in spite of it they do not lessen the potential the
localities of excellence for the transfer of technology based in technological
base companies. It presents itself as difficulties that should be minimized or
depending on the situation, solved through actions of the actors involved in
behalf of the economic development and local innovation.
Keywords:
Economic Development. Local Development.
Technological Innovation. Technological Parks.
1. INTRODUCTION
The
current dynamics of the economic scene has increased the complexity of
companies, and the competitiveness between them, since many transformations are
happening in the environmental, social, economic and political spheres, with
phenomena such as capitalist restructuring, globalization and technological
development (VASCONCELOS et al.
2009). Such phenomena have emphasized people and their intellectual abilities,
given the search for competitive edge in this new context. The use of this
strategy has become a resource of differential strategic value, which led to
the emergence of organizations based on information and knowledge.
Thus,
the emergence of dynamic industries, with productive processes based on the
intensive use of new technologies of automation, represents, according to Alvim
and Castro (2005), a new paradigm for the organization of productive
activities, and for labor relations, with reduced jobs in the direct production
process, smaller salaries, and growth in service industries.
Hauser,
Zen, and Lopes (2004) assert that one of the main traits of this new productive
profile is the tendency towards what they call "dematerialization of
production," which implies a increasingly smaller consumption of energy
and raw materials, smaller spaces, and the necessity of boost and dissemination
of knowledge and innovation.
From
the perspective of Hauser, Paladino, and Medeiros (1997), innovative
environment is the system of social, institutional, organizational, economical,
and territorial structures that creates the necessary conditions for the
continuous generation of synergies, and its transformation, in a productive
process originated from this synergetic capacity.
The
implementation of local systems of innovation – organizations directed to
developing activities based on new technologies are being used as an instrument
for the local and/or regional economic development. They possess distinct
nomenclatures, depending on aspects such as location, cooperation between
companies and universities, administrative notion, insertion in the enterprise,
and insertion in the city and region (ALVIM and CASTRO, 2005).
In
the face of this evidence, Stainsack (2003) claims that technology parks are
generally characterized as companies reunited in a common location, and tied to
a university campus – within its space or next to it. In these enterprises,
there is an administrative and coordinative entity responsible for facilitating
the integration between university and companies, and for managing the usage of
the existing installations.
Thus,
in order to foster the local innovative and economic development, Albuquerque
(2004) says that it is indispensable to formulate mixed policies in which the
measurements taken to achieve the main macro-economic balances are accompanied
by actions that aim to foment existing potentialities in each territory. In
this task, both the regional and the local governments must play a decisive
role in encouraging and facilitating the creation of business development
opportunities.
Therefore,
since we consider technology parks as relevant for the development of the local
conjecture, the focus of this research is to analyze the potentialities for the
local economic and innovative development of technology parks that function in
the Northeast region of Brazil, as well as their strategic actions to continue
stimulating and supporting the creation of micro and small technology-based
companies, fulfilling their mission of promoting the generation of work and
income, and economic and innovative development, as well as the improvement of
the region’s quality of life.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Economic Development
The
idea of economic development was part of early economic studies. Souza,
(2005) states that some Economists have addressed this issue, especially Joseph
A. Schumpeter. Schumpeter has become a pioneer in the analysis of the
development of technical progress and its effects on the economy. He
contributed significantly to a better understanding of economic development and
its evolution over time.
In
that sense, Schumpeter (1997) analyses deeply the whole process of development
and technological innovation. His theory has been taken as a basis for the
development of studies about innovation. His evolutionary theory points out
that innovation is conceptualized from five elements: the introduction of new
products, new processes, new industrial organization, access to new markets and
obtaining new raw materials (CARRARO; FONSECA 2008).
According
to the authors afore mentioned, the organization of production, the combination
of new inputs and the endless search for new products have proved fundamental
in generating economic development. These functions are essential; not only for
the innovative entrepreneur, but also for a network of agencies and institutions
that would be created with the primary goal of adding to the economic system
the appropriate incentives. Thus, businesses should challenge themselves
continually in search of new development, not only as personal goals, but as a
matter of survival.
