Empreendedorismo académico: um desafio para transferência de biotecnologia na Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Abstract

Biotechnology is considered to be a key factor in fighting diseases and world hunger. Because of strict regulations, high investments and extensive research, most of the research and development that leads to biotechnology products and services are executed in universities and is then transferred to established companies or spun off by academics themselves. However, the technology transfer process from university research to industry commercialization comes with challenges. This present work is concerned with understanding why biotechnologies, developed at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), are not finding the way to the market. To investigate this question, the main objective of this work was to understand the university-industry interaction and its challenges out of the perspective of professors, researching in biotechnology. A quantitative research model is used to explore the biotechnology landscape of UFMG and collect information on the university-industry interaction, R&D obstacles, financial support, R&D collaboration, management experience and entrepreneurial activity. One contribution of this present work is to present the biotechnology landscape of UFMG, its issues and interactions as well as challenges of technology transfer in the immature National System of Innovation of Brazil. The main contribution is the identification of a low technology transfer interest of professors and a lacking academic entrepreneurial activity in area of biotechnology at UFMG.