Caracterização das pequenas e médias empresas de base tecnológica em São Paulo: uma análise preliminar

The present paper examines the profile of the Brazilian small and medium technology-based firms (SM-TBF) supported on a survey comprising 136 innovative firms located in five industrial and most innovative areas of the state of São Paulo. Such category of firms constitute an important though polemical and misapprehended aspect of the innovation process carried out within the Brazilian firm, in spite of relevant contributions made so far in the domestic literature about innovative firms (Ferro & Torkomian, 1988, Stefanuto, 1993, Quadros et al., 1999, among others). We depart from the notion, following Bell & Pavitt (1993), that developing countries? innovative activities are concentrated on diffusion, adaptation and improvement of existing technologies. In accordance to this view, we applied three criteria to the original 136 firm data base so as to obtain the TBFs for a less technologically dynamic country like Brazil: (i) presence of R&d activities, even those informal, within the firm; (ii) interaction with universities and research institutes; and (iii) R&D investment. The exercise returned 111 firms, spread throughout 12 industrial sectors, though highly concentrated in just two industries (information technology and medical devices and precision instruments). We found them mostly small, relatively young and predominantly located in the metropolitan area of São Paulo. These firms? innovation capacity is well above the state average reported by PAEP, which means being well above the national average, but facing quite reasonable challenges to keep growing. The exercise thus helped to put forward the concept of a developing country TBF.