As redes de conhecimento nas relações de cooperação interorganizacionais: uma abordagem sobre a relação entre universidade e empresa no cenário brasileiro

Abstract

The present society is maintained and organized in a network format, interconnecting people and organizations around the world. In these new forms of social organization, companies began to maintain cooperative relationships in order to optimize the use of their potential and to share risks, physical and financial resources, and, more recently, to share information and knowledge resources. One of the publics which the companies started to carry out this type of activity is composed by the universities, traditional knowledge centers, and by the research groups and their respective researchers. In this context, knowledge networks has emerged, seen as groups of heterogeneous actors that unite themselves to create and share knowledge about themes and distinct areas, that can be found in the most diverse sectors of society and also in the relations between universities and industries. Based on these delimitations, this study aims to analyze the emergence of Knowledge Networks in the current Brazilian scenario of university-industry interaction relations from the perspective of research groups selected in the General Directory of Research Groups in Brazil, in order to proposing a referential structure of actions to promote the emergence of these networks. This research can be characterized as an applied nature and a fundamentally qualitative approach. Regarding the macro-objectives, this is an exploratory and descriptive research, using qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection and analysis, which is based on the methodology of content analysis and also uses descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the study indicate that cooperative relations between universities and companies occur on the national scene, however in to a small percentage. On the other hand, the Knowledge Networks formed in the university-business relationship is still incipient, so that few scientific studies were found addressing this subject. Also, as main characteristics of the process, it was verified that the interactions begin usually from universities or research groups, which develop projects focused on applied research with the companies with which they cooperate. There was also a very personal character in these relations, although the participants of the research pointed out that the institutionalization of these networks would legitimize their actions against society. On the other hand, considering the analyzed data, it is perceived that the formation and maintenance of knowledge networks in the relations between universities and companies have the potential to contribute to the personal development of the individuals involved in the cooperation process, for the administrative and organization of the participating institutions of the network and economic and social development of the regions where the networks are inserted.