The university-firms interaction process in a university incubator : the case of the Vale do Rio dos Sinos University's incubator

Abstract

Business incubators is one of the strategies adopted in Brazil for the creation of small technologybased firms. In the incubators, a process of interaction is established among the government, the university and the firms that should benefit, either directly or indirectly, each of the participants. The article is based on a research that departing from an evaluation model seeks to assess the impact of an incubator on the development of the resident firms and on the university. Data was collected from the incubator’s seven resident firms by means of a questionnaire applied to each one of the entrepreneurs and from documents. To describe the impact of the incubator on the university the data came mainly from documents. The analysis of the data reveals that the incubation process is having a positive effect on the firms, since six of the seven firms analyzed are following a path considered adequate in the sense that they are entering in the market with innovative skills, solid finances and well prepared managers. However, the effect of the incubators on the University was found to be insignificant in what is concerned with teaching, research and extension. But the incubator brought a new image for the university and lots of space in the media.