Abstract:

The present abstract highlights the studies carried out between 2018-2019, as part of the ongoing Postdoctoral program at the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Sciences Innovations Sociétés – LISIS, Joint Research Unit- Paris/France.

In Brazil, valuing the university's role means admitting that higher education remains an important apparatus to promote citizenship, confront social inequality, increase the country's competitive capacity and strengthen innovative markets.

Indeed, in comparison with other countries, in order for Brazil to develop the necessary process to transform its scientific creation and technological innovation into something capable of improving the populations’ life quality, it will require numerous interactions among the world of science and technology, governments and the market.

In order to achieve these goals, a cartographic study on the research and innovation system in France was undertaken, with the aim of identifying from this mapping the management and governance aspects for the development of projects that involve higher education (laboratories, establishments, research programs) and external actors of society, such as industry, civil society associations and government, taking as a hypothesis the idea that the intensification and complexity of such partnerships is leading to innovations in the field of higher education management in France. Its institutional maturity in this scope revealed an important exploratory field to inspire policies aimed at expanding the university's role in the economic development of countries like Brazil.

As a result of this mapping, a robust and complex structure was identified. It must be highlighted the changes that have been made to its system since the legal reorganization brought about by Law 450 of April 2006, when two new instances of political and strategic nature were created: the Agency for the Evaluation of Research and Higher Education and the National Agency Results. The former, focused on evaluation and, consequently, on the induction of the research lines; and the latter, focused on financing. It was possible to note the structuring of a System articulated by three spheres: the political and strategic sphere, involving the congress, the government, the ministries; the National Committees of science and technology, and the European Research Area; a second area of programming and funding, involving the national research and evaluation agencies, foundations, national programs and evaluation committees, and on its basis, the sphere of the System development and implementation, involving universities, research organizations, the joint research units and the strategies for prospecting and facilitating partnerships between the university and society.

This architecture has allowed France to boost its economy by intensifying the transfer of technologies to society, an evident strategy from the observation of the so-called Competitiveness Poles policy.

Recent data (2017) show that promoting collaborative R&D partnerships and projects has created a new set of innovative products, processes and services. In 2014 France consolidated 71 clusters totaling 8,500 members and involving 1,500 research and training institutions.

Keywords:

University, Economic and Social Development, Knowledge Transfer.