Abstract:
The article deals with the inclusion and institutionalization of innovation in the government agenda of Rio Grande do Sul. The research focused on the process of designing and developing the Program for the Support of Technology Hubs, implemented by successive state government administrations since 1989. The methodological strategy examined the history of the Program, through the analysis of documents and interviews, based on a theoretical approach that emphasises the action of individual and collective agents as well as institutional reproduction. Promoting innovation was institutionalized in the form of a long-term public policy sustained by the articulation among the actions of individual and collective agents - policy entrepreneurs, policy communities and governments -, who spread their ideas on innovation and development, and about the institutional design of the regional model of governance in the gaucho state.
Keywords:
science; technology and innovation policies; Brazil; ideas and public policies; technology hubs