Therefore,
in consonance with Schumpeter (1997), the company, in order to remain in this
system must always be innovative. As the main agent of the capitalist mode of
accumulation, businesses are constantly changing, whether with products,
processes or industrial organization. These changes are conceptualized as a
process by Schumpeter called “creative destruction” which refers to this
constant change or, according to the author, “... revolutionizes the economic
structure from within, constantly destroying the old, and creating the new”.
Carraro
and Fonseca (2008) state that, nowadays, neo-Schumpeterians argue that
innovation does not happen at random. It
is a result of a process of searching, trial and imitation. Dosi (1998), states
that innovation is the center of the corporate growth and the generation of
pure profit, depending on the demand and supply. Probing the market, the
entrepreneur finds out what the targeted public wants to consume and generates
new products, improves existing ones and adopt s more efficient processes. For
instance, technologies create new needs, leading to the demand for better
products or the improvement and or upgrading of existing products.
Two
basic forces of inductive technology are proposed by Schmookler (1996). The first
points to the needs revealed by users and consumers (Demand-pull). Thus, the
market demand s (existing or projected) applies pressure on companies, which,
in turn, pressure their engineers for new technological results that, in turn,
demanded and demand the carrying out scientific research.
And
the second factor defines technology as a standalone or nearly autonomous,
derived from the advances of science (Technology-push). This paradigm assumes
that the scientific results obtained in laboratories, leads to technological
innovation and the generation of products with potential for market insertion.
Campos
and Valadares (2013), call attention to the fact that neither
the paradigm of Technology-push nor Demand pull are enough to model the complex relationships between
these variables in developed economies, where research and development are
transformed into macro economical results. There are rich feedback processes
between producers and consumers of technology. It involves the industry the
market and academic institutions. The challenge here is to balance both sides
of this equation, keeping in mind that the economic growth, generated by
technological innovation, produces additional resources both for basic
research-essential to the advancement of human knowledge - and for applied
research, providing feedback throughout the process, allowing the spiral of
sustained growth reflecting on improving local conditions.
It is
Technology-push (in which scientific resources are introduced and it is
expected the self-governing of scientific processes) and Demand-pull (in which
the market define the lines of research and innovation), that leads to identify
a tendency to consider the impact on social development, which is simply
produced from the impact on economic development, based on the concept of
technological innovation.
Tigre
(2006) adds that in advanced countries, the efforts of R&D performed by
Universities and Research Centers may eventually result in innovations driven
by technology. In developing countries, where the ability to generate
scientific technologies is more limited and the capacity and autonomy of the
companies to make radical innovations is lower, the demand is the main stimulus
for innovation. The diffusion of technology, especially in less developed
countries, requires a series of adaptations to the circumstances of the local
market, based on income levels, weather conditions, consumer habits, business
scale and availability of inputs and materials.
According
to what has been exposed so far, an approach to development based on localities
proved to be an effective possibility to the activities who targeted local
economic development, due to the prospects that the investments in the
productive sectors have brought to regional economies. This is the central
point of the new theory of local development, in which the interaction with
different local agents (entrepreneurs, universities, government, research
agencies, promotion and development of credit) empowers the community to face
competition from large global companies and creates conditions for economic
growth.
In
that sense, a new vision of development favors local levels through local
development, which Franco (2000) calls self-sustained strand in which the local
processing element, acts as a promoter of social-political-economic changes
representing a favorable environment for the exercise of new practices and
development policies.
2.2 Local Development
According
to Abramovay (1998), the idea of local development emphasizes on specific
institutional mechanisms capable of mobilizing productive energies that end up
being inhibited by the functioning of some markets and the mere presence of
some infra structures prove unable to awaken.
Understanding
that the concept of place is not within the physical limits, but in the
economic base that defines their specialty, and it can be settled in relatively
small spaces such as a street or large as a state or country. The location can
be defined by a location (city, street or neighborhood) region or nation that
constitutes a subspace involving a territorial clipping which is expressed in
economic, political and social terms (ALBAGLI, 1999).
Undoubtedly,
the political and administrative support provided by local authorities and the
conviction in the role to play in supporting economic territories are decisive
factors in these local development initiatives. In addition to this support, it
is also fundamental the articulation between local socioeconomic agents as
business associations, financial institutions, advisory centers, universities
and R&D institutions, among others (LLORENS, 2001).
