The importance of the relationship between company and incubator for biotechnology development

Abstract

The biotechnology activities development demands an intense academic and scientific basis, a productive sector capable of transforming academic research in scientific products and services, and the creation of an institutional environment to promote the sector’s development. Moreover, many biotechnology companies establish formal partnerships with Universities (by technological incubator) to expand innovative capacity coming into the market. The importance of biotechnology for developing countries is perceived by its ability to promote national development based on knowledge and innovation. In Brazil, the government establishes technological incubators to accelerate the company consolidation. In this way, it is important to study the relationship between the actors involved. In this context, this article aims to analyze the relationship between a technological incubator and a biotech company. To do so, the qualitative approach was adopted to reach the objective. Interviews with incubator’s employees of a Brazilian University and biotechnology company’s managers were conducted. The results show that the company-incubator interaction promoted projects approval which were able to support new researches development and to purchase production equipment. Incubated companies have higher chances of survival in the market from the interaction with University, through the technological incubator. The relationship between the incubator and the biotech company is considered a fundamental condition for biotechnology activities development.