Academic Entrepreneurship in Brazilian Universities

The objective of this chapter is to analyze academic entrepreneurship in Brazilian universities, considering three periods of distinct characteristics and using the Triple Helix model as the theoretical framework. The first period began in 1986 when the first incubators were created. Those endeavors, mostly introduced in public universities, were organized in a bottom-up manner, on the initiative of professors returning from studies abroad, where came into contact with these organizational structures and visualized their transformative potential in the university and the ensuing impact of the university on economic and social development, innovation, and job creation. The second period began in 2003, with the implementation of the Industrial, Technology and Foreign Trade Policy (PITCE), in effect from 2003 to 2006. It was followed, with the approval of the Innovation Law, in 2004, and regulated in 2005, the internal environment of the university diversifies, with the organization of Technology Transfer Offices and a policy to encourage patenting, technology transfer, and university–company interaction. The third period begins in 2015, when there is a decrease in public R&D resources and a growth of private initiatives, such as co-working, organization of accelerators, and interaction of incubators with the initiatives of private companies to select enterprises to be supported for the development of solutions requested by those companies. In each of these periods, varied interaction was established, the internal discussion of universities about entrepreneurship and innovation was changing, with an impact on teaching, research, and outreach activities. Considering the current context of S&T&I in Brazil, the new prospects for the development of an entrepreneurial culture are outlined.