This article shows how projects on S & T networks were and have been carried out at the Agronomic Institute of Paraná (Iapar). As regards the methodological procedures, this research is a case study characterized as qualitative, descriptive and sectional with a longitudinal perspective. Two projects were selected taking into consideration the ones which offered a broader vision of the institute. This selection was based on information from magazines with people who had run Iapar since its foundation. Data was collected directly (by means of semi-structured interviews with those in charge, as well as researchers involved in the projects) and indirectly (documental research). The comprehension of the phenomenon under study was fundamentally based on the interpretation taken from the researchers' speech. The analysis of the projects in different periods showed that their meaning has changed throughout the time. The first networks were formed to fulfill Iapar's social role in the state of Paraná, in Brazil. More recently, the projects conducted in networks by the institute have primarily aimed at fund raising and obtaining its legitimacy before the state and society.
Iapar; science and technology; S&T networks
