Resumo

Innovation policies have been an area in which several studies have been made over the last few decades. In this category, they can be considered as macro-level efforts to develop institutions, human resources, technologies and other means related to the development of Science, Technology and Innovation (S,T&I). Thus, such policies aim to promote innovation and leverage the performance of public and private institutions (Audretsch & Link, 2012; Bajmócy & Gébert, 2014; Patanakul & Pinto, 2014). Knowledge-intensive companies have gained prominence in the current literature.

The research question that guides this study is how does a regional innovation development program in a developing country, providing the necessary foundations for innovation, influence dynamic capabilities and innovation capabilities in knowledge-intensive firms? This study seeks to understand the impact of a regional innovation development program on the dynamic and innovation capabilities of knowledge-intensive companies.

Knowledge-Intensive Entrepreneurship (KIE) has gained increasing prominence in the studies of entrepreneurship. The KIE is a multidimensional, systemic phenomenon that depends on the context in which it operates. Knowledge-intensive companies can exhibit different degrees of innovation and knowledge intensity and be cultivated and promoted in high and low technology sectors (Caloghirou & Llerena, 2015). The knowledge-intensive activities consist of the activities of R&D that enable the exploitation of technological opportunities, seizing technological improvement, new product development.

The interview participants were companies that participated in the Economic Clusters of Innovation Program (ECIP) innovation and entrepreneurship program, a public innovation policy linked to the government of the state of Ceará, based on a joint action of the Secretariats of Economic Development and Labor (Sedet), of the Science and Technology and Higher Education (Secitece), and its affiliates Cearense Foundation for Support to Scientific and Technological Development (Funcap) and Ceará State Development Agency (Adece). The data collection was made between january until march of 2022.

In the next parts of this article, the constructs identified by the analytical framework as relevant to understand the presence of the benefits associated with the studied program will be presented, as well as their influences (assumptions) on the innovative capabilities of the beneficiary startups. At the same time, entrepreneurs' perception of possible assistance from the program for activities involving scientific research is diffused. A considerable portion of the interviewed entrepreneurs point out that they do not perceive a clear and direct help from the program agents in this regard.

The present article was able to demonstrate, as predicted by the analytical framework, that there are influences in the studied program between the benefits obtained by the Economic Clusters of Innovation Program and the capabilities of startups to innovate, especially with regard to their ability to relate in a network and the from these networks acquire and use knowledge in the solutions developed during the journey proposed by the program to teams/startups.

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