Transferência de tecnologia através de spin-offs: os desafios enfrentados pela UFSCar.

Abstract

With the appearance of a new world scenery, the markets are dominated by companies with high capacity of innovation. The university, one of the most important sources of knowledge, which fundamental role consists in the formation of human resources and in the performance of academic research, starts to be forced in a way that the results of its researches should bring more relevant economic and social impacts to the society in order to enrich and enlarge its role. As a consequence, the relationships of cooperation between universities and companies and the process of technology transfer from the university to the market gain importance. Among the known process of technology transfer, the creation of companies from the knowledge generated in the university (academic spin-offs), emerges as an alternative way to complement the traditional mechanisms. This study aims to characterize the process of technology transfer through the academic spin-offs, focusing the Federal University of São Carlos, and to identify its importance in the process of innovation, the employment creation, the relationships of cooperation between the university and companies and the local economic development. The methodology used was the qualitative research and case study, with field interviews and analysis of the contents. The results also show the received incentives and the main barriers faced by the academic spin-offs.