Inovação da firma e dinâmicas de proximidade: o caso da indústria de equipamentos médicos, hospitalares e odontológicos do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

The Economics of Technology has as nature study the development of technical progress, its microeconomic dimensions, the technological diffusion process and its influence on economic development. Often combined with evolutionary thought, the Economics of Technology studies the firm from a systemic perspective, in which the history, external links, the territory and the institutions together form the Innovation System that is capable of conditioning the technological performance and competitive in the region. For this approach, the space matter and proximity is considered, on occasion, an asset and hence is sought.The Economic Geography increasingly sees the idea of evolution (Nelson and Winter, 1982) in shaping the economic landscape. It is believed that experiences and skills learned over time by individuals in a given location can to a large extent determine the present and the future trajectory of the space. To investigate the path dependence by the region, economists have looked for clues in various related disciplines (regional sciences, geography of innovation, etc.) resulting in a subfield within the economy titled Evolutionary Economic Geography. In essence, the economic landscape innovative process is considered central element and uneven between regions, since knowledge takes central position in this context. The main idea is that there is a great need for interaction and communication to occur knowledge exchange between agents, which is supported by types of proximity. From this premise, the work seeks to understand the vicinity of dynamics of behavior in interactions established by firms to carry out their innovative activities and uses as analyzed in the sector of medical device of Rio Grande do Sul. To reach this goal, the work uses survey research to collect data and tool aimed at analyzing social networks. The results indicate that the geographical proximity and social proximity act as important drive to formation of the sample relations. Institutional proximity showed some importance for the sector, however, cannot say the same for the dimensions of cognitive and organizational proximity. The health professional (physician, nurse, dentist, etc.) is identified as an agent that takes a strategic nature and is capable of inducing innovation. It’s possible to observe an intense relationship (but less strategic) with suppliers of specialized parts and hospitals, the latter under specific conditions. Relations with universities are carried out in critical situations (technological bottlenecks), which are not found solutions inside environment or with suppliers. As a central contribution of this work to the theoretical discussion of the area, there is the look of the study, turned to the structural formation of the network built by firms geared to the production of medical device of RS. This research also contributes to the literature on the dynamics proximity that growing, and actively moves in international journals, but, a priori, still occupies a relatively small space in publications and national academic journals. Finally, considering the evolutionary point of view and the centrality that innovation is in this context, research has the potential to assist in the further development of targeted literature for the innovative dynamics of health, especially the medical device sector of Rio Grande do Sul, theme concentrating low bibliographic production and deserves further insights for your promotion.