Trajetória e especificidades de processos de inovação em agrotecnologias: estudos de casos

Abstract

The debate surrounding the need to bring together research and society, through a greater application of scientific knowledge, is increasing. This article addresses the issue, connecting the macro and micro scopes of analysis around the concepts of institutional and immediate specificities of innovation processes. The path followed by scientific information until its application as technological innovation was analyzed. Two cases of agrotechnological innovations developed in the university were evaluated. The objective was to understand how these processes occurred, emphasizing specific and immediate institutional issues related to their trajectories. The work used the case study method based on a theoretical foundation that incorporates the socio-economic context and the innovation processes themselves. The results instigate deep political and pragmatic reflections on the importance of several features of the immediate and specific institutional requirements mentioned, such as technical and economic feasibility, cultural legitimization of the innovation by the market, and the researchers’ contribution in solving problems in the institutional environment.