In
this context, Buarque (2002) states that any strategy to promote local development
must be structured in at least three major pillars: organization of society,
contributing to the formation of local social capital (understood as
organizational capacity and cooperation
by local society) combined with the formation of institutional spaces of
negotiation and management, adding value to
the supply chain, with the addition of
the competitiveness in economic activities with local advantages as well
as restructuring and modernization of local public sector, as a way of
decentralizing decisions and to increase efficiency and effectiveness of local
public administration.
Thus,
local development represents a transformation in the economic base and social
organization at the local level, resulting from the mobilization of the
energies of society, exploring their specific abilities and potential. The
development should increase social opportunities, the viability and
competitiveness of the local economy, generating a source of income and wealth,
combined with innovative initiatives and mobilization of the community, linking
local potential conditions of the region to which it is inserted (BUARQUE,
2002).
Diniz
(2001) states that in addition to these
attributes ,the search effort and the competitive struggle, centered in
the innovative process depends on two
dimensions: business capacity to promote research and development and identify
new products or processes that ensure economic
success (productive and commercial) of the companies and the
local capacity to learn, in order to create an atmosphere of change and
progress, in Asheim (1996) called learning regions and Keeble et al. (1998)
collective learning.
It is
based on the idea that innovation is the core engine of economic development
and the acknowledgement that the regions have their own attributes, summarized
as social immersion (embeddedeness) relational assets or non-traded
interdependencies that economic success depends on the existence of innovative
means (ALBAGLI, 1999). It comes to the discussion of the role of Habitat's innovation
as a result of the combination of research, development and its interaction
with the social and economic conditions through the interaction between
business and the environment in which they are involved.
3. METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES
This
research has a descriptive and exploratory component. The main discussion was
based on five case studies, in which we gathered information about the subject
in question within the context of technology parks located in the Northeast
region of Brazil. Such information served as the foundation of this article.
In
order to achieve the objective of this study, we developed a research
methodology in which the dimensions, variables, and its respective indicators
were used as measurement tools. Regarding this, Lakatos and Marconi (2001)
assert that a variable can be considered as: a classification or a measurement;
a quantity that varies; an operational concept that contains or represents
values; aspects, properties or factors that can be discerned and measured in a
study subject.
Hence,
for the development of this article, we have taken into consideration only one
independent dimension (main component) to approach the essential questions that
this study tries to answer, with their correspondent variables and indicators
that explain the data variation, and facilitate the interpretation and
simplification of the final analysis, according to the Chart 01 below:
|
SIZE: TECHNOLOGY PARK Economic
development is complex and designed to promote local technological
knowledge-based economies through the integration of scientific and
technological research, with technology intensive companies and government
organizations. |
|
|
VARIABLES |
INDICATORS |
|
Economic development and Local
Development |
|
|
Chart 01:
Variables investigated. Source: Author's (2009/2010). |
The
research technique employed in this work, according to the objectives, involved
the following steps: data gathering through the application of a questionnaire,
interview, data quantification, and processing and analysis of the collected
data.
We
gathered the primary information by applying a structured questionnaire with
one main approache – economic development. To analyze them in this study, the
instrument was divided in two parts:
·
Part 1: Characterization of the technology park;
·
Part 2: Economic development and local development;
·
Part 3: Innovative activities.
Part
2 of the questionnaire, which contains topics related to economic development
and local development, used a Likert scale to measure the opinion of the
researched targets. The questions about qualitative declarations are resultant
of research data comprehension mapping. The level of agreement of the
questionnaires with regard to the investigated factors was numbered using a
scale composed by five equidistant points, with “
For
the execution of the research, the data was organized, selected, and put aside
in similar groups according to the desired objectives of each research
variable, in order to facilitate the examination and interpretation of the
results.
In
general, the data analysis is a process that involves many procedures and
statistical analysis that requires data interpretation. This interpretation
aims to establish the connection between the obtained results and other results
from theories or previous studies (GIL, 2006).
4. RESULTS PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
This
topic demonstrates the results of the research, applying the techniques
specified in the methodology section, with inferences based on the primary and
secondary data, alongside the research form, semi-structured interviews, and
inventory of the obtained results with its respective theoretical references.
For better comprehension, this chapter is divided into two topics: the first
describes the technology parks, and the second presents the potentialities for
the local economic and innovative development, focusing on the items addressed
in the questionnaire, and in the semi-structured interview.
