Fatores críticos em ecossistemas de inovação: estudo do caso Lavras - MG

Abstract

The theme of innovation ecosystems has aroused interest both from academics and from policymakers and practitioners, as it represents one of the ways of promoting regional and local development. In this sense, the present work presents auxiliary contributions in the process of elaborating public policies for technological development at the local level. Ecosystems are spaces in which institutional, social, and economic actors create and share resources in order to generate innovative businesses, which consequently promotes economic and social development in the territories where they are developed. Considering that each location presents its characteristics for promoting local development and the creation of innovation ecosystems, the present study aimed to identify the critical factors for the creation, implementation, and development of innovation ecosystems, in addition to understanding whether and how these factors are manifested in the city of Lavras-MG. To achieve this goal, a systematic literature review was carried out in the first stage of the methodological process. Through the review, it was possible to identify the main factors that positively or negatively affect both the creation and the development of innovation ecosystems. These factors are political, social, economic, administrative, orchestration, technological, environmental, and tacit. Also, all these factors act in the form of a cycle, with interdependence between them. Given the finding of critical factors, the city of Lavras was investigated by analyzing its potential for the development of a regional innovation ecosystem, based on the proposed theoretical model and identifying the difficulties to be overcome for the effectiveness of this process. After analyzing the environment, it was found that Lavras has, in addition to natural characteristics, such as location, a considerable number of quality higher education institutions, which contributes to the ecosystem. Besides, the city also presents the critical factors pointed out in the theoretical framework, some of which are more developed than others. Then, the present study presented some guidelines that can be used in the process of elaborating Public Policies to promote regional development, through innovation and technology. Such guidelines can be applied in other environments and ecosystems, once the contributions go beyond academic content, guiding Public Administration, especially concerning the local level, in promoting development through innovation, regional technology, and entrepreneurship.