INNOVATION AS A CONNECTION TO DEVELOP UNIVERSITY-COMPANY PARTNERSHIPS

The present study is a case study in the agricultural sector. It aims to analyze the relationship between university-industry in what concerns the creation and transfer of knowledge. We intend to analyze this type of relationship as it occurs in the Experimental Farm Station - called School Farm, which belongs to the State University of Ponta Grossa, and is located in an Advanced Experimental Campus under the responsibility of the company BASF S/A. The university-company relationship has developed and, within this context, educational institutions and research can contribute effectively to the development of new technologies and knowledge, representing an alternative for innovation along with the private sector. In this sense, forms, intervening structural factors within the creation and transfer of knowledge were identified through interviews with the university researcher, the school farm manager and the technician responsible for the experimental field of the company. We chose therefore a qualitative research based on case study to explore the perceptions of the people involved in the the phenomenon being analyzed. The results indicate new factors which interfere in the process of creation and transfer of knowledge and which are important for the management of the process and for the relationship with the company.