Brazilian Journal of Analytical Chemistry - BRJAC - Brazilian Journal ...

Po i n t o f viEw
www.brjac.com.br
tEChniCal a n d sCiEntifiC PartnErshiPs rEquirE w E l l dEfinEd
oBJECtivEs
Partnerships between companies, the academic community and government agencies
can generate very positive results for all parties involved. However, to avoid negative
surprises during the process and after its conclusion, it is important that partnerships be
carefully established and included very clear objectives and goals. It is essential for each
party to have well defined roles.
Technical and scientific partnerships should have very clear purposes that generate specific
competencies or technological knowledge. In the case of companies, one of the first
steps should be to verify the competency gap in order to ensure that the challenges are
overcome. By identifying these gaps, partnerships can be formed with people and entities
that are references in this competency in order to transfer the required knowledge. In the
case of partnerships with universities, an important part of the process is transferring the
knowledge generated by the institution. And this knowledge should be transferred to the
company’s R&D group. Knowledge is directly transferred from universities to companies
more effectively by adopting competent intermediation.
Therefore, defining the objectives of this process is extremely important. For example,
a university professor expects clear demands from a company. The clearer and better
defined a need, project or problem, better is the chance of its success.
The initial definition of scope and the division of intellectual capital, royalties, patents, etc.
should be combined at the start of the partnership, not during the process. However, it
is important to emphasize that the main role of a university is the development of good
professionals and researchers. The company is the one that transforms the knowledge
into an interesting product for the market and that also incurs the risks inherent to
development.
Today, universities are better understanding the role of supporting a manufacturer in
its technological development, while the manufacturer has also put itself in the place
of universities in order to better understand the difficulties of the environment, culture
and legislation to which they are subject. And the government has worked through its
agencies, coordinated by the Ministry of Science and Technology, to remove barriers and
facilitate access to the development and tax incentives, to adjust laws, administrative
rules and decrees and to disclose information to the Internal Revenue Service, Public
Prosecutors’ Office, Federal Accounting Court and other institutions.
Antonio Morschbacker
Braskem’s Manager of Renewable Technologies
XVII