4.1 Description of the
technology parks
To
describe the technology parks in this investigation, general information was
obtained from the semi-structured interview, as well as from the material
offered by the administrators of each organization.
4.1.1 
NUTEC,
that began its activities in 1979 tied to the Department of Science,
Technology, and Superior Education (SECITECE), has the following mission: “To
seek technological solutions for a sustainable industrial development that
benefits society”. To achieve its institutional goal, the technology park has
17 laboratories in the following areas: soil treatment and corrosion,
sanitizing products and cosmetics, environmental chemistry, biofuels, textile,
automobile safety, electrical measurements and civil construction, rock
revetments and ceramic processes, food analysis and certification. It also has an
incubator for technology-based companies – PARTEC; a quality management system
certifier – NUTEC CERT; and Núcleo de Apoio à Exportação (Exportation Support
Center), to endorse companies from the State of Ceará, via PROGEX, with the
support of Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (Studies and Projects Financer) –
FINEP and NUTEC EXPORT.
4.1.2
Porto
Digital was launched in December 2000, and in mid-2001 it already had assembled
12 Information and Communication Technology companies, with 194 employees. In 2008,
the number of organizations increased to 107, including ten from other regions
of Brazil, four multinationals, and four technology centers. Together, these
companies currently have about 3.700 collaborators, which represents a growth
of roughly 1,700% in seven years, attesting to the APL evolution, the good
number of jobs created, and the importance of the arrangement in absorbing the
State’s human capital of Information and Communication Technology. In this
aspect, Porto Digital is the result of an environment of innovation
consolidated in Pernambuco in the last decades with coordinated efforts of the
university, the productive sector, and the government, intending to put the
Information and Communication Technology industry in the economic core of the
State of Pernambuco. This sector has great growth potential and is also the
foundation for the region to be more competitive in any contemporary economic
development strategy.
4.1.3 
ParqTel
was created over ten years ago by the Pernambuco government to congregate
technology-based enterprises of electrical and electronic sectors. Apart from
reuniting these enterprises, the technology park has the goal of developing
P&D, creating innovative products and services in its area, promoting
economic and social development within the State, and reuniting
technology-based companies to create innovative products and services. Besides
the industries of materials, electric and electronic devices, and industrial
automation, it also comprises sectors such as medical equipments industry,
software sector, and “future carrier” technologies, such as optoelectronic,
nanotechnology, and biotechnology.
4.1.4 
“Promoting
the innovative entrepreneurship within the State of Paraíba, supporting the
creation and the progress of technology-based companies and social enterprises,
through the appropriation of knowledge and technologies generated in the
P&D organizations, and the insertion of products, services, and processes
in the market – including abroad – contributing to the development of the
country”: this is the mission of PaqTcPB. Created in 1984 as one of the first
four technology parks in the country, Fundação Parque Tecnológico da Paraíba is
a non-profit organization that encourages scientific and technologic progress,
and the promotion of innovative entrepreneurship in Paraíba. By promoting
articulation among its partners, knowledge chains and productive activities,
the institution seeks to new ways of attracting and fixating competencies in
the State.
4.1.5 
Sergipe
Parque Tecnológico is a non-profit private association, recognized as a State
Social Organization. Its temporary headquarters currently has more than 25
companies, three company incubators and eight research institutions, generating
more than 300 jobs. It is one of the main agents that attract investments in
oil, gas, and renewable energies to Sergipe. Its mission is to promote
entrepreneurship, seeking innovation, competitiveness, and generation of
knowledge, work and income for the State. It operates as a link for private
entrepreneurs to answer the demands of the market; for the public power to the
State’s economic, social and technological development; for the academy to
produce researches and transfer results to society and market. It is part of a
local system of innovation and knowledge that aims to systematize the actions
of science, technology and innovation policies in the State.
4.2 Potentialities for
the local economic and innovative development
The
information about technology parks economic and local development was divided
in regional profile and innovative activities. About this, Zouain e Plonski
(2006) say that this indicates the technology parks contribution to regional
development, stimulating the local economic activity by creating and rapidly
developing companies, increasing commercial and exportation activities based on
products and services of high aggregated value, and generating job
opportunities and income for qualified professionals.
