As policymakers in the United States debate how the economy can regain its vitality following the Great Recession, many see innovation as the key to prosperity. The United States excels in product, service, and business model innovation, particularly when this innovation leverages technological advances. The United States is also one of the leading countries for venture capital financing, which supports the creation of many innovative start-up companies every year. Although innovation by young firms is common today, it represents a relatively new economic model. This shift from large firms that moved ideas to products within the boundaries of the firm to a model of smaller, entrepreneurial firms working in conjunction with multiple external innovators and partners to generate new inventions and technologies has become a vital source of innovation and economic growth for the country.

Since the early 2000s, state-led and innovation-focused strategies have characterized the approach to development pursued in countries around the world, such as China, India, and South Korea. Brazil, the largest and most industrialized economy in Latin America, demonstrates both the opportunities and challenges of this approach. Over the course of nearly 20 years, the Brazilian government enacted various policies and programs designed to strengthen the country’s capacity to innovate. It increased spending on science and technology, encouraged greater collaboration between industry and universities, and fostered the creation of new institutions whose primary aim was to facilitate greater private research and development (R&D) spending.

Universities today are increasingly viewed as essential contributors to innovation and
economic growth. Whether as a partner with industry and government (Etskowitz, 2000) or more
recently, as part of an entrepreneurial ecosystem (Audretsch, 2012), the university’s role now
extends well beyond just research and education to more applied and translational work with
industry as well as more entrepreneurial activities that support new venture formations among
students and faculty. Transferring technology from the university to the market place through
firms and industries has become a central focus of the university, even for those that have
epitomized the “ivory tower.”