Resumo

The fifth techno-economic paradigm brought changes to agriculture. The value-creation based on ICT the digital agriculture, also called agriculture 4.0, was raised. Before the emergence of agriculture 4.0 the large companies were responsible for development of virtually all technological innovations for agriculture (Pham & Stack, 2018). Currently, an increasing number of technology-based ventures, called “agtechs” are engaged in development of disruptive ICT innovations for agriculture. These technologies allow to deliver value to a number of actors within agribusiness (Wolfert et al., 2017).

The disruptive innovation for agriculture 4.0 requires a combination of “traditional” agricultural knowledge, such as biological, chemical and engineering knowledge (Evenson, 1974). New ventures typically lack financial and human resources, therefore, exploitation of the knowledge resources becomes crucial for agtechs’ development and growth.The capability that enables firms to acquire external information and to apply it to commercial end is the absorptive capacity (AC). The following research guided the present research: How agtechs use absorptive capacity to create innovation?

In the words of Dosi (1982, p. 147) the “discontinuities are associated with the emergence of a new paradigm”. In the XXI century, two discontinuities appeared within agriculture. The first discontinuity was the emergence of ICT. The second discontinuity, partially stimulated by the arrival of the first one, was the emergence of agtechs (Mikhailov et al., 2018). AC improves innovation performance (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990). When the pace of technological substitution is high it becomes absolutely must for the company to build AC in order to innovate.

The case-study with two companies from Agtech Valley and which are among technological leaders among its market was selected. Before the data case-study protocol was set (Stake, 1995). Researchers applied a semi-structured interview script, validated by two agribusiness specialists, to owners, managers and employees of the companies. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. Secondary data collection through documental research also took place. Then, content analysis (Bardin, 1977) including three different phases, was performed.

The way that agtechs use AC to innovate is similar to those that academic literature and comprise intense R&D activities, knowledge inflows, strong individual AC and knowledge complementarity and information flows within. Companies also showed very strong intellectual capital. As it can be observed from case-studies, despite resource constraints, even small technology-based firms are able to generate disruptive innovation. Hence, the pattern of technical change in agribusiness sector, previously dominated by large companies, maybe shifting towards innovation developed by small companies

After combining all previous analysis, it is possible to answer the research question, which is: how agtechs use absorptive capacity to create innovation? Innovation in agtechs is created through application of virtually entire knowledge base to NPD and market-promotion. The ability of companies A and C to acquire knowledge from wide range of cost-free information sources comes from high individual AC of its members: they are self-taught and combine formal and informal information source to deliver results. For future research it is suggested to conduct studies in an innovative economies

Cohen, W. M., & Levinthal, D. A. (1990). Absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative science quarterly, 128-152. Mikhailov, A., Reichert, F. M., & Pivoto, D. (2018). Innovation in agribusiness: the case of agricultural technology new ventures. In: IFAMA 28th World Conference" Disruptive Innovations: better business, management, science and government", Buenos Aires. Wolfert, S., Ge, L., Verdouw, C., & Bogaardt, M. J. (2017). Big data in smart farming–a review. Agricultural Systems, 153, 69-80.