The regional profile is presented in two
degrees of comprehension with regard to the level of agreement of the
technology parks researched. On one side, we have answers about the profiles of
companies, institutions, and conglomerates able of generating knowledge,
technology, and information in connection with the technology parks
disseminated in the region; and, on the other hand, there are answers about the
existing conditions for local economic development, with the presence of
favorable conditions for the companies installed in the technology parks.
About
the profiles of companies, institutions, and conglomerates, we can see,
according to Table 1, that most of the technology parks, including NUTEC, Porto
Digital, PaqTcPB, and SergipeTec, agree that, in the region where they’re
inserted, there are companies in the same field of the technology parks,
diversity in the region’s industrial structure, possibility of institutional
support from alliance networks favoring the parks, institutions able to
stimulate the flow of knowledge and technology between the parts involved,
agglomeration of companies involved with the technology offered by the research
institutions, and work force with medium and superior education in the area.
Table
1: Region
Profile
|
Region
Profile |
Degree of Agreement |
|
|
Average |
Classification |
|
|
There is presence of peer group in the park’s operational actions |
4 |
Agree |
|
There is diversity of industrial structure in the region (presence of companies from different segments) |
4 |
Agree |
|
There are local presence of large companies |
3 |
Neither Agree Nor Disagree |
|
There is presence of innovative companies that produce products and technological services of high added value locally |
5 |
Totally agree |
|
There is the possibility of institutional support networks alliances
in the park’s favor |
4 |
Agree |
|
There are institutions that can stimulate and manage the flow of
knowledge and technology between research institutions, companies and markets |
4 |
Agree |
|
There are low transaction costs in the region |
3 |
Neither Agree Nor Disagree |
|
There are cluster of firms directly involved with technology provided
by research institutions |
4 |
Agree |
|
There is availability of local skilled labor (higher level) |
4 |
Agree |
|
There is availability of local skilled labor (middle level) |
4 |
Agree |
|
Average |
3 |
Neither Agree Nor Disagree |
Source: Direct
Research, 2009/2010.
This
degree of agreement is evidenced specifically by each technology park. NUTEC
tells that it is the result of an environment that stimulates the creation and
development of companies and products, specially the knowledge innovative and
intensive ones. This environment offers to emerging companies and research teams’
elements such as physical area and infrastructure, companies in the same field,
and services to support and create synergy within and outside the enterprises.
It also potentializes the process of creating, attracting, and fortifying local
and regional innovative companies, particularly developing those economic
sectors with growth vocation and potential.
Porto
Digital, that has the mission of becoming one of the main actors in
Pernambuco’s economy, says that the regional profile of the companies,
institutions, and conglomerates increases the technology information pole
interaction with other productive sectors of the State, strengthening the
competitive edge of the companies installed in the technology park. In this
sense, it is considered a valuable asset for the State, with the potential to
contribute to the development of the efficiency patterns and competitiveness
levels of all economic sectors, because of ICTs transversal characteristic. As
such, Porto Digital aims to promote the exchange of knowledge and
information/communication technology innovation solutions generated in the
environment for other productive chains in the State of Pernambuco, with the
intention of promoting integration between productive chains, guaranteeing
their condensation, as well as the ICT’s itself.
PaqTcPB
tells us that it is a non-profit organization that seeks to achieve scientific
and technologic development, and to promote innovative entrepreneurship in
Paraíba. It was by promoting the articulation between partners, and between the
many knowledge chains and productive activities, that the institution has
searched for new ways of attracting and fixating competencies in the State.
That is, each year new business projects are accompanied, which augments their
chances of growing with the technical and managerial support accessible to each
company.
SergipeTec
says that, according to this assertive, it attracts technology-based companies
aiming to establish them in the park, through activities of divulging and
promoting; stimulates the entrepreneurship of technology base in the State,
favoring the creation and development of new companies, according to the
incubator model; and promotes the integration of the scientific community with
companies and market, aiming to create a complete cycle for developing
technology-based products and services.
Allied to this resulted, there’s the technology parks
agreement that there is work power with medium and superior education levels in
the region. In this sense, NUTEC, Porto Digital, PaqTcPB, and SergipeTec all
possess the same opinion, that it is necessary to have professionals that
fulfill the market’s demands and are up-to-date with the tools and
methodologies necessary to optimizing the productive processes of
technology-based companies.
