La innovación en pymes: empresas, empresarios y proyectos

This document explores business factors related to innovation processes and business strengthening through the implementation of projects promoted by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (MCIT) and executed by the Colombian Fund for Modernization and Technological Development of micro, small and medium enterprises (Fomipyme). The National University of Colombia has participated in this initiative through the Research Center for Development (henceforth referred to as CID, the acronym for Centro de Investigaciones para el desarrollo) of the Faculty of Economics and the Research and Extension Institute (henceforth referred to as IEI, the acronym for Instituto de Extensión e Investigación) of the Faculty of Engineering, in technical auditing work and financial audit aimed at controlling resources.To achieve this purpose, the following three topics are addressed: 1) The business strategy and how innovation activities are organized and controlled, in connection with the possession of certain resources by businesses and organizations that carry out the projects, 2) The characteristics of such projects through the Ministry of Luz Jeannette Quintero Campos y Hugo Herrera Fonseca Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Bogotá - Facultad de Ciencias Económicas Página 4 Commerce, Industry and Tourism and 3) The results obtained in the development of these innovative projects. As a result, it was found that the scope of the innovation of enterprises and studied projects depended on the thematic lines promoted by the MCIT, but also, to a great extent, on the type of business, the characteristics of the entrepreneur and in general, on the possession of a greater or lesser amount of resources and skills. This study is a qualitative analysis that uses the concept of innovation in a broad sense, which implies observing intangibles (profile of the entrepreneur, company and products history, strategies in new product development, marketing, etc.) as a part of the explanation of the phenomenon, aspects that are hardly considered in a purely quantitative study.The broad concept of innovation also involves considering the alternative that this is the result of learning and knowledge , of experience by doing, and not only through experimentation in the laboratory. The results obtained in these studies can be used by designers of public policy in this matter, to clarify both the nature and scope of the strategies of business support.At university level, this work can help teachers and students to make contact with the reality of the productive sector.