Estudo do novo arranjo jurídico para núcleos de inovação tecnológica: NIT misto e a experiência da UFMG

Abstract

The Legal Framework for Science, Technology and Innovation enabled Public Administration parts and entities, including Institutions of Science, Technology and Innovation – ICTs, to act with greater fluidity and legal certainty in matters of science, technology and innovation, encouraging the establishment of partnerships and providing a legal environment that meets to the demands inherent to an innovation process. As a consequence, public ICTs were granted rights and obligations, and one of the obligations imposed is the establishment of their Technological Innovation Centers - NITs, a structure responsible mainly for the management of intellectual property and for the promotion and monitoring of the relationship between the aforementioned Institutions and the companies. It was identified, through the analysis of the FORTEC Innovation Survey 2021, base year 2020, and by the Form for Information on the Intellectual Property Policy of Scientific and Technological Institutions - FORMICT, that the vast majority of NITs are not properly structured, with a low number of employees, without the necessary training and with high turnover. In this sense, one of the changes that the Legal Framework for CT&I provided in 2016, through Law nº 13.243 is the possibility for the NIT to be constituted with its own legal personality, as a private non-profit entity, with the public ICT being responsible for establishing management and ways of transferring resources. In this case, the public ICT is also authorized to establish a partnership with existing non-profit private entities to manage the activities of the NIT, acting in support of the innovation policy. In view of the aforementioned normative permission, the research reported here aimed to describe, analyze and test a new model of legal-organizational arrangement for Brazilian NITs, called the Mixed NIT model. Through the case study methodology, the research addressed the experience of the Coordination of Technological Transfer and Innovation - CTIT, NIT of the Federal University of Minas Gerais - UFMG, which implemented the Mixed NIT model through the conclusion of a contract with the Development and Research Foundation – FUNDEP, foundation to support UFMG, whose purpose is to support the management of CTIT's activities. The research proposed to discuss whether, based on the CT&I Legal Framework, the theoretical conceptual model of Mixed NIT adopted by UFMG for CTIT could be a model capable of facilitating the execution of NIT management activities in an ICT. The Mixed NIT model was described, analyzed and tested, and the NIT management method was designed by UFMG according to the institutional circumstances that surrounded it and in the light of its Innovation Policy. It was found that the management practices introduced made it possible for CTIT to act more strategically, strengthening the relationship between the university and companies, in addition to enabling the stability of the CTIT team. The Mixed NIT model provided legal certainty to management, transparency and efficiency in actions through the creation of a governance structure, in addition to enabling specialization, categorization and increase of activities through the use of qualified labor. It was concluded, therefore, that its implementation is possible, capable of supporting the satisfactory management of CTIT's activities, legally supported by the Legal Framework of CT&I and approved by the General Controllership of the Union - CGU, promoting the desired legal stability to the ecosystem.