It is important to stress that ParqTel disagreed
with all this information about the profile of companies, institutions, and
conglomerates, justifying that it is currently, according to its manager, an
unfinished/interrupted project, because, among other factors, of
changes in the State’s government orientation in the administrative term.
Oliveira
(2003) and Joyal (2002) say that this result about the profile of companies,
institutions, and agglomerations, as well as the existence of qualified work
force, brings up the main characteristic of the technology parks
administration, which is stimulating the formation of new companies in
cutting-edge sectors, and the attraction of companies specialized in advanced
technologies; revitalizing traditional regional industrial sectors by
incorporating the region and new technologies; promoting the business vocation
and qualified work of the region; and favoring the region’s technological
independence by internally generating new advancements and technologic
applications.
Add
to this the statement from Buarque
(2002), who says that the promotion of the local development must be structured
in at least three pillars: society organization, which contributes to forming
the local social capital (i.e., the local society’s organization and
cooperation capacity) combined with the formation of institutional spaces for
negotiating and administrating; value aggregation in the productive chain, with
the articulation and augmentation of the economic activities competitiveness
with local advantages, and the restructuration and modernization of the local
public sector as a way of decentralizing the decisions and elevating the
efficiency and efficacy of the local public management. All this associated
with some form of distribution of social assets, particularly knowledge,
expressed by education and technologic capacitance. Therefore, changes are a
result of these three processes, and the resultant synergy in the social sphere
makes the local development in a solid and consistent fashion possible.
About
the existing conditions for the local economic development, we can see that,
according to Table 1, there’s general neutrality, i.e., the technology parks do
not agree nor disagree about the presence of large enterprises, with the
exception of Porto Digital, that says that the region is mostly composed by
small and medium companies. However, multinationals such as Motorola, IBM, and
Microsoft are also present in the region with their regional offices (Motorola
and Samsung actually have partnership agreements with C.E.S.A.R for developing
softwares for mobile phones). And there are low transaction costs in the
region.
With
this result, we can see that, with few exceptions, the regional profile with
regard to the existing conditions for the local economic development leaves
much to be desired in the technology parks researched, as well as in their
installed companies, independently of the positive performances shown. Thus,
Brazil’s Northeast region as a whole, in which the technology parks are
installed, makes it impossible for a general satisfactory result regarding the
regional profile of the parks researched.
This
can be verified with the statement of Galvão and Vergolino (2009) about the
Northeast region. They assert that, throughout the 1990s, the effects of the
commercial opening for the Brazilian regional development have been very
distinct. In the Northeast, with the possibility of importation, the introduction
of new technologies in intensive work force industries, and the production of
better quality products, were necessary conditions to avoid more and more the
technological distance from the Central-South regions of Brazil.
However,
we must say that the Northeast region is still relatively behind when compared
to the South and Southeast regions of Brazil, despite of the differentiated
growth experienced in some expansion areas. This regional inequality is
resultant of the different productive structures of each region, and the
processes by which they are integrated to the national and international
markets. The way in which this process occurs reflects in the Brut Intern
Product (BIP) division between Brazil’s regions, which can bring huge difficulties
for the States performances in trying to diminish regional differences.
Hence,
Sicsú and Lima (2003) asseverate that it is important to strategically reflect
about the possible emergence of a new development pattern with innovation and
value aggregation, reducing the distance that still separates the Northeast
region from the national average. In this sense, the S&T dimension and
innovation are indispensable, and must play a central role in the development
process alongside a number of other strategic factors.
As a
result, the consolidation of the Northeast region in a structured segment of
science, and specially technology, can give support to strategic sectors of the
economy and be a great attractive of new segments for the regional production
and service provision sceneries, which consists in a great opportunity to
promote the dialogue between private initiative and public power in order to
develop the region. To be exact, captivating the interest in acting in projects
that generate revenue and are perfectly integrated with the urban planning
(infrastructure of transportation, telecommunications, commerce, industry,
housing, and services in general) for the regions in which they are inserted.
It’s
in this context that the technology parks constitute an important alternative
for the local economic and innovative development, since, according to the
results seen so far, they reunited conditions to identify regional economic
potentialities and contribute to the technologic innovation, where innovative companies
or knowledge intense ones can be delimitated or, according to more innovative
tendencies, widespread in the region.
