Sociedade, Tecnologia e Inovação Empresarial - Presidente da ...

sible than before to all sectors and agents in the economy linked toinformation networks or with the knowledge how to access such networks.This new importance of access brings to the forefront the overridingimportance of this new «knowledge infrastructure», not just forproduction and distribution but also for research and innovation.Third, and as already hinted at above the perception of the natureof the process of knowledge accumulation has also changed significantlyover the last decade. Broadly speaking, the old traditional pipelineview of a linear development process, starting with basic researchand ending with the diffusion of a new product or production processhas been replaced by a more complex view in which interactions ofall sorts operate between users, research laboratories and developers.The research and innovation capability of a country, firm or sector, istoday seen less in terms of the ability to discover new technologicalprinciples, than in terms of the ability to exploit systematically theeffects produced by new combinations and use of pieces in the existingstock of knowledge. This knowledge network model implies muchmore systematic access to the state-of-the-art. Universities, public andprivate research centres have a much more active role to play in thedissemination of information regarding the stock of technologies available,so that individual innovators can draw upon the work of otherinnovators.The science and technology system is shifting towards a more complex«socially distributed» structure of knowledge production activities,involving a much greater diversity of organizations having as explicitgoal the production of knowledge. The old system by contrast, wasbased on a simple dichotomy between deliberate learning and knowledgegeneration (R&D laboratories and universities) and activities ofproduction and consumption where the motivation for acting was notto acquire new knowledge but rather to produce or use effective outputs.The partial collapse of this dichotomy has conducted to a proliferationof new places having the explicit goal of producing knowledgeand undertaking deliberate research activities.Fourth, in the long term the process of knowledge accumulationdepends crucially on the long term availability of highly skilled man-Debates2 9 0Sociedade, Tecnologia e Inovação Empresarial