OpenSense - scientific and technological knowledge chain platform

Abstract

Knowledge and technology intensive industries add USD$ 9 trillion a year to the economy and represent 11% of the gross domestic product of nations (NSF, 2020), demonstrating in practice the economic potential of the "Knowledge Spill-over Theory" (AUDRETSCH, 2005). The rise of the Open Innovation practices (CHESBROUGH, 2003) was decisive to facilitate the transition of confined knowledge from the techno-scientific environment to the economic system, a trend already perceived in Brazil in many public and private programs to foment Open Innovation (APEX, 2017; SEBRAE, 2019; CNI, 2020;). Such a trend combined with the deep contemporaneous Digital Transformation caused by information technologies and its omnipresence in research and development practices as much as in the economic environment, have accelerated the market of Digital Innovation Hubs, avid for tools to facilitate the knowledge transition processes to the economic system (EUROPEAN-COMMISSION, 2017), an opportunity magnified by the pandemic context of 2020 (MANZONI, 2020; ALWIS, 2020, WEFORUM, 2020). Brazil has 2.537 active institutions in tertiary education , according to the most recent census of higher education (INEP, 2018), nationally organized in 10.565 units such as campi, labs, research groups, programs, projects and innovation agents, concentrating 37.962 high education courses and 384.474 professors, which welcome 3,5 million new students every year and contributed to lift the scientific production in Brazil in indexed journals from 15.242 publications in 2000 to 80.430 in 2019 (SCIMAGO, 2020). Orbiting the academic nucleus, 1.389 research institutes and independent research centers, 1.428 innovation habitats like Science and Technology Parks, business incubators, accelerators and coworks develop thousands of entrepreneurs and new knowledge-intensive firms every year. Within the established economic system, 19 million companies sustain the Brazilian gross domestic product, less than a million in economic sectors of high and mid-high technology intensity, distributed by size in 3.788 large-scale firms, 142.767 mid-size firms and 198.495 micro and small firms (RFB, 2020; SEBRAE, 2020; ANPROTEC, 2019). This system, supported by government and sectoral organizations filled for 297.000 patent requests from 2000 to 2017, according to the official statistics from the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI, 2018), delivered dozens of thousands of research and development projects supported by innovation public policies and programs, and many products, processes and services to the market (MCTIC, 2020). Distributed in a continental area of 8.516 million square kilometers, 27 federative units, and 5.570 municipalities, this universe represent a superb knowledge warehouse, both tacit and explicit (POLANIY, 1966), geographically dispersed, with extraordinary latent potential for technological development, innovation and generation of economic value for the country. However, accessing and using it is a monumental challenge due to its disaggregation, dispersion, inaccessibility, obsolescence, and communication barriers, an opportunity to bring in digitalization of knowledge-networks. This project is the answer to this urgent demand of market for digital tools to support scientific and technologic knowledge chaining, integration and transition to the economic system. It implements the "OpenSense - Scientific and Technological Knowledge chaining platform", grounded on techniques of data science / bigdata, machine learning and decision making / recommendation tools (COHEN et al., 2009; OPENDATA, 2016) applied to knowledge networks (CALLON, 1986; LATOUR, 1987). The result of this project addresses both, an extraordinary business opportunity and a real contribution to digitalize relations like universities-enterprises (U-E), local production arrangements (LPA), and monitoring innovation public policies. (AU)