Innovative activities in
incubated and/or installed companies in the technology parks are identified in
degrees of importance of internal and external R&D activity, acquisition of
other external knowledge, software acquisition, acquisition of machinery and
equipment, and introduction of technology innovations in the market, according
to Table 2 that follows:
Table 2: Innovative
activities
|
Innovative activities |
Technology Park |
|
|
n |
% |
|
|
Importance of internal P & D through business incubated and / or
installed so far held |
|
|
|
High |
4 |
80 |
|
Average |
1 |
20 |
|
Importance of acquiring external R&D through business incubated
and/or installed so far held |
|
|
|
High |
2 |
40 |
|
Average |
3 |
60 |
|
Importance of acquiring external knowledge through of the incubated
companies and / or installed, held so far |
|
|
|
High |
2 |
40 |
|
Average |
3 |
60 |
|
Importance of acquiring software through business incubated and / or
installed, held so far |
|
|
|
High |
2 |
40 |
|
Average |
2 |
40 |
|
Low |
1 |
20 |
|
Importance of acquiring machinery and equipment through the incubated
and / or installed, held so far |
|
|
|
High |
4 |
80 |
|
Average |
1 |
20 |
|
Importance of the introduction of technological innovations in the
market through business incubation and / or installed to date |
|
|
|
High |
4 |
80 |
|
Average |
1 |
20 |
Source: Direct Research, 2009/2010.
About
the importance of internal and external R&D activity, the biggest emphasis
is in the internal activity, according to Table 2, with most technology parks,
among them NUTEC, Porto Digital, PaqTcPB, and SergipeTec, agreeing that the
importance of these activities is high for the development of innovative
activities in the incubated and/or installed companies. And the external activity
has medium importance among the incubated and/or installed companies of NUTEC,
ParqTel, and SegipeTec. It is important to point out that the technology parks
administrators were asked to give a description of the internal and external
P&D activities, but this item was not answered because of limitations in
obtaining more detailed information from incubated and/or installed companies,
despite the fact that their commitment to giving biannual general data about
their programs, projects and activities’ performances.
This
result highlights what Kim and Nelson (2005), and Ortt and Smits (2006) affirm
about two models of technologic innovation: linear and interactive, introducing
knowledge as a dynamic and inter-current element in all phases of the process,
and considering that technology innovation in incubated and/or installed
companies in the technology parks are not related only to invention,
production, and commerce, but to a continuous social process involving
activities of management, coordination, apprenticeship, negotiation,
investigation of the users’ needs, acquisition of competences, managing the development of new
products, financial management, etc. Tidd, Bessant, and Pavitt (2008)
complement saying that, in practice, innovation constitutes a process of parity
and adjustment that sometimes takes the pulled form, and sometimes, the pushed
one, and requires, thus, a successful innovation, i.e., an interaction between
internal and external R&D activities.
ParqTel
considers medium the importance of the internal and external R&D activity,
because, according to its administrator, since the park does not have incubated
companies, innovative activities are developed by each company individually and
in isolation; despite that, its companies incorporate the R&D process as a
tool for obtaining innovative and commercially competitive products and
processes. And in the external R&D activity, they have a partnership deal
with Porto Digital for developing technologies in the urban mobility area, with
the automobile chip.
According
to this reasoning, in conformity with external R&D activity, the
acquisition of other external knowledge has a medium degree of importance among
the incubated and/or installed companies at NUTEC, ParqTel, and SegipeTec, as
we can see in Table 2. This way, according to Takashi and Takashi (2007), new
ideas, products, and processes converted in innovative activity can emerge from
challenges, natural or provoked, of the organizations internal and external
environment, and must be canalized properly, so that they result in the
improvement of methods, routines, and organization, i.e., the essence of fast
processes in technology development (BIANCHI, et al. 2010).
