Incubators are rated as public policy mechanisms driving innovation in companies. The purpose of this project was to ascertain the level of development of competences for innovation in Technology-Based Enterprise Incubators (TBEI) as perceived by businesspeople in associated companies. With regard to technological innovation, it was decided to use a neo-Schumpeterian approach, and with regard to competences, the Resource-Based View (RBV) theory was used, which evaluates internal attributes that contribute directly to the innovative capacity. Four constructs were taken into consideration for analyzing the development levels of competences for innovation, grounded on the model of François and colleagues (1999) andMunier (1999). Competences for innovation were examined through a questionnaire that tries to identify and assess development levels of competences in TBEI. The findings were analyzed through construct reliability tests: summated scales and cluster analysis. It was noted that the means competences representing the basic resources needed for the development of the company were assessed favorably by the businesspeople, indicating the development of this competence. In terms of technical and relational competences, it was noted that the businesspeople assessed these aspects unfavorably, indicating that these competences are not well developed by the TBEI. It was also ascertained that corporate development levels and operating sectors also influence the assessment of these businesspeople in terms of competences for innovation. This leads to the conclusion that its effectiveness must be assessed as an agent of innovation, with indicators being defined to measure the effectiveness of its role as a mechanism driving technological innovation.RESUMEN. Se considera que las incubadoras son mecanismos de polı´tica pública que inducen la innovacio´n en las empresas. El objetivo de este trabajo consistio´en confirmar la percepcio´n del empresario de las empresas vinculadas, y el nivel de desarrollo de las competencias para innovar existentes en las Incubadoras de Empresas de Base Tecnolo´gica-IEBT. En lo que atañe a la innovacio´n tecnolo´gica, se opto´por usar el abordaje neoschumpeteriano mientras que, en lo concerniente a las competencias, se utilizo´la Teorı´a de la Visio´n Basada en Recursos (VBR), que propone la valoracio´n de los atributos internos que fomentan directamente la capacidad innovadora. Se consideraron cuatro constructos para analizar el nivel de desarrollo de las competencias para innovar basadas en el modelo de François et al. (1999) y Munier (1999. Las competencias para innovar se examinaron utilizando un cuestionario que trata de identificar y evaluar el nivel de desarrollo de las competencias en las Incubadoras de Empresas de Base Tecnolo´gica-IEBT. Los resultados se analizaron a trave´s de las pruebas de confiabilidad de los constructos; las escalas sumadas y el ana´lisis del cluster. Se verifico´, además, que las competencias de medios representadas por los recursos básicos para el desarrollo...

Based on recognized importance of industrial clusters for the socio-economic development of regions, this work presents a case study involving the evolution, discussions on the role of entrepreneurial activities and the influence of public policies on the development of the furniture cluster of Ubá, Minas Gerais. The methodology adopted included a survey, interviews with strategic actors of the cluster, and analysis comparative data. Preliminary results indicate that public policies had limited involvement in the emergence and development of APL, and indicate the need to investigate the diversity of patterns of business components of local cluster order to propose appropriate policies for each different type of companies. The main conclusion is that the key role in the genesis and development of the furniture cluster of Ubá was the entrepreneurial action of the local businessmen.

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