Retrato da hélice tríplice: contribuições de universidades públicas brasileiras ao processo de inovação

Abstract

Given the importance of knowledge in the Triple Helix (HT) model, this work proposes to visualize the HT through mathematical and statistical techniques applied to data from Brazilian public universities and to understand the contribution of these institutions to the process of technological innovation. Initially, the predominantly qualitative approach of Discursive Textual Analysis (DTA) was adopted to analyze textual data from the abstracts of 48 texts, including articles published in journals, annals of events and chapters of books indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Then, using exploratory multivariate analyses, a quantitative approach was applied in two stages. In the first, two tools were used, hierarchical grouping of clusters (HC) and principal component analysis (PCA), in a data set with twelve variables. In the second, HC and multidimensional scaling (MDS) were used, considering 76 variables. In both, the objects of study were eight Brazilian universities and the time frame between 2008 and 2015. This quali-quantitative approach allowed viewing HT in terms of its helices, considering the application of different frequency statistical techniques, in addition to multivariate analysis exploratory. The PCA further suggested that much of the variance in the data could be summarized into three main components. The complex system involving endogenous university issues in a regional and national context, led to the identification of four main university clusters from the HC, in line with the PCA, while in the HC together with the MDS, two clusters were observed. These quali-quantitative procedures minimized subjectivities of the HT theoretical model. Finally, it was noted that the contribution of Brazilian universities to technological innovation is far from the proposal of the HT model