Proposta de melhoria das parcerias entre o setor privado e a Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro

Abstract

This research aimed to contribute to the improvement of the association processes for Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I) between the private sector and the Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro (UFTM). The study area corresponds to the UFTM, a Federal Institution linked to the Ministry of Education, constituted as an autarchy, with head office in the city of Uberaba-MG and campus in the city of Iturama-MG. Initially, a map of the current process of collaboration agreements for RD&I was carried out with the Technological Innovation Center (TIC) and two questionnaires were applied, respectively, to university researchers and to private sector companies located in the city of Uberaba -MG, with the aim of identifying the factors that hinder the establishment of associations. The results of the survey showed that the participants' level of knowledge about the incentives for university-company interaction provided by the legislation of the Legal Framework for Science, Technology and Innovation is low, in addition to an important part of companies (26.5%) that ignores the stimuli, associating themselves with an even lower perception regarding the knowledge of the UFTM's Innovation Policy and the attributions of the Technological Innovation Center. The survey also revealed that 55.9% of the companies surveyed are interested in developing RD&I projects with the university and 44.1% are not. Regarding the factors that hinder the establishment of alliances, little knowledge about the procedures and excessive bureaucracy were identified. It was observed that the bureaucracy is more perceived when a higher relationship with the university is stablished. In addition, the study also identified the main factors that can stimulate alliances as: diffusion of incentives and benefits generated by alliances, from the point of view of the companies, and the reduction of bureaucracy in institutional procedures, from researchers' perspective. With the aim of improving the alliances, Standard Operational Routine was proposed with a process flow diagram for the legal instrument of Association Agreement for RD&I, as a suggestion for a simplified working method. It is expected with the development of this investigation to contribute to the improvement of the processes directed to the alliances for the development of RD&I activities as well as favoring the transfer of technology developed in the teaching and research institution to private companies, supporting the economic development of the city of Uberaba and the improvement of UFTM in applied research.