Complexidade em projetos de nanotecnologia: caracterização e proposição de um template de análise

Abstract

Nanotechnology (NT) is seen as one of the most promising fields of the 21st century and has attracted strong interest from governments, the private sector, and academia, receiving significant investments for its development. However, the success rates of research and development projects in this area and, consequently, the effective commercialization of nanotechnological products still fall short of projections. Recognizing that projects in this field have various particularities and involve strong elements of complexity, this study seeks to answer the question: how to characterize complexity in research, development, and innovation projects in the field of nanotechnology? To do so, it draws from the literature on NT and complex project management, incorporating real data from projects within the study's context. The methodological approach applied is flexible pattern matching, contrasting potential complexities identified in the literature with field data obtained from 14 projects at a Nanomaterial Technology Center. The result is the construction of a template with the most significant elements of complexity in projects in this area, consisting of 56 elements grouped into seven categories. This template aims to be an analytical tool for the diagnosis and prognosis of research and development projects in NT, helping to identify potentially influential complexities in the progress of these projects that, if left untreated, may reduce their chances of success. As central contributions, the study offers a systematic and theoretically grounded approach to the dynamics of projects in the underserved field of nanotechnology. It enriches the rich but general discourse on complexity in projects by developing a reference template that engages with real complexities in an emerging and promising context for management studies.