Avaliação do potencial de mercado de tecnologias: proposição de um processo para o núcleo de empreendedorismo e inovação tecnológica da Universidade Federal de São João Del Rei

Abstract

Innovations from universities are important for the economic development of a company, region or country. In Brazil, Technology Transfer Offices (TTO‟s) emerged to assist universities in the management of their technologies and the implementation of their innovation policy. Despite the great advances in the performance of these institutions, especially in the basic management of intellectual property, it is still a challenge for TTO‟s to assess the market potential of technologies. The lack of these processes and instruments for assessing the technology portfolio in the TTO‟s impacts the efficiency in the technology transfer and the creation of companies originating from universities, academic spin-offs. To fill this gap, this study proposed a process for assessing the market potential for technologies to be applied in the context of the TTO‟s. A systematic literature review was carried out using the terms technology assessment, technology foresight and technology forecasting. An analysis of 8 (eight) approaches for the assessment of technologies was also carried out. Based on these analyzes, a generic process for assessing the market potential of technologies for the context of TTO‟s was created. Using the principles of the Action Research methodology, the model was adapted for the TTO at the Federal University of São João del-Rei (NETEC). As a result of the work, in addition to the generic evaluation process, there is the consolidation of two specific evaluation frameworks for NETEC's intellectual property protection and technology transfer process. The study brings considerations about the different aspects that make up the themes of technological prospecting, technology transfer and methods with different characteristics, which constitute the theoretical basis for the assessment of the market potential of technologies.