Sistema setorial de inovação: aplicação do conceito à produção de café conilon no estado do Espírito Santo

Abstract

The conilon coffee cropping in Espírito Santo has shown in recent years a significant increase in productivity, which is associated with the development and use of new technologies in the fields. Advances in genetic improvement and process improvements have been appointed as the main responsible for the development of the activity in the state. At the same time, the institutional arrangement formed in the last two decades is also named as the factor that allowed the diffusion of new technologies developed for conilon. This study seeks to analyze the innovations and production of conilon in Espírito Santo from the concept of Sectoral System of Innovation. In this theoretical framework concepts such as knowledge, learning and interactions are seen as key to the development of innovations. This work used, as methodology, literature, documents and interviews with representatives of some of the major institutions involved. It is intended, therefore, to better understand how a crop that did not exist on a commercial scale in Espírito Santo until the 1970s became so important to the state and is now considered a benchmark in research and development of technologies. It is also investigated which are the main actors in this system, how innovations are generated and disseminated, what is the technological profile in the fields and what are the challenges ahead.