Article Preview
TopIntroduction
The theme of innovation is one of the main factors that has impacted the competitive advantage of companies and nations in recent decades. The perspective is that its importance will become increasingly blunt and its impacts more profound in the coming decades (ARAÚJO, SILVA and RADOS, 2017; TORRES, PAGNUSSATT and SEVERO, 2017; ROSA, DA ROSA and ANTONIOLLI, 2018). According to Vieira Filho and Fishlow (2017, p. 24), “it seems that there is no better alternative for a company to be a winner and conquer positions in the competitive world market today, than to maintain a fast pace of innovation”.
According to the report “Economic and Innovation Overview in the Area of Operation of Suframa” (2019, p. 8), published by Softex (Association for the Promotion of Excellence in Brazilian Software), “investment in innovation is an alternative to face the deindustrialization when it constitutes a driver for economic progress and competitiveness ”, and they complement this finding, highlighting that innovation enriches countries, with the wealthier countries investing more in innovation as a strategy for development. But they are not the only ones, as developing countries have also been investing in this area, as a solution for “diversification and differentiation of products, for improving efficiency in the use of resources and for reducing costs, as well as for attracting funds, new alternatives to generate investments and access new markets” (SOFTEX, 2019, p. 8).
Despite the importance and potential of innovation, there is no definitive definition of what innovation will be, or a single definition. The concept of innovation has several understandings, mainly within the scope of Brazilian scientific research (LU, MATUI, GRACIOSO, 2019). Thus, as there are a variety of concepts, there are several approaches, methods and views on how it would be possible to identify and measure innovation.
In Brazil, since the 1970s, innovation has had the participation of the federal and state government of its public institutions, associating with the private initiative (VIEIRA FILHO and FISHLOW, 2017, p. 16). This created and creates a set of high-level and assertive information, which could enable multiple approaches tailored to each sector and sector. But for this to be possible, it is necessary to have a mapping of the selected territories and their possible sectorial segments a priori with early identification of the respective innovation potentials.
These questions, analyzed from the perspective of policy makers, are of fundamental importance. First, it is necessary that they have a priori an overview of where the nuclei of the most innovative companies are located in their respective territories. With this information in hand, they can take proactive, and not just reactive, initiatives to design support policies and develop the competitiveness of their respective companies and territories. According to the Oslo Manual (4th edition, 2018, p. 33), “the value of data collection from all companies, regardless of their activities and innovation results, can help to improve the understanding of the main factors and possible implications of innovation” for policy formulation.