Cooperative networks for innovation: a panorama of the Brazillian scenario between 2003 and 2011

The complexity of the innovation process and the difficulty faced by organizations when performing their required activities to stay active and competitive have led to a large number of companies to work in a network. This network enables the sharing of risks and resources, provides access to information and solutions, and facilitates research and development among other means of innovation with regard to products and processes. In this context, this paper mainly analyzes the setting for interorganizational cooperation for innovation in the Brazilian panorama between 2003 and 2011 based on data from the Innovation Research, known as PINTEC, elaborated by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Through documental research, within a qualitative framework, secondary data were used, which were obtained from the PINTEC reports on cooperation among companies in Brazil, to construct a panorama of the cooperative scenario during the selected timeframe. The analysis revealed that, for the analyzed timeframe, Brazilian companies had most of their cooperative activities with the public with whom they maintain direct contact, such as their clients or consumers and suppliers. Furthermore, it revealed that actors such as universities or research institutes are not considered to be important for cooperative relationships or as information sources. As such, it can be inferred that cooperative activities for innovation are incipient and are not considered as strategic activities by organizations in the Brazilian panorama.