Does geographical proximity still matter for innovation? Notes on university-industry interaction from the perspective of a peripheral context

Fernandes, Ana Cristina de Almeida; Souza, Bruno Campello de; Silva, Alexandre Stamford da; Lima, João Policarpo Rodrigues

doi:10.22296/2317-1529.rbeur.202310en

Ana Cristina de Almeida Fernandes

conceptualization

formal analysis

funding acquisition

investigation

methodology

project administration

resources

validation

visualization

writing - original draft

writing - review and editing

Ana Cristina Fernandes Graduated in architecture and urbanism at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE, 1981). She holds a master’s degree in sociology from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp, 1989) and a PhD in geography from the University of Sussex, UK (1996). She was a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Universidade Federalde São Carlos (UFSCar) and a guest professor in the Instituto de Economia at Unicamp. She is currently a full professor and leading researcher in the Grupo de Pesquisa em Inovação Tecnologia e Território [Research Group on Innovation, Technology and Territory] (GRITT) at UFPE. She was the director of innovation at UFPE, where she also served as coordinator of the Articulação e Promoção de Parcerias Estratégicas [Articulation and Promotion of Strategic Partnerships]. She was director of Política, Articulação e Coordenação [Policy, Articulation and Coordination] for the Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation for the State of Pernambuco. She has been editor of the Revista Brasileira de Estudos Urbanos e Regionais [Brazilian Journal of Urban and Regional Studies] and is currently an associate editor of the Revista Brasileira de Inovação [Brazilian Journal of Innovation]. She is a CNPq Scholarship Fellow 1B, supervising theses and dissertations on the Postgraduate Program in Geography at UFPE, of which she was coordinator from 2011 to 2013. Her research interest focuses on the area of economic geography, mainly on the following themes: political geography of innovation, territorial innovation system, spatial dimension of technical progress, scientific and technological policy, urban and regional development and policy, inequalities and spatial polarization, accumulation crisis, technology and territory. Email: ana.afernandes@ufpe.br

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Departamento de Ciências Geográficas, Recife, PE, Brazil

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2641-5525

Bruno Campello de Souza

conceptualization

data curation

formal analysis

investigation

methodology

software

validation

visualization

writing - original draft

Bruno Campello de Souza Graduated in Psychology, with a master’s degree and PhD in cognitive psychology, all at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE). He is an associate professor at UFPE, he is a permanent professor on the Postgraduate Program in Business Administration (PROPAD) and on the Professional Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MPA). He conducts research focused on the relationships between digital technologies and individuals and organizations, innovation and entrepreneurship, criminology and policing, cognition, psychological and social processes, people management, psychology of politics, human values, medicine and the application of statistical methods in any context. Since March 2020, he has undertaken research involving data analysis related to the epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of Covid-19. Email: bcampello@uol.com.br

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Departamento de Ciências Administrativas, Recife, PE, Brazil

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6402-0233

Alexandre Stamford da Silva

conceptualization

formal analysis

investigation

methodology

writing - review and editing

Alexandre Stamford da Silva Graduated in electrical engineering, electronic modality, at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE, 1991), with a master’s degree in electrical engineering (1994) and a PhD in economics (1999), also at UFPE. He undertook a post-doctorate in France, at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris), in economic development, and at the Université Robert Schuman/International Center for Intellectual Property, (Strasbourg), in intellectual property. He is the former director of innovation at the Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation of Pernambuco. He is currently an associate professor at UFPE in the Department of Economics. He has experience in the field of economics, with an emphasis on mathematical methods and models, working mainly on the following topics: health economics, intellectual property, patent writing, entrepreneurship, game theory and economic growth. In the field of engineering area, he has experience in production engineering, project management and information management and, in the field of electrical engineering, in risk management and reliability engineering. Email: alexandre.silva@ufpe.br

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Departamento de Economia, Recife, PE, Brazil

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9188-4598

João Policarpo Rodrigues Lima

conceptualization

resources

validation

writing - review and editing

João Policarpo Rodrigues Lima Graduated in economics at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE, 1973), with a master’s degree in economics also at UFPE (1977) and a PhD in economics at the University of London (1988), with a postdoctoral degree at the University of North London (2000). He is currently a professor at UFPE. He has experience in economics, with an emphasis on applied economics, working mainly on the following topics: Brazilian economy, regional development, North-eastern Brazil, sugarcane agroindustry, productive arrangements, innovation and local development. Email: policarpo.lima@ufpe.br

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Departamento de Economia, Recife, PE, Brazil

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1485-0025

Main field of knowledge	Research groups		Ranking
Main field of knowledge	n	%	Ranking
Engineering	323	32.14	1
Biological and life sciences	221	22.00	2
Agronomy	200	19.90	3
Exact and natural sciences	158	15.72	4
Humanities	103	10.25	5
Total	1,005	100.00

Multiple R = 0.92, Multiple R² = 0.68, Corrected Multiple R² = 0.67
Standard Error of Estimate = 0.43; F(12,871) = 151.87; p < 0.01
	Beta	EP	b	EP	t(871)	p
Interception			0.5837	0.114	510.242	<0.01
Being from the Northeast (yes/no)	0.06	0.020	0.10	0.032	3,028	<0.01
Experience in engineering (yes/no)	0.07	0.020	0.12	0.033	3,589	<0.01
Have worked at other universities (yes/no)	0.04	0.019	0.07	0.032	2,282	0.02
Funding received by National Public Institutions (% of the Total)	0.05	0.020	0.00	0.000	2,545	0.01
No. of registered software	0.04	0.019	0.02	0.011	2,209	0.03
Age of research group leader	-0.04	0.020	0.00	0.002	-2,166	0.03
Interaction via services	0.13	0.025	0.11	0.021	5,,043	<0.01
Interaction via knowledge transfer	0.21	0.028	0.16	0.021	7442	<0.01
Interaction via research and development activities	0.29	0.026	0.22	0.020	11,012	<0.01
Logistics strength (dependent on geographical distance)	0.05	0.021	0.04	0.015	2,544	0.01
Bureaucratic strength (dependent on organizational distance)	0.05	0.021	0.05	0.020	2,459	0.01
Innovation and entrepreneurship communication channels	0.29	0.026	0.25	0.023	10,998	<0.01

Construct	Cronbach Alpha
Organizational	0.56
Institucional	0.73
Cognitive	0.75
Social	0.77
Geographical Distance	*

		Groups
		North	Northeast	Midwest	Southeast	South
Companies	North	93.80%	0.70%	2.20%	3.10%	0.80%
	Northeast	0.00%	91.10%	7.90%	5.00%	2.30%
	Midwest	9.20%	8.10%	91.00%	9.60%	5.40%
	Southeast	15.40%	23.60%	21.30%	95.40%	21.80%
	South	1.50%	3.70%	9.00%	8.80%	92.30%

[TFN5] Source: Own elaboration (2022).

Brasil

Brasil

Abstract