Technology Upgrading and Knowledge Triangle in Brazil

Ch. 5. P. 85–104.

Fischer B., Schaeffer P. R., Vonortas N.

Universities play significant roles for technology upgrading in National Innovation Systems. But it remains a challenge defining and implementing institutional adjustments that promote the integration of a broader spectrum of research-oriented universities into national and global value chains. Interaction of academia with productive systems needs to be a mutual exchange with knowledge dissemination from universities to industry but also from industry to university in different forms. Technology upgrading is a slow process and involves systemic coordination and paradigm shifts in the way academia is perceived. This is especially evident in Brazil where academic institutions with the development of new technologies and knowledge transfer to firms have supported the emergence of technology-intensive companies and a long-term reliance on close collaboration with universities and public research centers. But research-oriented universities have to be involved extensively in technology upgrading processes, strengthening linkages with the private sector, and responding to the call for national efforts to close the gap with more developed economies and at the same time have to be at the leading edge of research in the global arena.

Keywords: social network analysis, universities, University-industry linkages, Technology upgrading, Emerging economy

Publication based on the results of: Challenges and opportunities for science, technology, and innovation during and after the COVID-19 pandemic (2021)

In book

The Knowledge Triangle. Changing Higher Education and Research Management Paradigms

Aanstad S., Benner M., Borlaug S. B., Čadil V., Cervantes M. Switzerland: Springer, 2021.