Academy–industry links in Brazil: evidence about channels and benefits for firms and researchers

Knowledge flows between universities, public research institutes and firms may take various channels according to agents' motivations and expected benefits. Models were estimated to investigate which channels of interaction lead to which benefits for firms, universities and research institutes in Brazil. Bi-directional channels are shown to be particularly relevant, yielding both innovative and productive benefits for the firms and intellectual and economic benefits for the universities. As for interactions between firms and research institutes, bi-directional channels are the most important in terms of intellectual benefits for the researchers and innovative benefits for the firms. These findings seem to confirm the dual role of the universities, versus a more focused one for the research institutes, and raise policy issues. Moreover, a negative correlation between investment in internal research and development and productive benefits for the firms was found, indicating that the expected benefits of public expenditure are not turning into innovation.