About
the importance of software acquisition, Table 2 shows that Porto Digital and
PaqTcPB consider high the importance of this acquisition, ParqTel and
SergipeTec consider it medium, and only NUTEC attributes a low degree of
importance to it. This result is justified by the incubated and/or installed
companies’ preoccupation in observing software consumer market tendencies,
perceiving the receptivity of products and services offered, and identifying
innovation opportunities, as well as concerning about adjusting to the
performance area of the park in which it is inserted. According to the
administrators of Porto Digital and PaqTcPB, that consider high the importance
of software acquisition, we can highlight among the ICT segments the production
of management softwares, solutions for financial and health systems, games,
security sector softwares, administration systems for traffic and
transportation, software usability, and integrated solutions for portal
development, extranets and intranets.
About
the importance of acquisition of machinery and equipments, according to Table
2, most technology parks, among them NUTEC, Porto Digital, PaqTcPB, and
SergipeTec, affirm that the acquisition of machinery and equipments is high for
the development of innovative activities in incubated and/or installed
companies, proportionating a functional and well-equipped environment. In this
sense, the innovation process is also determined by the ability of coordinating
these technical resources, with the objective of supporting the generation of
new ideas to improve products and processes, and creating new knowledge.
ParqTel does not share this opinion, because, according to its administrator,
the importance of this acquisition is medium, since the installed companies
already possess the machinery and equipments necessary for the execution of
their activities, and it is not necessary more investments in this aspect.
About
the importance of the introduction of technologic innovations in the market,
most technology parks, among them NUTEC, Porto Digital, PaqTcPB, and
SergipeTec, attributed a high degree of importance to introducing new
technologies in the market by the incubated and/or installed companies; only
ParqTel informed that this importance is medium, according to Table 2. This
result has two justifications: the first one is from the point of view of the park
itself, that admits in its environment essentially technology-based companies;
and the second one, from the perspective of the incubated and/or installed
companies themselves, in which the dynamic of the technologic innovation
process depends, according to Ferguson and Olofsson (2004), and Hindle and
Yencken (2004), more on the knowledge learning processes tied to interactions
between organizations and agents, allowing the generation, reproduction and
retro-feeding of learning processes and their conversion into innovative
activities.
Generally
speaking, this result is verified according to the assertion of Tid, Bessant,
and Pavitt (2008) about technologic innovation. According to them, the success
in introducing technology innovations by incubated and/or installed companies
at technology parks consists in its management, which consists in the
perception of internal and external environment, strategic selection of
potential innovations to be developed, use of resources available for the
innovation to be developed and implemented, and reflection as a way of
contributing to the apprenticeship through the experience. Chiaroni, Chiesa,
and Frattini (2010) also say that it is in the introduction of technologic
innovations in the market that companies will discover the business models more
suited for commercializing the technology. In other words, it is the practice
of establishing relations with the external environment that one commercially
identifies the innovation opportunities.
5. CONCLUSIONS
Technology
parks are innovative environments. As such, instruments implanted in
development and developing countries make regional and national economies more
dynamic, adding knowledge and technology innovation to them. In this research
scenery, we noticed that all five studied parks promote the innovation,
competitiveness, and business capacitance growth culture, based on the
transference of knowledge and technology via interaction among its actors in
the environment in which they are inserted.
Generally
speaking, the research results show that there are potentialities for the local
economic and innovative development of the studied technology parks. This
result is based in two groups of specific questions (characterization of the
technology parks and local and economic development). The whole analysis
performed in this article ensures that the objective was reached throughout the
research, in which we demonstrated the potentialities for the local economic
and innovative development.
Hence,
it is noticeable that the five technology parks studied are important
environments, propitious to the innovation that promotes economic and
innovative development in the region in which they are inserted. And, despite
having some limitations, they guarantee support and have basic conditions for
the emergence of enterprises based in new technologies that, as such, must make
possible many connections with the involved actors in order to contribute to
the development of the technology park as whole.
Although
this study proportionates an analysis of the potentialities for the local
economic and innovative development of technology parks located in the
Northeast region, results found do not generalize the current situation of the
operating Brazilian technology parks, nor generalize questions concerning the
local economic and innovative development of these enterprises, because, apart
from studying just five cases, the research was restricted to the Northeast
region, which, according to what has been said before, is the least favored
with regard to the consolidation of innovation habitats if compared to the
South and Southeast regions of the country. However, this study brings
important contributions in the legal, socio-economical, and institutional
spheres to the study of the technology parks operating in the Northeast region,
since until now no specific research had been produced about all these
enterprises.
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