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This article focuses on the Brazilian Company for Industrial Research and Innovation, (EMBRAPII), a social organisation created as an intermediary agent to encourage partnerships between research centres and companies. The main objective was to overcome the shortcomings of Brazil's conventional STI public policies, the technological and innovation results of which were considered unsatisfactory. EMBRAPII innovates in governance and funding, regarded as an instrument capable of boosting companies' engagement in collaborative technology and innovation projects. This article concludes by acknowledging EMBRAPII's evident qualities with respect to the conventional STI policies, even though its achievements seems lower than expected in terms of the number of companies involved. The research findings endorse Ergas' assumption that policies cannot be assessed in isolation. 'The first and most fundamental is the dependence of technology policy outcomes on their economic and institutional environment....'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The business environment is surrounded by economic uncertainties, which shows the need to develop methodological practices that make it competitive, sustainable and innovative. The purpose of this paper is of analysing the relationships between the project management practices, the product and process innovation, and the sustainable competitive advantage in enterprises in Southern Brazil. This research has a quantitative and descriptive character, in which the data were collected through a survey in 226 enterprises in the Activity Sectors of Industrial Manufacturing, Commerce and Services. Data analysis done through the Structural Equation Modelling, we used the following techniques and methods: Exploratory Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Hypotheses tests. The research showed that enterprises use project management practices and have product innovation and process innovation, which are essential for sustainable competitive advantage. However, the enterprises are moving towards proactive behaviours, since they present innovative actions for their market permanence and competitiveness, once the organisations face constant legal and political enforcement, due to the globalised market. The research shows evidence which may help the enterprises' managers and decision-makers to improve or influence their enterprises' competitive and sustainable performance. In this sense, the practical implications of the research are presented to add value to project managers and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse the relationship between knowledge management processes and innovation (KM-IN) in Brazilian and Portuguese companies. Design/methodology/approach: The tests were performed using a sequential mixed-method approach. Quantitative analysis was conducted using 341 observations from Brazilian and Portuguese companies and partial least squares techniques. Qualitative analysis was conducted using ten interviews and content analysis techniques. Findings: Results showed differences between Brazilian and Portuguese companies with respect to the relationship between knowledge sharing process and innovation. Portuguese companies cope with the geographical dispersal of operations and the lack of interpersonal skills by introducing formal knowledge sharing processes. Practical implications: Findings demonstrate that the transfer of knowledge processes to foreign countries may demand adjustments according to cultural traits. Specifically, the findings will be of interest to firms intending to expand their activities between Brazil and Portugal. Originality/value: Although researchers have investigated the influence of the national context in many countries, country comparisons are still scarce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this qualitative study was to analyze the elements that influence the process of innovation management in a public university in southern Brazil. It was conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 questions to three groups: six university managers; six researchers with only scientific production (articles) and seven researchers with also technological production (patents). After transcribing the interviews, the content analysis was performed in MAXQDA 12 software (Verbi GmbH, Berlin, Germany). The lack of understanding of the legal part (17.6%) and bureaucratization in the transfer process (14.7%) were the most frequently reported difficulties in the process of technology transfer. After identifying the main elements of innovation management in a public university, we proposed a new model in which the research projects are developed in conjunction with the productive sector since the beggining of technological development. Public policies and management measures to facilitate the interaction between academia and the productive sector can facilitate technology transfer and, consequently, management of innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that an industrial association can play the role of a catalyst for change where government intervention does not provide a sufficient response to market failure in the development of innovation activities, especially in less developed regions. This experimental study was conducted in the State of Ceara in Brazil by the UNIEMPRE program of the federation of industries (FIEC). The findings show the positive influence of the local association of industries as a catalyst for the innovation process, acting through five main channels: increasing the awareness of all actors, providing information and knowledge, assisting firms in developing their innovation capabilities, developing the milieu’s innovation capabilities, and establishing long-term sustainability of the process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Open innovation is the systematic integration of collaborative, sourcing and revealing practices into a firm's business strategy. Its implementation does not happen at once, but through a journey. This paper investigates this subject in an emergent economy context, the Brazilian aerospace industry, presenting the critical analysis of a questionnaire-based survey performed by means of personal in-company interviews in 22 firms. It comprises a wide range of practices associated with open innovation, connected to a conceptual model. We find open innovation elements in the sample, with no open business strategy behind them, though. Deficiencies regarding funding, R&D maturity and intellectual property protection prevent the cluster from being fully open innovator. Nevertheless, the culture company in the sample is very prone towards openness. From that, we conclude that open innovation in the cluster is still "unfreezing", but with great potential to emerge, once these problems are solved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study sought to evaluate the influence of company size on the management of external sources of technological information. We conducted an empirical survey of innovative Brazilian companies in the industrial sector. Analysis of management and performance characteristics found significant differences between large companies and smaller organisations, particularly regarding management structure, technology access opportunities, external sources of technology information, and performance indicators. Our analyses highlight cooperation and external relationships as ways to maximise innovative activity, regardless of company size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]