Inovações tecnológicas em cadeias agroindustriais: alguns casos do segmento de processamento de carnes, leite e café no Brasil

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to identify and characterize the technological innovations from the meat, milk and coffee productive chain processing sector, based on authors discussing the innovation economy. The mechanisms are utilized by the companies in order to obtain the technological information, generate technologies, as well as form cooperative arrangements for the technological development. Semi-structured questionnaires were applied in 34 companies belonging to five productive chains (milk, chicken, swine, cattle and coffee). Some results could be confirmed regarding innovation. Four innovation standards were found: adaptations by multinational companies; innovations mirrored in the internal market; innovations mirrored in the international market and authentically national innovations. It was observed that the companies develop mainly incremental innovations, and that such innovations are mostly based on suppliers (input or equipment). However, there are also internal efforts to the company in order to generate changes in products and in the process. It was also observed that the formation of partnerships / cooperation is relevant to the evolution of the innovation process in the sector. In addition, in several cases the innovation is clearly a function of the market structures of which the companies are part. Keywords: Technological innovation; Agroindustry; Partnerships.