Assessing innovation networks in nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is regarded as the key technology for the 21st century, affecting almostevery aspect of the economy. It has a great potential to stimulate various industries throughthe advancement of science and technology. Considering that the nanotechnology involvesseveral areas of knowledge, it needs multidisciplinary teams, and for consequenceinnovation networks.Innovation networks and specially in the public sector are considered as critical policyinstruments to promote the creation and fortification of robust innovation systems, likeplatforms of learning for the actors. They constitute themselves in integral element in orderto improve the technological development, and the competitiveness of the country. Thereforeand considering the relevance of these networks, there is a necessity of evaluating theirdevelopment in order to know its innovation potential and performance, but unfortunatelythe literature about frameworks for assessing these networks is scarce, especially innanotechnology. The existing ones are fragmented, lineal and non flexible. In general the research in this area is still weak.In this sense, the main objective of this work is to present the proposal of a framework forevaluating nanotechnology innovation networks. We want to close this gap somehow, througha systemic, dynamic, flexible and transparent approach. The focus of this framework isrelated to the evaluation of public innovation networks. The proposal, values the alreadyexisting contributions, from which new elements have been added. The framework wasvalidated in three segments of the Brazilian nano-technology network. An empiricalresearch, associated to three assumptions, was developed in order to support the proposal.This research was both qualitative as quantitative and it was used research instruments likean interview to key actors and a survey.It is hoped that the proposal can be particularly useful for academics, practitioners, andpolicy makers in order to guide empirical studies in innovation networks and to improve their technological strategies and Science & Technology policies. It is also expected that theproposal will be replicated in others sectors and the framework can be also extended toevaluate private networks.The method was exploratory and depth case study.