, its cohesion and the key players, SNA was used, observing the interactions among the 50 institutions here studied, and automatically calculated with the help of the software Ucinet © and Netdraw. For the descriptive analysis of profile of the studied institutions, SPSS® statistical software (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) was employed. With the documentary research it was possible to advance on the understanding of the progress of the project LavrasTec. Through the analysis of the studied network it is verified that the players in the productive sector are positioned mostly on the outskirts, which points to its low interaction with the rest of the LIS. It has been observed that some educational and research institutions and some government agencies occupy more central positions considering the analyzed network. The density identified for the network was 17.59% which means the LIS in Lavras MG is a system with low potential for this relationship. It has been found that the studied network does not behave as a LIS, since the players are not strongly connected. In this sense it was understood that there are institutions and relevant organizations in the region, but it lacks the necessary interactions for the system to behave integrated as a whole. In order for this to happen, some problems will need to be overcome, such as low connectivity and the high vulnerability of the system when including institutions with power into the network.